How Gourmet Coffee Connects Vermont and the World

Good Morning from Brown and Jenkins Roastery!

Are you sipping your favorite gourmet coffee here in Vermont, up in Canada, down in Southern California or somewhere else entirely? Where ever you are, you might be surprised to learn how much events around the world impact the precise cup of coffee that you hold in your gradually warming hands. Issues like soil conditions, fertilizer, shipping, water supply and work conditions in the growing regions impact the selection, cost and availability of green coffee beans that roasters like Brown and Jenkins have to choose from.

For example, coffee wilt was a big issue for Uganda growers in 2009. Luckily for us, they mainly deal in Robusta coffee beans, and we only sell Arabica beans. However, for those growers and countries involved the loss was calculated at anywhere from 39% to 50%. The problem with this aggressive disease is that it has the ability to kill mature trees in a little as six months time. In China last year, the cost of sugar rose astronomically and caused many retailers to take the hit for fear of losing customers if they raised their prices.

For those of us in the United States, the coffee related growing issues truly seem a world away until they impact our ability to have our favorite cup of Joe. Yet, we never know what will show up and when. Through these turbulent times we have made an attempt to stabilize our pricing (yes, we still offer a cup for $1) although the shipping costs have directly impacted us here in Vermont.

So even though we are brewing locally in the Green Mountains, we are involved in a world wide operation that requires a cultural and environmental awareness far beyond our borders. You know that I have a passion and commitment to our local community here in the Cambridge area. Still, our passion for coffee connects us to the rest of the world in a very concrete way.

Until our next cup,
Sandy Riggen