When I posted this article in the Facebook page, I got this golden nugget of a comment:

“I don’t get the hate , coffee should be celebrated in any form, what if that is only the coffee they can afford, do I need to tell them their coffee sucks? Absolutely not!

I say not to coffee elitist”

I don’t want to share the actual quote here. You can go to my Facebook page (link below) to find it. There are three things that bother me about this comment: the commenter has a blatant favoritism of commas over other punctuation marks; the commenter did not even read the article; lastly, the commenter may not have realized it but by playing the victim card he (it’s a guy) is defending large corporations instead of the smaller businesses that drive specialty coffee.

Hoffman style French Press when ECQ started

The said article is a small experiment: in a blind taste test, will the “subjects” discern between instant coffee, pre-ground grocery coffee, and freshly brewed specialty coffee. When the only deciding factor they have is taste, none of the subjects chose instant coffee. It wasn’t only bitter, it “attacked” their taste buds. Now if they knew the prices of these coffees, of course majority will choose the relatively cheaper instant coffee. They’ll just add sugar and (sigh) creamer to it and it will be okay for them. Now I’m not just mad that the guy did not read my article, it’s that he attacked the notion without even reading and understanding the purpose of it first.

However, what’s really bothering me is something I have also pointed out before: I needed those ad views. Kidding, it’s that large corporations continue to have the upside to sell cheap coffee, keep their executives rich, and continue to stick it to farmers that may eventually lead to the decimation of good coffee (and also be bad for the environment).

I’ve gone through this in great length in this article so I’ll just give you the gist: these large corporations are more concerned in keeping costs low; they want to sell more at a low price point; and therefore their executives and stockholders pocket more. That sounds so cynical and bordering on being a conspiracy theory, but unfortunately it’s true. I’ve been a credit/financial analyst for years.

Do not pour and shoot. You have been warned.

To summarize, it’s not right to attack people for relying on instant coffee because that’s what only what they can afford. Everybody’s been there. I mean I only drank instant coffee before I got my first job. I mean I don’t present solid facts with these posts, but I try to show how dangerous instant coffee can be for the coffee industry in the long run. However, don’t attack those who encourage everyone else to try specialty coffee.  It’s not coffee elitism.

If you like coffee and you get to a point in your life where you can afford “expensive coffee”, then help keep the industry alive; get “expensive coffee”. Help out the small farmers, the independent shops.

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