Tag Archives: coffee

International

Coffee thru the Mail is just as bad as illegal drugs?

Video

17DEC2018 (08:55 UTC-07 Tango 06) 26 Azar 1397/08 Rabi ‘ath-Thani 1440/11 Jia-Zi 4716

Millions of U.S. citizens have family and friends employed by the U.S. military and deployed to other countries, now imagine millions of ‘care packages’ being sent to those military personnel.  I remember guys getting books, music cassette tapes (remember those?), cookies, candy, but I don’t remember anybody getting drugs or coffee.  Coffee?

Turns out that sending coffee to military personnel overseas is just as ‘illegal’ as sending illegal drugs.  Not just coffee, but prescription drugs and even food supplements are banned, yet people still do it and they get caught.

Here’s some links to websites about sending care packages to military personnel:

Tips for Sending Care Packages to the Military Overseas

Military Guide to Shipping Packages

 Army Care Package Prohibited Contents

However, there are groups out there trying desperately to get some good high grade coffee to military personnel suffering from that old Army Coffee-itis: Help Us Ship Coffee to Troops in Afghanistan

DRUGS, THE AMERICAN WAY, JULY 2018: “A STATE OF NEAR DEATH.” 

 

Business/Economics, International

Food Crisis: U.S. Deforestation caused landslides in Haiti! No more cheap coffee or cocoa?

18 October 2016 (02:09 UTC-07 Tango 01) 27 Mehr 1395/16 Muharram 1438/18 Wu Zu 4714

“We lost cows, and all of our crops. Nothing is left. And our homes are destroyed!”-Geffrard Duplessis, farmer

“The south-west is dominated by rural communities with only 22% Urban. Coffee and other agriculture are key to these locations.”–reliefweb.int

Don’t blame Hurricane Matthew for all the death and destruction in Haiti; corporate coffee  and cocoa operations, which required massive deforestation of Haiti’s mountain region, shares most of the blame for the killer landslides.

This photo shows the massive deforestation of Haiti, compared to its next door neighbor Dominican Republic

It’s interesting that Hurricane Matthew hit right where ‘western’ food corporations encouraged farmers to develop coffee, cocoa and rubber tree plantations (natural rubber tree ops disappeared after the oil industry succeeded in making mass produced synthetic rubber), which required the destruction of the old growth forests.  According to a New York Times article the deforestation was accelerated after the U.S. occupation of Haiti in the 1930s.  By the 1950s deforestation was complete.

Certified Gone?

“The National Institute of Coffee Haiti informs that more than 35,800 hectares [88,463 acres] of coffee have been devastated…”–Haiti Libre

“As well as tearing up food staples and filling fields with sea water and trash, the storm uprooted plantations of cocoa, coffee and fruit trees, cash crops that are exported and that experts said will take at least five years to grow back.”–Reuters

Now many of those coffee and cocoa plantations are washed away so expect prices for coffee and chocolate to go up.  The hurricane hit right when hopes were high about Haiti’s chocolate industry being able to boost its economy: “With 98 percent of their trees gone, Haitians eye cocoa-based agroforestry as a way to combat poverty and renew the land.”–Alternet

Already U.S. coffee retailers are asking customers to fork over hard earned cash to rebuild those plantations. Minnesota based Pelican Coffee Shop promises to donate 100% of its coffee bean profits to hurricane relief efforts in Haiti.

By the way, the official hurricane death toll has surpassed 1-thousand humans in Haiti, and mass-famine is expected within six months due to most of the farmland being washed away.

September 2016 U.S. Food Crisis:  IT’S OFFICIAL; MORE THAN HALF OF U.S. FARM WORKERS ARE ILLEGAL! FARMERS BIGGEST WELFARE PROGRAM?

Business/Economics

How would you like your Coffee? Black, White or Asian? Or, Would you like some Cancer with your Tea or Energy Drink?

A small study was done on women who drank beverages with caffeine. The results showed that it mattered if the woman was Caucasian, black-African, or Asian.

Regarding coffee, Asian women had a jump in estrogen levels.  Caucasian women had a huge drop in estrogen, and black-African women had very little change.

The study also suggested that women of child bearing age are not affected by coffee: “For women of reproductive age, drinking coffee will not alter their hormonal function in a clinically significant way.”-Enrique Schisterman, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

However, caffeinated soda pop, and black teas, caused an across the board increase in estrogen for all women in the study!  The researchers are concerned because some cancers are linked to high levels of estrogen.

The study did not look at how caffeine affects women older than 44 years.  It was released online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

2010: ALCOHOL IN ENERGY DRINKS? NOT MANY.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

No Economic Recovery for the U.S.: Brazil about to beat out U.S. as number 1 Coffee drinkers. Coffee consumption a sign of good times

“In Brazil the middle class has grown and has more money nowadays. Consumers are becoming more sophisticated and want more quality, they want differentiation.  In 2000 you could not find gourmet coffee on supermarket shelves, now we have 104 different brands that are certified as gourmet coffees in the program in the stores.”-Nathan Herszkowicz, ABIC

Right now Brazil is the number one producer of coffee, and according to Brazil’s coffee industry association ABIC, Brazil is about to become the number one consumer as well.

According to officials with ABIC, the coffee consumption rate, in Brazil, is increasing by 4% every year.

While increased coffee consumption is a sign of good economic times for Brazilians, it could be bad news for everyone else: Coffee farmers in Brazil are now focusing on growing for domestic sales, rather than exporting their drinkable beans. That could increase prices for the rest of us.

By the way, the ranking of biggest coffee consumer is based on a country’s consumption of 60 kilogram (132 pounds) bags of coffee.  If you look at per capita (per person) consumption of coffee, then Finland is number one!

 

Business/Economics, International, Opinion

Proof that Coffee prices are too high, 3 men lynched over truck load of Coffee

According to Guatemalan Police, 3,000 people took part in lynching three would be coffee thieves.

The police say the residents of La Democracia caught the men trying to take off with a truck load of coffee, then beat, hung and burned the men to death.

The police also say the townsfolk blocked them from stopping the lynching.

People are actually being killed for one of the most popular beverages. Something to think about the next time you sip on that cup o’ joe.