How Much Adventure Fits Into A Cup of Coffee?
May 2003, Toronto - "Coffee isn't just a drink, you know. It made
people and countries rich, lubricated philosophical discussion, and fuelled
revolutionsÄAnd few out there know it!" Brad Zavislake is pointing at the Don Valley
Parkway from his office window at the headquarters of the Merchants of Green Coffee.
It's early in the morning - people are commuting to work and probably not too aware of
the history behind the coffee they are drinking.
The merchants, Josh Sinclair and Alan Smith, focus Merchants of Green Coffee on a
single aim: to return coffee to its roots of being freshly roasted and freshly
consumed. "100 years ago the entire coffee drinking public roasted their beans at
home. Over time, as coffee became mass-commercialized, it's moved to being roasted in
huge factories. What people don't realize is that this process leaches coffees of its
inherent sweetness. All those people," a wave at the DVP again, "are drinking stale
coffee. And they don't know it!"
The merchants have long been avid fans of the history of coffee. From its roots in
the hillsides of Ethiopia and its discovery by a shephard, to coffee smuggled from
Arabia to India by a trader fearing for his life, to a Viennese being paid in coffee
for banishing the Turks from Austria, coffee has a long and colourful life's story.
Colonies have been founded on it, the Boston Tea Party makes drinking coffee a
patriotic duty, and today, coffee shops dot corners around the globe. However, the
true history of coffee lies in its taste.
"What people don't realize," Derek Zavislake says as he pours a cup of fine Arabica,
"is that the coffee they are drinking has been stale for weeks, if not months.
Historically, people brewed freshly roasted coffee for a reason - it just tastes
better!" Predating the principles laid out by the Specialty Coffee Association of
America, which defines a fresh cup of coffee as one that is freshly roasted and
consumed within five days, the merchants built their business on bringing home
bean-roasting technology to the public. Now, with the roasters and a large selection
of coffees from around the world, Merchants of Green Coffee offer the discerning
coffee lover the opportunity to enjoy her coffee without sacrificing her taste buds.
Brad chuckles. "The history of coffee is the freshness of its taste through the
freshness of its roast. That's been forgotten over the last centry, and we're here to
help history repeat itself."
|
