the Travel to America about the Coffee Culture

I have traveled many countries for the research on ‘The different cultures of Eastern and Western worlds and differences in coffee cultures’ during the sabbatical year. My travel to America began on 9th December, 2011 and ended on 16th May, 2012. After the trip which took 158 days, I had a presentation of the study about the coffee culture atthe conference of the Korea Civilization Association on 20th Oct, 2012. This paper is the edited copy of the announcement. Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia, and Brazil, where I focused a lot on, are the best places to produce coffee in the Central and South America. They have a common point where they have a coffee farm which produces coffee berries of a good quality. There are no insect harm because of the high elevation, and the density of coffee berries increased due to severe diurnal range which made the taste and the smell better. Beside the Pacific rim volcanic zone, the soil based on volcano-ashes provides enough nutrients for the coffee trees. Direct sunlight ,which is bad for coffee trees, is blocked by the smoke and grown banana trees control the duration of sunshine which makes the natural environment of half light half shadow. The precipitation of the tropical areas, of about 1500 to 1600mm, makes the best environment for coffee trees to grow. Seattle’s Starbucks, which now is a trademark of U.S. culture, is crowded with people drinking takeout coffees and many Americans are drinking Think coffee at a cafe of fair trade in New York . Canadians were drinking Tim Horton’s sweet filtered coffee, and Argentina, where the Europe’s coffee culture are kept, have people drinking coffee leisurely in an 100 year old cafe. Through the tour of Santos Coffee Museum, I check that Brazil is a strong coffee making country. From a country like U.S. to Cuba, Guatemala and Columbia, most people in America drink coffee everyday or harvest the beans, which means that they practically live with coffee. This trip reminded me that America has a coffee culture, not a tea culture.

 

Neil MacGregor’s (2010) recent popular BBC Radio 4 series and bestselling book History of the world in 100 objects arguably should have included the coffee bean. As evidenced by interest in MacGregor’s chosen objects, as well as in academic work (e.g. Ingold, 2007; Latour, 2007), there has been a re-awakening of interest in “stuff” – material culture – and as part of a Routledge’s “Anthropology of Stuff” series, Catherine Tucker’s book on coffee culture adds welcome flavours to the pot. Coffee culture has become ubiquitous, pervasive, symbolic of globalization that saturates (and caffeinates) the networks of the “wired” world; indeed, I have written and submitted this review from a Wi-Fi-enabled java joint near the university where I (also) work. This cafe, to use a neologism, is my “coffice” (coff[ee] + [off]ice). This morning there is a bitter taste to the tail end of my coffee, as I have just read in Tucker (p. xiii) that there is “a history of agony in each cup”. I am blithely aware of this, but like many, find simple comfort and leisure in coffee. But, as Tucker admonishes, is coffee culture so simple? Tucker’s book lifts the lid on the social and economic structures, production systems and global flows that fuel the consumption of coffee culture. The text is accessible to undergraduates, clearly and plainly written, easy to read. Chapters and concepts are linked to theory (e.g. Bourdieu’s concept of “taste”) but are not heavily theorized. Chapters are generally short, quick reads (e.g. Chapter 6, “coffee the industrial revolution and body discipline” runs dry after only four pages, including a very brief nod to the work of Foucault). Is this to the credit or detriment of the book? As an introductory primer or supplementary reading, these chapters would work well alongside additional readings, for example, in discussions of globalized leisure. Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 09:09 30 May 2016 Leisure/Loisir 369 I would have liked to see more of the ethnographic material that Tucker uses to introduce some of the chapters. These vignettes are compelling, connecting diverse people and coffee landscapes. As snapshots they work well to draw the reader’s interest; some chapters do not have this up-close feel, and the broader scope of the book (particularly some of its historical expansiveness) lacks this slice of life, ethnographic fine-grain. Additionally, because of its focus on material culture, I expected to see deeper engagement with the literature on material “stuff” such as Appadurai (2003), Ingold (2007) and Latour (2007), perhaps preceded by the likes of Mauss (1979 [1935]), who reminded that the first cultural artefact, or thing, is the body itself (into which we ultimately pour our coffee). This book will be of interest to leisure scholars interested in cultural, environmental, historical and economic impacts of globalized “things” – as noted by Gosden and Marshall (1999) “things” have their own biographies and stories to tell too. While leisure scholarship often focuses on the practices of consumption, less often are we interested in the stories of the “stuff” that is consumed. Coffee culture – an interwoven yet easily taken for granted part of everyday life – is a fascinating topic, stretching well beyond the nearest Tim Horton’s, Starbucks, or Caffé Nero and the daily grind. While not high-octane espresso, neither is this book decaffeinated. Certainly worth brewing a fresh cup and having a read, although it may (hopefully) cause reflection on the contents of your cup.