Point of View
As Covid-19 continues to rampage through parts of the world, the coffee and tea industries are pivoting as quickly as possible to business models that will help them survive this unprecedented and unpredictable time.
In this issue, Dan Shryock looks at the success of coffee subscription services as a case in point.
Similarly, manufacturers of instant coffees are expanding their reach, both by providing solubilizing services to whole-bean roasters looking to broaden their offerings, as well as targeting consumers who are drinking more coffee than ever at home but don’t wish to take the time to brew their morning cup. Peter Keen looks at new technologies in the world of instants that are resulting in higher quality across that market sector.
Sticking with the technology theme, Keen also explores advancements in mechanical harvesting, which could prove to be prescient in the current climate of uncertainly where workers’ health is concerned. But what will be the downsides of replacing people with machines?
Dan Bolton, expert in all things tea, gives us a sobering account of the ways in which Covid-19 has changed the nature of tea-sourcing. The tea industry was already very much in flux prior to the pandemic, with “the emergence of rival trading blocs and nationalization bent on unraveling global trade.” And now, with the disruption of in-person visits to origin, the trust on which tea-trading is based might be forever damaged, not to mention production declines for many important producing countries.
Sample roasters are a hot topic in coffee now, as well, as much “direct trade” is executed remotely. Thomas Schmid highlights some versatile sample roasters on the market, the most portable of which are finding their way to cafés where coffee is roasted in-house. These tools are also invaluable at the farm level, where producers can finally assess their own green coffee, something that has long been a challenge for many farmers.
And we have Bethany Haye’s hopeful profile of El Salvador, a coffee-producing country once again turning to this crop to boost its beleaguered economy, as well as my primer on the exciting area of coffee processing, innovations around which can differentiate products and add value, both at the farm and at the roastery ends of the supply chain.
Parallel to the ongoing challenges of the current global pandemic, conversations about racial justice have finally penetrated the structure of the coffee industry, whose inequities have been long documented but little addressed. This issue’s Q&A features David and Gaïna Dávila, founders and co-owners of Dávila Kafe in Washington, D.C., which showcases coffees from Nicaragua and Haiti. This young power couple is harnessing their considerable talents to bring voice to inequities in the industry they love, as community activists, anti-racism educators, and coffee ambassadors for the underrepresented origins that are their families’ homes.
STiR is committed to making space to highlight inequities in both the coffee and tea industries, and we are actively seeking stories that present solutions to systemic injustice in any form. Email with news of this kind. Meanwhile, look for our story in the next issue about Phyllis Johnson’s launch of the new non-profit Coffee Coalition for Racial Equity (CCRE), one of the most positive outcomes of this newest wave of conversations about justice throughout the coffee industry.