Sankofa - Black History of Coffee
Coffee Ceremony in Ethiopia on John Clark’s origin trip to the area.
Sankofa - “metaphorical symbol used by the Akan people of Ghana, expressing the importance of reaching back to knowledge gained in the past and bringing it into the present in order to make positive progress.”
February’s Black History Month originated in the United States as a time to recognize the historic and present day contributions of black people here and across the world. Vienna Coffee knows that the rich and complex blends that make up the diaspora of people of African descent are an integral part of the coffee journey. Like much of the story of Black people in America this history is tainted by the bitter acidity of slavery, the present flavored by the dregs of that past, and the future is dependent on our willingness to acknowledge those elements.
Coffee’s “Eve” originated much like human life in the cradle of Africa, specifically the highlands of Ethiopia. The elixir poured into the world via trade through the Middle East and Asia and European colonization. Coffee was yet another commodity of the golden triangle moving enslaved Africans to places like Brazil and the West Indies in exchange for the crops they grew and harvested, which in turn was sold for northern consumption. In places like Brazil enslaved people were disposable cogs ground up in the coffee business machine with slaveholders finding it more expedient to work them to death and replace them with fresh bodies when they fell. Not only were they enslaved to cultivate and harvest, black people were the labor that loaded and unloaded the estimated 600 million pounds of green coffee shipped from the West Indies to the United States between 1789 and 1806. Black people carved and carried America’s new economic building block that was created by the popularity of coffee post the Boston Tea Party. Fueled by the growth of home consumption coffee became a lynchpin of re-export for the young nation.
Looking at the history it would seem more likely to find more black people and diverse experiences within the present day coffee industry, however, the problematic history continues to impact the realities of today. Economic disparity not only affects the number of black people consuming specialty coffees, but it also limits the number of opportunities for black people in specialty coffee work environments. These are limited by the lack of black representation in decision making roles. Lack of representation occurs in part because land, production and business ownership still falls under a colonized umbrella. Often the only places black/brown individuals are participants in the coffee supply chain are as those laboring to grow or those laboring to serve.
Vienna Coffee is doing its part to change the paradigm. Our vision includes creating spaces that foster connection and commitment to community involvement while creating sustainable relational interactions as a foundation of our responsible sourcing. One example is our relationship with Asnakech Thomas (pictured), one of the only women coffee miller/exporter in Ethiopia.
Asnakech Thomas
You might know her through tasting her delicious coffee - Ethiopia Amaro Gayo. Native to the Amaro region, Asnakech decided in 2005 to return to Ethiopia and improve the coffee quality and living conditions of her community. The coffee is scrupulously harvested, sorted, and milled at her facilities, allowing her remarkable control over her crops.
Amaro is a farm with wet and dry mills where local growers bring their freshly picked, ripe cherry for processing. Asnakech is said to be very strict in selecting which coffees will be processed at her washing station and mill, choosing only ripe and ready cherry.
Cherries are dried on raised beds, eliminating contact with the soil and resulting in a much cleaner coffee. These raised beds also provide even aeration, in which the dry air can reach the bean from both above and below the beds. This combination results in a very consistent quality and flavor profile.
Amaro is involved in training the farmers of the area in increasing yield and quality. The organization has also set up a women-in-coffee association, the first organization of such kind in the area. Amaro has also created and sponsored The Amaro Gayo Football Team, a junior soccer football team for the youth in the area. They also fund the purchase of books and laptops in area schools.
Realizing the gravity of climate change and its impact on the surrounding regions, Amaro farm took the initiative to encourage farmers to plant more trees. This recently started intervention program is supported by providing incentives for every tree that the farmer plants.
You can read more about owner John Clark’s 2015 visit to Ethiopia and with her here.
*Update from that blog post: Recently, unfortunately, due to illness in her family, a fire at her facilities, and the civil unrest happening in Ethiopia, she has had to slim down her operations. As she decides what the future of her coffee farms and processing facilities will become, we continue to reach out to see how we can help, but in the meantime we will continue to try to do justice to her delicious coffee and roast it in a way that highlights all of its intricacies in small batches until we run out.
Vienna Coffee Company’s Promise
As a commitment to helping underrepresented populations in the coffee industry, we continue to offer free training for any of our wholesale customers and look forward to each opportunity to work with diverse organizations. Meanwhile we applaud the efforts of organizations like The Coffee Coalition for Racial Equity (CCRE), a 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is “to build a racially diverse and equitable industry where everyone’s talents can be recognized, developed to their fullest potential and rewarded.” They are doing some really great webinars that we recommend registering for to start/continue the conversation around racial equity in coffee. Also check out the local Alcoa-Blount NAACP chapter. We invite you to join us in celebrating the contributions of black and brown people in the past and moving forward through February and year around. Together we can reconcile our past and present to compose a perfect blend for the future one cup at a time.
https://perfectdailygrind.com/2019/04/being-black-in-specialty-coffee/
https://urnex.com/blog/addressing-anti-blackness-in-specialty-coffee/
Mona Bronson-Fuqua
Mona Bronson-Fuqua is a life-long Cincinnati resident, graduate of Cincinnati Cooks and Cincinnati State in Culinary Management. Currently Mona teaches Cooking for the Family classes through St. Francis Seraph Ministries and teaches classes, consults, provides personal chef service and media management for food and food adjacent entities through her own business Je Nais Se Fuqua LLC. Mona also has taught at Artichoke on Findlay Market and Communiversity - UC.
"My goal is to apply my skills to education about food ways and their health impact especially as it affects the African-American community ." ~ Mona