Whenever my brother and I see each other we always do the same thing. Go out to dinner then grab some coffee. These are my favorite nights. We talk about everything politics, life, and our jobs. My brother works at a coffee shop in the Central West End of St. Louis, Mo. First off, I’d like to point out how extremely jealous I am of him. He lives in an amazing part of St. Louis and he works at a coffee shop. Jealous.
But that is not the point of this blog.
We were out to eat one night and he was telling me about these coffee beans they get from Mexico. They are organic decaf Mexican beans. In the roasting community, Mexican coffee beans are regarded as a very high quality bean, that is versatile in the roasting roasting process. Which pretty much means it makes great coffee. The coffee shop where my brother works has two locations, one in the Central West End and the other in Clayton, Mo. At the Clayton location the coffee will not sell under its original name because of the demographic of the customers who believe that Mexican products are inferior. However, when they label the coffee as ‘Organic Decaf Colombia’ it sells extremely well. My brother mentioned, when you say to the customer that it has a similar taste to the organic decaf Mexican they will reply back that the Colombia is a much higher quality. At the Central West End store, they can label the coffee as ‘Organic Decaf Mexican’ and it sells extremely well.
To me, coffee is coffee. If it tastes good, I’ll drink it and if it does not, well that has not happened yet. I drink coffee, no matter what part of the world it is from. It blows my mind that people will not drink a certain coffee because they think the region it came from is inferior. Does that mean they will not eat Mexican food or they will not vacation to Cancun or somewhere else in Mexico? Maybe I’m thinking to far into it with the Mexican food and vacation part. But, maybe I’m not. If they do not drink Mexican coffee then why would they eat Mexican food or travel to Mexico? Something to think about.
Lesson Learned: Take a look around. Just because you believe something is inferior to you does not mean something great cannot come from it. Open your eyes.
I think this is a great point.
I think this is a great point, if the coffee tastes good why does it matter where it comes from? If someone didn’t tell you where the coffee beans came from, you would most likely drink the coffee from Mexico and love it. So why does the fact that we attatch the area it’s from make or break the product? I think people only believe Colobian coffee is so much better because that is an export their known for. I also think it’s funny because people can claim they dislike Mexican coffee beans because they see it as a bad thing, but not everything that comes from Colombia has a positive reputation either. I think coffe beans are coffee beans, no matter where their from!
I would agree with that this is a completely rediculous claim that the shop is making. However, you have to remember Clayton isn’t exactly the most race friendly neighborhood. Clayton also voted metro train transportation because they didn’t want outsiders coming to their town. I am not not trying to say that everyone in Clayton is racist, however they do have a snootiness factor. The Central West End where I work is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in St. Louis. People of different races, sexual orientations, and economic statuses occupy the Central West End. Anytime I walk into Coffee Cartel in the Central West End, I certainly feel most comfortable. I am a coffee attict and I love coffee from all over. I visited Nueva Vallarta last year and loved the Mexican Coffee served.