By Alex Hillsberg
Finances Online
Your morning caffeine fix is but a drop in the global bucket that makes coffee the number two most traded commodity in the world after petroleum. But with 100 million Americans like you drinking coffee every day, the bucket easily overflows to make the US the world’s top coffee consumer, according to the International Coffee Organization data used in the infographic. That’s enough to perk up a big chunk of our economy, or to be precise, $18 B spent for coffee last year. And it’s all because you love coffee.
But how far down the supply funnel does your coffee dollar go? Follow how coffee is made from your favorite house specialty blend to the farmer in a developing country struggling to make both ends meet. It’s a journey across social classes, lifestyles and cultures that will make you see coffee in a different light. It’s big businesses that run coffee in America. But it’s the small farmer in a developing country who starts it all.
Should you care for the farmer who grows your favorite coffee? Would you care even if you don’t know him?
