Jay Ruskey, cofounder and CEO of California’sFrinj Coffee, wants us to think aboutcoffeeas we do wine. For 20 years, he’s been perfecting the art of coffee growing in an unlikely place—California- 现在您可以品尝杯子中的那个地方。今天，他的农场，好的土地有机物inGoleta, is a coffee lab bustling with scientists, geologists, farmers and connoisseurs sampling Frinj’s lauded Geisha beans straight from the source.
California-grown coffee has a small but devoted following. Currently, 74 farmers have teamed up with Frinj to grow Ruskey’s high-end Geisha and caturra coffee cultivars. Frinj’s scientists mentor farmers onsoil health，有机种植和修剪技术，然后Frinj将大量的销售价格与农民划分了 - 今年，仅五盎司的艺ish豆出售的售价在50-8美元之间。
That might be a jaw-dropping price for even the most discerning coffee drinkers, but Justin Jonte, farm manager ofMraz Family Farms, one of Frinj’s partner growers owned by musician Jason Mraz, explained how much work it takes to bring the market’s rarest bean to your cup. Coffee is the most labor-intensive beverage on Earth. Workers handpick cherries over a six-to-eight-month period, taking advantage of Southern California’s long, dry summer days. Then they extract the bean, cure, dry, shell and hand-sort it multiple times.
In addition, coffee is a thirsty plant. Growing coffee trees in a drought ridden coastal desert and paying workers a living wage inflate the price of Golden State java to what farmers say presents the true cost of this global commodity.
Coffee is the most labor-intensive beverage on Earth.
But as the climate changes more drastically andsupply chain issuesmake it so the tropics can’t keep up with demand, California growers are reminding us to think more locally, even with the dramatic price tag. “Wine people get it—beverages allow us to taste the land we walk on,” says Rachel Jonte, assistant manager of Mraz Family Farms. “You don’t drink Cristal every day.”
在加利福尼亚人的每日杯距离他们的家仅100英里之前，还有很长的路要走，但是随着需求的增加，选择也是如此。圣地亚哥的Bird Rock Coffeehas already hosted tastings of California Geisha, brewed by Jason Mraz himself. Good Land Organics offers a farm tour and tasting. TheUniversity of California,Davis Innovation Centeris studying how we might grow even better coffee—and maybe make it more accessible. For now, scoop up some beans when you can and explore the perks of homegrown coffee.
这篇文章最初发表在6月/July 2022 issue of葡萄酒爱好者magazine. Click这里to subscribe today!