Today is International Coffee Day, where we honor the cup-a-joe which helps us get moving in the AM and keeps us up late studying.
Today is International Coffee Day, where we honor the cup-a-joe which helps us get moving in the AM and keeps us up late studying.
Where would we be without this amazing beverage? I’d rather not think about it, but to help us better understand this ‘holiday,’ lets take a look at the science behind the drink with a little help from the folks at the Science Museum of Virginia:
Beyond the chemical make up of our favorite brews, International Coffee Day is also about acknowledging the often terrible conditions works face on coffee plantations around the world.
Second only to oil in world committees, the international coffee industry is a $100 billion market. This leaves lots of room for exploitation in countries with little in the way of oversight.
Child labor, little pay, and terrible working conditions were the backbone of the industry through the 70’s, and it wasn’t until the 90’s when workers groups started forming to help modernize the bottom of the supply chain.
Finally, in 2014, we’ve hit what folks are calling the “third wave” of coffee production. People care about who picked their coffee and how well they were treated – they also prefer it not taste like a burnt lima bean.
Or they just want it to taste like it was filtered through the intestines of a pumpkin.
