#8: "Empowerment": The New Colonialism Trap

I want to start by thanking everyone who has reached out to me and sent questions/comments or just let me know that you enjoy listening. I started this podcast as my offering to chip away at the knowledge gap between coffee producers and consumers
In today’s podcast episode we’re going to hear from 2 sides of the value chain in very different parts of the world. Brendan from Semilla Roasters in Canada gives the roaster perspective and later in the episode we hear from Vivek, a 4th generation coffee producer in India. He asks for advice because he’s unsure where to start. Can he learn to be a good cupper without having a Q grader license?
To me, the gap is an issue because it determines power dynamics. The simple issue is:
Producers who don’t cup their coffee don't have the power to improve their coffee.
It’s an obvious statement but one that is frequently overlooked because it’s been the standard. Producers often rely on external parties to tell them this vital information. The buyer who is able to cup the coffees is the one who can determine the value.
This alone is bad enough but I’ve seen it lead to a new disturbing trend.

Since the buyers are generally more knowledgeable about the coffee’s quality and since they cup more than producers do, they are uniquely in a position to tell producers how to improve or change their coffee.

Regardless of the good intentions, the buyer is dictating terms, the buyers is still the expert, the buyer has more knowledge, the buyer has more power.

And I couldn’t leave this topic without talking about the word “empower”

I was guilty of using this word to describe my work. It used to be part of my mission statement to “empower producers with unconventional practices”. I had that written on my profile and website.
But as I discuss in this episode, that word now makes me feel uncomfortable and I’ve removed it from my website and avoid using it.
After listening to today's episode, I hope you’ll consider avoiding it also.
Resources Mentioned in this episode:
All Beans Considered: http://allbeansconsidered.com/
Coffee Quality Institute: https://www.coffeeinstitute.org/
Luxia Presentations: https://www.luxia.coffee/instructional-videos