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What kind of coffee are you drinking?
Hello I'm Rob welcome to 6 minute English.With me today is Neil. Hello Neil. Hello Rob.In this program, we are going to be talking about coffee. Ah coffee, I’ve actually got one here in front of me. What kind of coffee are you drinking? It’s a skinny latte(拿铁）. And what’s that? you’ve got?I’ve gone for a flat white（馥芮白） today. That tastes good. Looks good too.The market for the world’s most popular drink has come a long way since the days of instant coffee when we just added boiling water to some brown powder. Yes, that’s very true Neal. After that came the giants like Starbucks and Costa coffee who made coffee drinking trendy and a lifestyle statement. People are far more aware of what they are drinking these days. But Rob, I don’t think we should forget what lies behind the coffee we enjoy every day. It’s a hugely complicated business. Yes, it is the second biggest commodity in the world after oil. That means the price of coffee is changing every day, every hour even as traders speculate about the price. And it means farmers in countries like Ethiopia, Costa Rica and Brazil are dependant on the deals that are made in commodity markets thousands of miles from their farms. It makes them extremely vulnerable. Let’s listen to food journalist Chilla Dylan. She explains the impact of coffee markets on local growers. She uses an expression that means “has a big effect”. Can you tell me what it is? “ What happens in the coffee market makes waves around the globe. Entire national economy is dependant on the price of coffee. It’s the key to whether individual farmers can provide for their families, face unemployment and ultimately whether their whole communities stay on the land or track the cities. She said makes waves. This means have a big effect. She also used the expression provide for their families. This means the farmer’s family have enough income to live comfortably. what about our quiz question today. Neil, you know how many cups of coffee are drunk worldwide each year? Is it A.38 billion B.400 billion C.950 billion. Well it's going to be a huge number of course. But I still think I'll go for the lowest figure, which is 38 billion. Well we'll see if we got the answer right at the end of the program. Now the price of coffee has soared ( that means gone up quickly) in recent years.Rob. Surely, that’s good for everyone involved in the business. I believe the profit margins for coffee are among the highest in the world. I can’t see what’s all the fusses about it. Well,just because the price is high. It doesn’t mean every one benefits. It all depends on how the profits are distributed. You see there are countless transactions between the grower and the drinker. A grower can have a really good crop. But the amount he makes stays the same or could even fall. I see the problem. I expect most of the profits go to the commodity traders and very little to the individual growers of the bean. It sounds like the growers have no control. That’s what happens in other agricultural sectors. I’m afraid so. Of course, some people are trying to distribute the profits more widely and they have been having some success. I heard about some small scale projects where the company takes charge of the whole process from field to shop. Yes, these organizations tend to farm organically. This is very labor- intensive. That means a lot of people are employed and it creates a lot of jobs for people within the local communities.In this way, they are not the victims of the market fluctuations. Let’s listen to Leon... who runs a small plantation like this in Costa Rica. What’s the verb he uses for putting the coffee in the box before selling it? “ For our plantation, the approach we have to go through every step of the way , every step of the process. We grow it. we pack it. we process it in a mill and then eventually we’ll roast it ,we package it and we sell it. There’s more plantation we are. That would allow us to stay or be profitable at the end of the day.”
So he used the verb “package”, which means put a product in a packet or box before selling it. And he said his community can stay profitable. This means they can always maintain profits or make money. Well, it’s good to know small growers can live reasonably comfortably despite what the world market is doing. The next time I grab the take-away coffee, I’ll try to remember all the politics involved in the production process. Yes, me too. So should we have the answer to the quiz question now?
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