History of Coffee

It is impossible to overestimate coffee’s global importance. Valued at over $100 billion, it is the second most sought-after commodity. Ponte, an expert on the coffee-trade, maintains that over two billion cups are consumed daily. The majority of consumption occurs in developed countries, whilst 90% of production takes place in developing countries. For many nations, coffee cultivation forms the backbone of their economy, an essential avenue for employment and revenue. In Brazil alone, the industry employs an astounding five million people. Seeing as millions depend on this commodity, I always felt good about buying my daily coffee– I was contributing to the economic enfranchisement of millions! However, recent readings have cast a doubt on my strategy.

Coffee originated from Ethiopia and quickly spread to Arabia Felix; which is known today as Yemen.

This diverse beverage is made from roasted ground seeds of a tropical shrub. The most common species of bean is from Ethiopia which is located in western and central Africa. It is well known because many of these coffee beans are planted in over seventy countries, making it one of the most popular beverages in the world. The dried and roasted coffee seeds are ground and moistened by hot water passed through to become a liquid brew. The beverage is now drinkable and stimulating to people because of its natural high impact of caffeine that is why we become so energetic after consuming a drink. Coffee is known everywhere compared to any other drink; it is something that different cultures have in common. That is why coffee benefits a way of living by bringing completely different cultures together.

Coffee consumption in the US and Europe equals approximately one-third of the tap water consumed annually, with annual production of approximately seven million tons estimated in 2010 (http://www.coffeefacts.com). Worldwide, nearly 25 million small producers derive their income from coffee; the economies of Africa, Indonesia, and South and Central America are especially dependent on coffee production. The majority of this production takes place in Brazil, where approximately five million people are involved in the cultivation and harvest of over 5 billion coffee plants without the aid of modern machinery. (Rice, 2003, p. 228).

During the mid- seventeenth- century, it was being named as the medical marketplace. One of the first flier that appeared by that time claimed by Pasqua Rosee in 1652 was to promote the use of coffee in a medical standpoint. He states that “[I]t was a useful cure for headaches, consumption and coughs, dropsy, gout, scurvy, scrofula, and miscarriages…” (Cowan, 2005). Obviously, coffee has its own benefit in curing human beings. They were always visible around coffeehouses.

There are several legendary accounts of the origin of coffee. The history of coffee, however, goes as far as the thirteenth century. It is believed that coffee came from Ethiopia in East Africa. Later on the fourteenth century it was cultivated by Arabs. Even though it is believed that coffee has been around since the thirteenth century the earliest credible evidence of drinking coffee is in the sixteenth century in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen (National Coffee Association). Coffee was first introduced to Europe in 1573 (UK Essays). It was first mention by a German physician when it started to be introduced among other African goods. When coffee was introduced to Europe it became widely acceptable among the rich and wealthy families. Coffee

As far back as 1860, coffee had become the major export in Colombia (Equal Exchange). By the 1920s, however, the coffee industry in the country was undergoing difficult times as a result of unstable international market forces. Thus, coffee growers were not guaranteed a steady income. Out of these circumstances arose an

In an article “The Coffee Crisis: Is Fair Trade the Solution?” written by Fuzhi Cheng, it describes that coffee funded a large amount of finances in poorer regions, such as schools, hospitals, and infrastructures. Coffee overall heightened the income and educational levels of these developing areas (2007). “But all these benefits have evaporated since the late 1990s, when the world coffee price slumped to unprecedented low levels. The collapse of coffee prices has led to a humanitarian crisis with devastating effects on coffee growers, communities, and countries” (Cheng 2007). But why the “slump” in

From Turkey to Yemen, coffee has impacted lives with its historical significance across the Middle East for centuries. Coffee as we drink it today originated in the mountains of Yemen at around

The countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of coffee during the year 2016 are Brazil, Vietnam, Columbia, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Indonesia. Brazil accounted for 15.9% of total coffee exports, which was 5.2 billion dollars. Brazil’s Arabica output is forecast to drop 5.1 million bags to 40.5 million. Coffee trees in top growing regions in Brazil, Southern Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo, have shown excellent development and growers have intensified crop management, which are some of the reasons why Brazil produces so much and exports coffee. There is also a lot of rainfall which has supported development. Vietnam exported 4.7 billion dollars which was 10.5% of total world exports. Vietnam’s production is

The crisis in the coffee sector continues. Its impact cannot be understated, since coffee constitutes the livelihood of an estimated 25 million families around the world. In world trade, coffee is the second leading commodity, after petroleum. The worldwide coffee market spans some 71 countries, of which 51 are significant producers and 20 are key consumers. Prices have not kept up with production costs to the extent needed to make participation in the coffee business profitable for most producers, even though the crop year 2003-2004 witnessed a worldwide decrease in production. (Central America - The Coffee Crisis: Effects and Strategies for Moving Forward, 1992)

Around one hundred and twenty five million people are dependent on coffee, making coffee the most valuable and widely traded tropical agricultural product. It is also one of the highest earners in the market with a worth of $70.86 billion dollars, therefore it is highly tradeable but it is largely investing into global poverty due to the rural coffee farmers earning such a small percentage of the overall profit. (Foundation, F. (n.d.). Fairtrade International. 2015) There are over seventy countries producing coffee but over eighty percent of the worlds coffee is only being produced in four main states which are Brazil, Colombia, Vietnam and Indonesia. With

It is believed that coffee was introduced in Rwanda in 1904 by German missionaries. Around 1930, a considerable interest in coffee developed as it was the sole revenues generating

The Turks were so in love with the coffee, that they would actually par-boil the beans, so they could not be transported to other parts of the world and re-planted. It is said though, that an Indian named Baba Budan smuggled beans to India in his stomach and that the Dutch eventually got hold of some and would grow coffee in greenhouses. And so began the introduction of the bean to Europe.

It is common in Central and South America, particularly in Brazil as well as in Africa, especially in Rwanda. Coffee farmers in Rwanda plant the exceptional variety of coffee collectively. It is also very common in Brazil. As the coffee leaves the farm, it can either be sold to processors or marketers. For instance in 1999, Starbucks put 1000 bags of Ipanema bourbon coffee on its shop as a trial. We find that the coffee beans were given a commodity status before leaving the farmers’ stores. This is because we can see value being attached to them. The cost for the over-the-counter bourbon coffee in the Starbucks shops was thrice as high as it was for the local buyers in Brazil (Colitt, 2001). Thus, the Bourbon coffee attains the status of a commodity at the first instance when the farmers sell it to the market. In the case of Starbucks in 1999, the coffee was sold at an estimated $4.00 per pound. The fact that it is made with the aim of the market in mind is what makes a good a commodity. Therefore, without the market, the good would not qualify as a commodity (Wood, 1993). The coffee beans can be described as a commodity from the onset of joining the market.