Africa: Kenya and Ethiopia Making Major Strides
September 13, 2007
Kenya — The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the branch of the World Bank responsible for private lending, is investing a little over $210,000 in educational programs to increase the knowledge base of local coffee farmers and roasters. The 5 day training seminar will teach the basics of cupping and quality control. The goal is to bolster local coffee producers’ understanding about the quality of their product as well as provide the tools they need in order to demand higher prices on the open market. As Dr Peter K Michori, chairman Coffee Board of Kenya, puts it:
“When Kenya coffee is subjected to specialty grade assessment methods and certified, it will fetch better prices in the international market …”
Ethiopia — Dozens of European and American roasting and distribution companies have finally agreed to use Ethiopia’s specialty coffee trademark. Chief among US companies was The Coffee Co. that shall not be named, which had earlier filed suit to prevent the country from protecting its own property rights. Now the struggling African country will bear a greater responsibility for the logistics of its primary export. However, with a renewed sense of pride and ownership the coffee can only get better.
Read the full articles here and here.
Coffee and the Bourgeoisie
August 29, 2007
What is it about coffee – and coffeehouses – that makes it so agreeable to the bourgeoisie? Jakob Norberg explores this very question in a (semi-) brief social history of the dark, rich brew.
For Jürgen Habermas, the coffeehouse is a place where bourgeois individuals can enter into relationships with one another without the restrictions of family, civil society, or the state. It is the site of a sort of universal community, integrated neither by power nor economic interests, but by common sense. For Carl Schmitt, coffee is a symbol of Gemütlichkeit, or the bourgeois desire to enjoy undisturbed security. And for Alexander Kluge, drinking coffee provides the opportunity for people to talk to each other beyond the constraints of purpose-governed exchanges, to enter into “human relationships”.
It’s quite an interesting - though, somewhat lengthy - read. Check out the full article here.
