Where does your coffee come from? – Know before you buy
The love for coffee is only growing day after day. There are so many options to buy coffee from as there are millions of consumers. And we might think the majority of us know where our coffee comes from, but, do we really?
Here’s the thing. While some people don’t actually mind what coffee they drink – but they should – some of us do! So, if you’re on the same page, read along!
We all know coffee comes from a coffee plant, grown in different regions of the world – Africa, Asia, Central and South America etc. – but the truth is, the majority of commercial coffee brands won’t tell you the origin of your coffee beans, because to be honest, sometimes they might not even know.
When you buy coffee from a supermarket – yes, let’s say it, cheap coffee – the goal of the majority of those coffee brands is to roast in huge quantities in order to be able to sustain the demand for their product. And this leaves quality behind quantity.
When these big brands prioritize quantity over quality, this means lower quality coffee beans are used, in order to cut their production costs, and of course increase their profit.
What’s in your coffee bag?
Think about what you’re consuming. Not just the taste of the coffee, but the journey it carried to be in your coffee cup.
When you are not given the chance to understand the origin of your coffee, you might be ignoring the following hidden truths in your coffee bag:
– Inadequate working conditions for the coffee farmers
– Coffee bean defects – simple example? Beans are picked ahead of time, not giving the time for the coffee cherry to be matured
– You’re drinking burnt cofffee, and no, it’s not because this increases the caffeine – quite the opposite – but because it hides the coffee beans’ defects
– Coffee plants treated with pesticides in unsafe amounts that could be even banned in your country
– Big brands often add sugar – and other fillers – to their coffee beans in order to caramelize the taste of their coffee – otherwise, it would taste way worse etc.
If you want to take anything from this post, take this: Know what you get into your body! Make sure as much as you can that:
– The coffee you are consuming is traceable
– Buy directly from the roaster
– If you can, don’t sacrifice money over your health
Specialty Coffee to the rescue
Luckily for everyone, Specialty coffee came to improve our coffee comsumptions habits in every sense. From caring about the ethics of the coffee industry to our health.
There is still a long way to go, but according to the SCA – Specialty Coffee Association – over the last 18 years, there has been an increase of specialty coffee drinkers in the US. In 1999, only 9% of adults in the U.S. were drinking specialty coffee daily, and 41% were drinking daily in 2017 – with this percentage increasing more and more every year.
People are realizing the importance of being concious consumers. They want quality guatanteed, not sacrificing the taste of their coffee.
Here at The Caffeine Spot we care about the same. About delivering excellence in every coffee bag we produce, which includes the disclosure of the source of our coffee beans, where you can rest assured the highest standards in the coffee industry were followed.
We get that specialty coffee is more expensive, but the value over cheap-supermarket coffee cannot be matched. Coffee is such a personal choice, and at the end of the day is your preference, but always remember that not all coffee is produced in the same conditions, and the little bag you take home with you, not only carries the weight of your coffee, but the weight of the process it took in order to be there.
