A Day Without Coffee

As working hours intensified and modern life advanced, caffeine became the ideal drug to keep up with this accelerated perception of time. Just like the goats in Ethiopia who discovered the magic of coffee, stressed and busy human beings in the Western world abused it.

BY: DANIELA MALLARINO

Artwork from Pinterest

The smell of freshly ground beans invigorates me every morning. I am one of those coffee junkies who can drink (and in fact, would gladly do so), up to three cups of coffee a day. I am like a 40-year-old coffee drinker, waking up in the morning just to savour the aroma and flavor of coffee. 

I took a barista course in 2018 because I wanted to learn my latte art swan, and helped my mom design a coffee tour ‘experience’ for avid coffee drinkers in Bogota. Coffee flavors and aromas are almost like wine; the more attention you pay (and the more you drink it), the better you understand it. 

I learned how to brew coffee with every possible artifact from Japan to Germany to Italy. And for my 21st birthday, my family gifted me an espresso machine so I could have my delights at home. 

It 's amazing.

Now, you’re probably guessing that as a Colombian, my parents were giving me coffee before baby food. 

And yes, coffee is a national symbol in Colombia. In fact, beyond a cultural insignia, it has powered our economy and the livelihoods of millions of small scale farmers for decades. According to the World Bank, Colombia is the second largest coffee exporting country in the world and the cultivation of coffee accounts for nearly 8% of the national GDP. Despite the price tag, it didn’t come without a higher cost. 

As big a cultural beverage as it is, with sayings that ‘happiness is a good cup of coffee and a book’, I actually didn’t enjoy my reading time with caffeine until 2017, when my gringa best friend purchased a $6 dollar latte for me. I had grown up with the aroma and effects of café all around me, but I had never tried it myself. 

That day, I joined ‘the coffee culture’. 

Although the term sounds as hipster as they come, it actually has some deeper meaning. It refers to the traditions and social behaviors surrounding the act of coffee consumption, and its formation dates back to coffeehouses in 16th century Turkey, as well as Parisian and Londonian coffee places, which became popular hubs for artists and intellectuals. 

With capitalism, that local experience of sitting down with your philosopher friends rapidly changed. Coffee became a popularized beverage and the Yankis weren’t gonna stay behind, so along they came with their magic unicorn-sprinkle-double-whipped cream-double sugar-triple straw-latte influencer drink. 

As working hours intensified and modern life advanced, caffeine became the ideal drug to keep up with this accelerated perception of time. Just like the goats in Ethiopia who discovered the magic of coffee, stressed and busy human beings in the Western world abused it. 

Artwork from Pinterest

Caffeine is the most popularly consumed drug, as it tweaks with your regular brain functioning, stops adenosine, (the chemical that sends a signal to your brain when it's time to sleep), and actually tricks you into believing that nope, you’re not tired and you can work work work. 

And with these seemingly negative brain effects, along came the environmental ones. 

In 2011 the New York Times published a concerning article stating that in the last few years the cafetales have plummeted as a result of rising global temperatures. Arabica plants give  excellent fruit, but they need ideal conditions to thrive. In addition to a balanced combination of rainfall, shade, and sometimes dryness, Arabica plants communicate with their neighbors and soil. 

When you buy coffee and it describes the flavors as ‘citrus,’ ‘caramel,’ or ‘fruity’, they mean it. Arabica plants adapt to the surrounding crops and terrain, and they give you deliciously perfected beans. 

If you plant banana trees near your coffee plants, you will feel the notes of the banana leaf. 

Maintaining and monitoring the ideal ecosystem for Arabica plants is a growing challenge with the changes produced by climate change, and this unpredictability may question the future of coffee. 

El Eje Cafetero, a region in Colombia whose name has been attributed to its large coffee production, was the leader in coffee quality and exports. Comprising three of the smallest departments in the country (Quindio, Risaralda, and Caldas), the hard work of farmers in the region placed Colombia as a remarkable coffee producer and exporter. 

However, with the continued rising demand of coffee beans and the mismanagement of soils, the region’s capacity to provide delicious coffee is slowly decreasing. 

These detrimental effects to coffee production are not exclusive to one place. As stated in an article published by Forbes in 2019, “most experts agree that the future of coffee is significantly at risk due to climate change. It is estimated that 50% of the land used to grow coffee will not be farmable by the year 2100.” 

Besides altering the ideal conditions for Arabica to grow, rising temperatures allow pests and diseases to grow rapidly and destroy, not just coffee yields but the livelihoods of 80% of the small-scale farmers dependent on coffee around the world. 

So what does this mean for coffee drinkers? (And addicts, like myself.) 

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Reducing coffee consumption is not a bad idea, but what matters the most is where you get your coffee from. The ‘Fair Trade’ label, although luxurious and costly, can actually make a huge difference. 

As argued by Marcela Ibanez and Allen Blackman, eco-certifications are a “win-win” solution to tackle environmental degradation and economic performance, particularly in low-income countries. They state that farmers who had adopted a fair trade certification were associated with more sustainable farm practices, a reduction in sewage disposal, and an increase in the use of organic fertilizer (Ibanez & Blackman, 2016). 

When it comes to environmental challenges and the forces that reign them, it may seem discouraging to realize the impotence we have as individuals. And, yes, each of us alone may not change much. If one really wants to make a difference in reducing the impacts of climate change, we have to work more as a community than as individuals. 

Fair Trade promises supply chain transparency for the consumers, can improve the working conditions for small scale farmers, and extremely importantly, it can help protect bird biodiversity. 

We have to change our habits as a community if coffee is to be protected. 

And would a day without coffee really look like? 

For me, it would be extremely sad to lose the mindful moment I am able to have with my coffee during various times of the day. It may also mean less opportunities to chat with each other in coffee shops, and even shorter working days. But a day without coffee is not as problematic for the consumer as it is for the supplier. 

The intimacy that you hold with your cup of coffee in the morning is connected to the banana leaf that gave it its flavor, to the mountains that received the rainfall in their soil, and to the farmer who delicately picked the fruit and put it in his costal. 

Breathe in the aroma of your coffee, and don’t let it vanish.