A Good Cup 'o Joe (book nomination)

Daviron, Benoit and Ponte, Stefano. The Coffee Paradox: Global Markets, Commodity Trade, and the Elusive Promise of Development. New York: Zed Books Ltd., 2005.

                 This book is not about coffee, it is about development. The coffee paradox is a phenomenon in developing countries that grow coffee. In spite of an increase in specialty coffee and consumer coffee prices, the amount of value that reaches the farmer has actually decreased over time. The authors use coffee to represent commodities in general and to discuss how to solve the paradox. Coffee is a good example because it grows exclusively in the south, but northerners are the primary consumers. In addition, there are not any crop subsidies for coffee in more developed nations as there are for corn, for example. Benoit Daviron is an economist and visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. His specialty is food policy and commodity chains. Stefano Ponte is a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies and writes on commodities trading, especially coffee, and agro-food markets. They have written their book to recast the “development problem” for countries that rely on commodities. The authors examine how a commodity gains value as it passes through a global value chain. They even provide a definition of commodity: commodities are goods in a world market where all the actors recognize a standard of quality that is not attached to processing or manufacturing. (xviii) They do work their way to a solution of the paradox by the end of the book, whether or not the solution is workable is another story.

            But this book IS about coffee! The authors take us through the familiar history of plantations and slavery, comparing coffee plantations to Mintz’s sugar plantations. They follow production through the slave era, to coerced and indentured labor, and finally to the relatively smaller farms of today. The book includes the story of Guatemala turning to coffee production in 1860 after Red fell out of vogue and the cochineal industry collapsed. The authors detail how coffee is grown, harvested, and cleaned in the originating country. It is only after the green coffee hits the ports of the consumer nations that the real value accumulates. To understand the global value chain of coffee one must locate the place and type of value added.

          For Daviron and Ponte quality is the real issue, but “evaluation of quality attributes changes historically in different contexts.” (32) They identify three types of quality attributes that all commodities have: material, symbolic and in-service quality. Material quality is embedded in the product; it is usually measured in the human senses and collectively agreed upon. Coffee’s material qualities are taste, aroma, and appearance. Symbolic quality is not measured by human senses because it is based on reputation. It is associated with brand names, trademarks, and geography indicators. Coffee’s most recognizable symbolic qualities are Juan Valdez, or Starbuck’s interior design and coffee bar. In-service quality is separate from production and is realized at the point of consumption. For coffee the affective labor, Starbuck’s employee or the consumer adds the in-service quality. Only tourism can bring the in-service quality attribute of coffee back to the producing nation. Juan Valdez functions as an attempt by Colombia to add symbolic value in the producing nation.

            There is a long discussion in the book on how roasters mix beans from various types of coffees with coffee from different regions. This keeps the roaster, located in consuming countries, from becoming too dependent on any one source. However, this removes the material quality attribute from the hands of producing nations, and makes them even more vulnerable to drops in prices due to global overproduction. There is also a discussion about government regulation and attempts by producing nations to form cooperatives to control supply. Transferring the value of added quality attributes back along the coffee value chain is the solution to the coffee paradox. Only coffees that are marketed as “fair trade” or sold with a geographical attribute, Sumatran or Ethiopian, are currently able to capture some additional symbolic value. To accomplish this, Daviron and Ponte suggest a new quality attribute that encompasses socio-economic and environmental conditions of production. This attribute provides protection for the environment, increases the socio-economic situation for producers, and makes the consumers feel good about their purchases. To accomplish this, several things must change. The dominance of the roasters must be broken and quality and brand must originate in the producing country. Government regulation or coffee cooperatives must control supply in order to raise prices before the product leaves the country of origin. Finally, consumers in developed nations must be educated about the quality, conditions, and circumstances of the coffee in its homeland.

            The authors believe that coffee, and other commodities, can absorb this new quality attribute. They cite Appadurai as saying, “objects can move in and out of ‘commodity status’ – that is, they have social lives…where value is a judgment made by subjects on objects, rather than an inherent property of objects.” (225) The value of coffee in a producing nation can move beyond that of a random green coffee bean and encompass symbolic quality attributes that previously were reserved for roasters and vendors of coffee. An educated consumer will understand and pay more for socially conscious coffee. Is this mere political correctness, or a new way of doing business? Specialty and fair trade coffee currently make up only 1% of the market. (219) Consumer preference has not been enough to bring about change.

            Unlike chocolate, coffee is a commodity that does not have a variety consumption forms. Like chocolate, it begins as an agricultural product that turns into a delicious beverage. Put the two together, and it is magic. If this new quality makes a difference for coffee, it could surely apply to chocolate, bananas, and other commodities. However, can this type of quality attribute survive in a capitalist system?