January 2020
Coffee, espresso,
latté
: In this issue we savor and reflect on the beverage that is part of so many of our lives.
|
|
I recently read two fascinating books about the coffee industry. One is nonfiction, but reads like an adventure novel. The other is a novel packed with economic and historical information.
The Monk of Mokha, by Dave Eggers, tells the improbable true story of Mokhtar Alkhanshali, a young Yemeni-American, a novice in the coffee industry, who set out to restore Yemen to its ancient place of prominence in the world of coffee. (The first Arabica coffee, entering Europe by way of Venice in the early 17th century, came from Yemen.) Against all odds – including terrifying encounters with rebel militias in Yemen – Alkhanshali was able to help farmers in Yemen improve the quality of their crops, import the coffee beans to the U.S., and produce premium, gourmet coffee, although coffee from Yemen had long been considered inferior.
The novel,
The Taste of Many Mountains, by Bruce Wydick, follows a group of graduate students studying the economics of coffee production in Guatemala. While there, a local coffee-growing family tells them their family history – which is the lens through which the novel explores the whole history of coffee production, land control, and civil war in Guatemala. The author is an economist who studies developing countries, and the findings of the fictional students in the book reflect the actual findings of a research project that he led.
While Mokhtar Alkhanshali has succeeded in helping coffee farmers in Yemen earn more for their crop, Wydick finds that many well-meaning efforts to improve the lives of farmers, specifically fair-trade coffee programs, have only minimal impact for those they are designed to help.
I do not intend to enter the economic debates. My purpose here is two-fold: (1) Simply to recommend two books that I enjoyed reading, and from which I learned a great deal. See the videos below for more information. (2) To ask all of us to pause before we take that first sip of coffee, and to say a prayer for the often-impoverished farmers whose produce is a savory part of so many of our daily lives. May God protect them and reward them for their labors. And may we always remember and appreciate the benefits we receive from so many others in the human community.
--Bill
P.S. In case you’re wondering, Wydick, the economist who studies developing countries, reports that that “the largest benefit per dollar among the antipoverty programs to which ordinary people frequently contribute” are programs that provide safe drinking water in developing countries. Also highly effective are “international child sponsorship” programs, which have “tremendous impacts on the future education, vocation, and adult income of beneficiaries.” As many of our readers know, we sponsor a child in Guatemala through
Unbound, an organization we highly recommend. You can read about our 2019 trip to Guatemala with Unbound
here
.
|
|
Coffee au lait – with New Orleans chicory -- was my first experience of coffee. I was already a teenager in high school when this friendship developed, a friendship with coffee. It was served after breakfast, in a cup with the saucer on top to keep it steaming hot. After graduation, out of sight out of mind, other beverages took places of prominence.
Then one day about 25 years later, in the midst of miserable dark days, I began to find hope and meaning for my life in a cup of coffee. In some inspirational book I was reading, the author suggested being present to your cup of coffee. Hold it firmly with both hands. Gaze at the lingering steam arising from the earthly brownness. Invite the scent to tickle your nose. Focus on this richly brewed beverage as you take the first sip. And savor. Be still. Be present.
That simple ritual is one I practice still, another 25 years later. My only coffee of the day, a mid-afternoon pause for fresh brewed, pour-over coffee is a pause to be present to myself, simply with no other agenda. Enjoying the cup of coffee is the singular event for recollection of who I am and whose I am. A moment to just be.
Some coffee pauses give me time to remember the coffee growers of Guatemala whom I met in 1997. I remember the scent of beans as I walked near Lake Atitlan among the coffee bushes after a fresh rain. I remember the ashy scent of roasted beans grown in the lush soil around Volcanoes Toliman and Atitlan. I remember the friends we made last January in Guatemala, friendships formed and deepened over coffee.
Coffee is a friend, not a beverage. Coffee is presence, not an event. Coffee is ritual, not a happening. Coffee is an encounter.
--Jan
|
|
CBS reports on Mokhtar Alkhanshali.
|
Bruce Wydick speaks about
The Taste of Many Mountains
|
|
Recent Issues
Issue 177 - Mr. Rogers
|
|
Please share Reflection freely by forwarding any issue (forward in its entirety), but remember to respect copyright laws by not altering, copying, or reproducing Reflection, text or photos, whole or in part, without written permission.
Copyright (c) 2019 Soul Windows Ministries
|
|
Sincerely,
Bill Howden and Jan Davis
Soul Windows Ministries
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
