This is the first part in our Why Coffee series, where we take time to discuss and dig into one of Bump 'n Grind's three pillars - Coffee. There are a lot of amazing angles to coffee. Aspects to coffee. Powers of coffee. It's a fascinating plant with a storied history, dating back to 800 AD when a goat herder noticed his goats "dancing". It is not lost on us, that Coffee's orgin story incorporates dancing! We love it! While we aren't goats, we currently enjoy some coffee prior to going out for a late night of dancing.
Coffee is the second most traded commodity on the planet after crude oil? It is a $100 Billion dollar industry, predominantly produced in "developing" countries. Five countries produce 74% of the world's coffee: Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, and Ethiopia. Most of the 25 million producers, across 50 coffee growing countries, are small farmers that rely on the crop. Coffee has an oppressive agricultural history, taking advantage of workers and one of the reasons we created and started sourcing strictly "Conscientious Coffee" (Part 2.)
There are two main types of Coffee, Arabica and Robusta ( There are over 10,000 known coffee varieties worldwide, but only a few dozen are commonly cultivated). Arabica is 70% of the crop grown and traditionally associated with top tier coffee as it tends to be more flavorful. Robusta is hardier, cheaper and typically used for instant coffee and by large producers. Robusta is developing though and at last years barsita championships one participant used an anaerobic Robusta bean. Robusta beans are being given more attention because they are able to weather (pun intended) climate change concerns, better than Arabica.
Like many of the most consumed products on the planet, Coffee has an environmental down side, that we also address with our Conscientious Coffee. The World Wildlife Fund reports that of the 50 countries with the highest deforestation rates from 1990 - 1995, 37 were coffee producers. Coffee was traditionally grown in the shade, but in order to increase yields, growers were pushed towards planting their crops in the sun. Using chemicals and chopping down forests, allow for greater output but ruin the habitats of the surrounding fauna.
As many of us know, over half of US 18 year olds drink coffee daily, Coffee is AMAZING! It energizes us, inspires us and makes us feel good. So good and so much energy, inspiration that throughout its history it has been banned in Cities and Countries, with serious penalties if you were caught consuming it. Why, the ruling class has found it to be dangerous as it has been the fuel that inspired revolutions, cosmic, alternative thinking and approaches to life.
Bump 'n Grind, the space, was created - in part because we loved that reality of coffee. How it brings people together, foments ideas and helps manifest them. We're here for mashing down babylon, what's next and being a fulcrum for making it happen - with you. We became coffee roasters, in part to be able to address the oppressive social and environmentally destructive tendencies of the industry.
More about that and our creation of Conscientious Coffee in part 2 of our Why Coffee series.