Organic coffee: Why Latin America's farmers are abandoning it [lib suicide watch ]

Seattle Times ^ | 3/6/2010 | Ezra Fieser

[Moe Tzadik]

GUATEMALA CITY — Some 450,000 pounds of organic coffee sit in a warehouse here, stacked neatly in 132-pound bags. It's some of the world's best coffee, but Gerardo De Leon can't sell it.

"This is very high quality and it's organic. But ... the roasters don't want to pay extra these days," says the manager of FEDECOCAGUA, Guatemala's largest growers' cooperative, which represents 20,000 farmers.

De Leon is asking $2 per pound for the unroasted coffee, about 50 cents more than the going price. But he says he'll soon have to sell it as conventionally grown coffee, which sells for less.

That's why many Mesoamerican farmers here are starting to give up on organic coffee: The premium price that it used to fetch is disappearing.

[null and void]

[TChad]

Is that the queen of the hop?

[Anti-Utopian]

I know what you meant, but before libtards hijacked the word “organic,” it was a term used to describe living or formerly living things. Since I’m not libtard, when you say “I’m not eating organic food,” it makes me laugh, since that leaves only inorganics like rocks.

[Tainan]

"That's why many Mesoamerican farmers..."

What a pretentious twit.

[Porterville]

Hell that’s mine too.

[Gay State Conservative]

There's a coffee shop not far from Harvard Square (yah,*that* Harvard) that I pass by from time to time called "The Clear Conscience Cafe".In the window you see signs boasting of how the growers of the coffee beans are paid a fair price for their product...blah,blah,blah.

Maybe they should plan to expand in order to help these growers out.

[joesjane]

My first choice is Dunkin Doughnuts coffee...yummy!

[gogogodzilla]

Whenever I think about coffee, this poster always pops into my head.

:-P

[Moe Tzadik]

OMG, they are totally psychotic!

From their website:

Renovations for C3 were done in accordance with LEED green building guidelines, using renewable resources, reclaimed materials, and energy efficient products wherever possible.
Come in and check out our counter top made of recycled glass, tables made of sunflower seed husks and bamboo, and our eco-friendly Marmoleum floor.
Construction was completed with non-VOC paints and materials, energy efficient lights and appliances, and lo-flow water fixtures.

I don't see any Global Carbon Offsets paid to Al Gore's fraudster company to cover the bean's flight to Logan and trucking to a roaster and then the store though...

[thecodont]

I’ll stick with my Folgers.

I'll stick with my YUletide BANquet.

It's cheap and gets the job done.

[windcliff]

Wow thanks for memories.

[Free Vulcan]

HI BIGREDKITTY1!!!

[exDemMom]

Exactly. I cannot stand it when people claim burned beans equals strong coffee. All the caffeine and coffee oils are roasted out of them.

You can't roast the caffeine out; caffeine content is a function of the beans used, not how much they were roasted. When I buy coffee, I look for the beans that appear moist in the hopper, then freeze them at home and grind right before use. I suppose some people might think dark roast has a "burned" flavor, but to me, it's the richest flavor. The coffee flavor just isn't as strong in medium roasts, and I don't drink light roasts. I make coffee *very* strong. And I love Starbucks. Coffee preferences are very much a matter of taste, and there is no "superior" style of preparing coffee.

[NVDave]

Farmers are price takers, no price makers.

[Gene Eric]

>> I won’t consume anything organic!!!

I hope only to protest feelgood liberalism - otherwise, it’s often better quality food.

[dalereed]

“it’s often better quality food”

You’re full of shit!!!!

[Gene Eric]

>> The dude needs to sell it direct to consumers online.

Yup, but it still needs to be roasted and cleared for critters.

[Gene Eric]

FU

[Sharrukin]

http://coffeetea.about.com/od/roasting/a/roasts.htm

Also, there is less caffeine in the darker roasted coffees than in the lighter ones.

http://weeklyroast.com/blog/do-light-or-dark-roasts-have-more-caffeine.html

The quick answer is that for the most part, lighter roasts actually have more caffeine than darker roasts. When coffee beans are roasted, the beans undergo a series of physical changes including growing in size, becoming lighter in weight but also burning off some caffeine. The longer the beans are roasted (the darker the beans), in general, the less caffeine they will have solely due to them having more and more caffeine being burned off.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Do-Dark-Roasts-Have-More-Caffeine-Than-Light-Roasts

Many people think that if coffee beans are dark roasted and have a fuller flavor, then the coffee is stronger and contains more caffeine. Quite the opposite! Most light roasts will have more caffeine than their darker roast counterparts because the roasting process causes the beans to go through physical changes that make them burn off caffeine as a result.

Sorry for being a little obsessive!

[BnBlFlag]

“I insist on Chase & Sanborn.”

I only buy Community Medium Roast coffee.