Slurping a Cup of Fair Trade
If you’ve never witnessed “coffee cupping,” this is a great introduction. This process is the reason why some coffee can taste so fabulous.
View the 6-minute audio/ visual slideshow for a fascinating look at “coffee cupping” in Bolivia
By Gary L Howe
From Bolivia’s high altitude capital of La Paz to its coffee growing mecca, a small town called Caranavi in the Yungas valley, you descend 11,000 feet along what has been named the world’s most dangerous road by the Inter American Development Bank. Hundreds of people a year plunge to their deaths down cliffs that border the single lane highway. I took this journey to witness the “Cup of Fair Trade Coffee,” which is a coffee cupping competition that was held this past September 2006. The aptly named “Death Road” is just one of many hurdles the Bolivian coffee growers must overcome in order to reach consumer markets in North American and Europe. [Read the rest of his essay here]