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Wild Thing!Copyright 2004 Brian Martell Back in the 60’s, The Trogs had a one hit wonder little ditty called “Wild Thing!” I remember my brother lewdly changing the lyrics to something that would not make prime time radio, let alone TV, in his attempt to parody a group that was a parody of itself. It now seems that the latest and greatest thing to hit the coffee market in the last year has been the concept of wild coffee. Coffee originally grew wild in regions of sub Saharan Africa. The birth of modern coffee happened along a belt that extended from the east to the west coast of the Dark Continent and into the Saudi peninsula across the Red Sea. The range for wild coffee has now mostly been restricted to present day Ethiopian rainforests where wild coffee still grows. With the overabundance of green coffee on the world market, many farmers in this region have taken to replanting new crops, but have also started to encroach on this last bastion of wild coffee preserve. In a report from UPI in the Washington Times, NGO’s and a group called the Amber Corporation (et al) have joined forces to save the rare habitat by encouraging local farmers to harvest the wild coffee grown in the Bonga rainforest. The pickers have to have a special permit to enter and harvest the coffee, plus they have to process the coffee in specially designated co-ops. The coffee is then promoted, mainly in Germany, as the pinnacle of “obtainable” (there is, after all, Luak) rare coffees with a social conscience. Interestingly enough, the emergence of wild coffee will be restricted to this relatively small coffee growing region. While coffee is grown and exported by about 40 different counties world wide, the original wild coffee, and all its progeny come from this part of Africa/Arabia. Thus, if someone in South America or Indonesia tried to pick up on this trend, they technically would have to call their product “feral” at best if they were to market the coffee honestly. Coffee sommeliers in some of the more upscale European restaurants are now making coffee recommendations to their patrons on what wild coffee would best round off their wild boar in béarnaise sauce. Their showmanship in descriptives (“taste explosion, full bodied with a ripe aroma”), while keen, might leave a few patrons skeptical about the whole experience. I’m reminded of my father who, when asked to pronounce his opinion on any particular wine would earnestly say “an unpretentious little wine, it makes a bold entrance but doesn’t overstay its welcome.” The poor unfortunate who asked in the first place would either meekly agree or change the subject. The snob appeal of this coffee obviously has legs. Being able to wax eloquent about the unique experience of drinking wild coffee, while supporting African farmers, could carry currency with the Euro-idle-rich. Indeed, this coffee is not for the budget conscious. A typical serving cost is in the range of 5 € (about $10.00 Canadian) per cup. So will this have any impact on the North American coffee industry? The odds are not in its favour due to restricted supply and the preponderance of the European element taking on most of the production. Further, when the coffee market does become more profitable for producers, there is a good chance they will abandon the more labourious task of going into the forest and scaring up wild trees in favour of the more efficient plantation harvesting method. While wild coffee is an interesting transient of the coffee industry, I somehow get the feeling that it too will go the way of The Trogs. Questions or comments? Reach Brian at Brian@heritage-coffee.com |
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