John Allison - SBS DVD: Black Coffee

30 May 2007

Three hours watching a three part documentary series on DVD called Black Coffee – could this be too much information? It puts me in mind of Mark Kurlansky's book Salt, which turned out to be a rewarding read – similarly this 3 set DVD is compelling viewing.

The political, economic, cultural and historical ramifications of coffee are significant. Coffee is quoted as being, second only to oil, the most traded legal commodity in the world. There is so much information in this DVD, it will set you up to be a star turn at any dinner table.

The spread of coffee is interesting history – from its first known use in Ethiopia, through Yemen and through the Arab world, Turkey to Austria and the rest of Europe, the Dutch East Indies and South America. It is a tale of smuggling, theft, and sexual intrigue. The coffee industry in Brazil blossomed via a tempestuous affair and a posy of flowers.

Some quite remarkable facts emerge. Most of us, thinking of the European tradition of drinking coffee, would associate the bean with Italy, France and Austria yet England first popularised coffee as a beverage and in 1700 London boasted 2,000 coffee houses. In the same year, world sales totalled 500,000 lbs which rose to 100 million lbs in 1800. Ironically, this explosive growth has not continued to the present day for a multitude of reasons – comprehensively outlined in this DVD. One of the reasons is the flood of poor quality coffee presented to an increasingly sophisticated and particular consumer.

The series also presents the unattractive face of an apathetic and greedy marketplace concerned with artificially depressing the international price of coffee to the extent that it has to be sold for less than its production cost. It is pointed out that a $2 cup of coffee returns 1 cent to the grower.

Coffee created the modern state of Brazil, the world's largest producer, but at an enormous cost in human and environmental terms. In 1816, one third of Brazil's population were enslaved, most were involved in the production of coffee. The importance of this cheap labour force resulted in Brazil being the last South American country to abolish slavery. The country's forests were also decimated and today only 10% of the original growth remains.

When representations were made to Congressional Hearings in the USA in an effort to gain fair pricing for their crop, the reception was indifference. The world coffee price collapsed and the President of Brazil shot himself.

A subsequent revolt in Guatemala was put down with American assistance to protect the interests of the coffee barons.

The advent of instant coffee during World War II resulted in the growth of huge corporations committed to buying the cheapest possible product with little regard for quality. This exacerbated the existing problem and resulted in increased production of the inferior, higher yielding robusta beans instead of the superior Arabica beans.

Vietnam, now the world's second largest producer, grows primarily Robusta beans which provide a coarser, less rounded coffee.

There is significant coverage on the DVD of retail giants such as Starbucks with 6,000 outlets and a commitment to opening three to four new outlets per day across 60 countries.

There is an encouraging trend developing which includes reafforestation because beans ripen slower in the shade of larger trees. Also Organic Product Certification and Fair Trade Certification allows premium pricing and a fairer return for the grower and helps assure the future of small growers by raising the awareness of first world consumers.

On the subject of quality, I was interested to see an interview with Ernesto Illy, chairman of one of the highest profile brands of coffee, Illy, who contends that apart from the flavour benefits of drinking quality espresso coffee, the extractive process discards the bitter residue often delivered with other forms of coffee making, also resulting in less caffeine.

This is a fascinating overview of a one of life's greatest pleasures. The program is indeed exhaustive and while at times it is subjective, it does reinforce the grossly unfair difference between retail return and production costs.

Finally after 3 hours, I found out that the best coffee in the world comes from Ethiopia where it all started.

- John Allison

Special State of the Arts giveaway.

To go into the draw for a free Black Coffee 3 DVD set, just send an email to Content. Mention Black Coffee and include your name, address and phone number. Good luck!

This giveaway has now concluded. Visit us again for more regular State of the Arts giveaways.