coffee as commodity

I am working on a paper about coffee as a global commodity and connecting it to my own journey of learning about coffee. here is a brief intro.

In Markman Ellis’ preface to his book, The Coffee House: A Cultural History, he notes that “Caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world, exceeding all other common drugs including nicotine and alcohol. The value of the coffee traded on international commodity markets is surpassed only by oil.” In July 2008, I bought a one-way ticket to Cali, Colombia, with less than $100 in my bank account. Hugo Chavez was still alive and still president of Venezuela. I would watch his channel on the small black and white television of my apartment when insomnia kept me awake. Later that same year, the US would elect Barack Obama as president and encounter what some call the Great Recession, a financial meltdown that hit major US and European markets from 2007 until 2009. Partially caused by the subprime mortgage crisis (aka the predatory mortgage loan system in the US), it was a series of events that triggered an economic recession in the US. While US economics faltered, many other countries grew – China and India being examples. I boarded a plane in Austin, Texas, with no job prospects in the US, and hours later, landed in the heart of the largest coffee producers in the world – Valle del Cauca.