Coffee Crisis

As I sit in one of my favorite coffee shops I still wonder when the coffee craze began.  Originating in Ethiopia, coffee has circumnavigated the world, caused wars, forged scientific milestones, and forever changed generations' work ethics.

What I have yet to figure out is how people all throughout New Orleans and the world determine the type, method, and time of day to have their coffee.  For me coffee is just as important as any libation one will find in this city.  A freshly brewed, medium roast coffee from perfectly roasted beans only a day old is vastly different from the coffee left on the burner, brewed three hours ago from charcoal-burnt beans.  There are so many steps and areas for imperfections in the coffee making process--farming, harvest, transportation, roasting, blending, brewing, and time--that it is a glorious morning when I get that "perfect cup of Joe".

New Orleans has been one of the largest gateways for America to receive their coffee and is the largest today.  We have over 20 local roasters and 14 warehouses, and that does not even include the regional import/exporters.  In the past, beans from mainly Latin America have filtered into America's heartland through our port and the Mississippi River in canvas bags that were crane lifted onto the dock.  Presently, coffee comes in sealed, tarp-lined containers and lifted into the roasters stationed right on the dock by an old grain conveyor belt.

But what is the impact of this coffee importing on New Orleans' drinking culture?  Well, in my opinion, very little.  The beans that are brought in are of the medium-low quality varieties and are roasted and then blended to make a better quality blend.  Few people even realize the difference in robusta and arabica beans, and let's not even get started on the "shade-grown" vs. "bird-friendly" vs. "organic" tangent.  The Italians first discovered the beauty of a quick, powerful, and oily shot of caffeine in the expresso.  They use a majority of robusta beans while the French and many others use a mix of robusta and arabica to blend medium roast--high caffeine with a mild flavor.  But New Orleanians seem to get their jolt any way they can get it.

Attention over coffee has been held for centuries, starting in Eastern Africa then Italy then Starbucks and now local coffee shops.  America has predominately held its poetic role as not the highest-quality coffee consumer, but certainly one with the largest quantity consumed.  But what about the milk, sugar (real and fake), honey, and hardware involved.  Certainly, with all the attention paid to the dairy industry we should be seeing more soy, almond, and coconut milk products at our local shops in the future...but not yet, it seems.

I have four coffee shops within four blocks around my house and everyday I want to try a different one.  I might have a bad cup of coffee at Place A one day, but who knows if the next day will be when they get new coffee in.  Fresh coffee is still hard to come by, but I believe that coffee gets overlooked more because of its ability to be masked by milk, foam, honey, sugar, and the like.  We need to stop fantasizing about how we seem to look while drinking coffee and focus more on how, why, and by what means we are drinking coffee.