A New Page: Coffee in the Media

I used to think I was a coffee expert, when I knew a whole lot less about coffee. Even still, though, coffee is the thing I know the most about and when I hear something in the news about coffee that does not jibe with my understanding of what’s really going on,  I tend to freak out a bit. It also shakes my confidence in the various new outlets to which I am addicted to reading and listening when I hear something “off” about the one topic I feel most confident: coffee. In that spirit, I have started a new page, “Coffee in the Media” where I hope to post some salient comments on the reporting that gets done about coffee.

I hope I will be broad-ranging in what I address on that page but what’s got me started are a couple pet peeves (and, after all is said and done, what else does a Curmudgeon have except peeves – and the right to deny access to his lawn, if he has one).

Peeve #1 is the widely accepted “truth” promulgated in the news media that when it comes to coffee, the supply chain is infested with greedy, rapacious “middlemen” that need to be stomped out at any cost.

Peeve #2 is that the spokespeople for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the “certifications” that many of them administer are accepted by the news media as completely objective and disinterested in terms of the former, and their latter certifications are viewed with absolute confidence.

In my first post on this subject I attempt to address something that came up recently with regard to Peeve #2. If the hapless reader should wade forth into its 1200+ words, though, I do beg that he or she at least skip to the last few paragraphs before your eyes glaze over completely. (The link to this page is provided herewith, and it appears on the masthead of this site as well.)