What do wine and coffee have in common? Apparently very little when it comes to taste, but both products are obtained from a fruit produced by a plant.
As everyone knows, wine is made from grapes, just as coffee comes from the cherries/drupes of the coffee plant. This may seem like a very simplistic summary, but in its simplicity it contains a clear truth.
Using similarities between these two products will help me dispel false myths and better explain how important traceability is in the world of coffee as well. For example, have you ever heard of 100% Italian wine? When we talk about wine, we ask for much more information that gives us an idea of what we will ultimately receive in the glass. Today, whether at a restaurant or at home, wine is bought according to its region or micro-region of origin (let's simply think of a classic Chianti), after which the botanical variety is chosen and, continuing with Tuscany as an example, a good Sangiovese, followed by the fermentation and aging processes (e.g., in a wooden barrel or in steel). Coffee, on the other hand, is bought at best with the simple description of 100% Arabica, which, to make the same comparison, would mean “wine made from 100% grapes.” As you can understand, this tells us absolutely nothing. I want to clarify this subject and point out that, just like wine, coffee has its own country of origin, its own micro-area of production, and its own processing method, which alters its flavor, as well as the importance of knowing the people who produce that specific coffee.
It would be wonderful if, starting tomorrow, when buying coffee, people had the same expectations as when buying wine: for example, a good coffee produced in Colombia, in the Cauca region, of the Castillo botanical variety, processed naturally, and produced by Finca El Paraiso by Diego Lopez Diaz. We are still a long way from such transparency, and for now I would be satisfied with much less. What matters is that both consumers and baristas become more curious about what they drink or serve, instead of treating coffee simply as if it were medicine and consuming it only because they need to wake up.
Ask for more traceability and transparency, and you will discover a wonderful world: the marvelous world of coffee.
