So how does coffee and adventure mix together? Adventure must be additive. We shouldn't be climbing peaks just to reach the summit. We should be climbing peaks to help us with a deeper understanding of the place and the presents. Venturing in to foreign countries must be more about understanding the culture of the people then the trek to base camp and beyond. Summiting a peak is one adventure but summiting a peak while building a relationship with the natives is a completely independent adventure that can help to make us become more terrestrial in our lives and adventures. By learning about coffee, it’s uses in a culture, the history that coffee has created over the centuries can lead to a deeper more additive understanding of a culture and of your own adventure. 

In Eastern Africa and the Middle East, the coffee is widely considered to be outstanding. Alluring and complex, the coffees from this part of the world can contain wonderful flavors, such as blueberries, citrus fruits, cocoa, and spices, which keep drinkers guessing. Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen are particular hot spots.

Latin America is the coffee powerhouse, with Brazil and Colombia growing more coffee than any five countries combined. The Latin American coffees are usually lighter, with a tangy quality, which makes them great for blending. Mexico, Guatemala, Panama and Costa Rica chip in with their own unique stylings.

Asian countries go the other way, producing a full-bodied, thicker coffee with distinct flavoring, which makes

them ideal for blends that require a little deepening. Indonesia grows most of the Asian coffee beans of quality, though Korea is also producing its fair share of the lower end of the market.

Going local and understanding the coffee trade caught Majka Burhardt’s attention during her first trip to Africa as a journalist. Some of the best coffees in the world come from Ethiopia and it is the 6th poorest country in the world. The first time she went was as a journalist and investigating a coffee that sells for $150 per pound. Coffee is the 2nd most traded commodity next to oil. In Ethiopia alone there are over 10,000 varieties of coffee, as many tastes and smells as there are of stories to tell about the coffee. So just enlightening the culture to understand where their coffee comes from will hopefully help expand this country and the coffee trade. There is no reason that you shouldn’t appreciate the full understanding of where your coffee comes from when you grab that cup. Coffee: Authentic Ethiopia, is going to be published and due out this June. It is the story of coffee as life and coffee as opportunity. Ethiopia is home to more then 10,000 kinds of coffee. The question is asked what if the ultimate expression of going local is going to the Origin?

An adventure, a culture, a product and a story, pulled together to enlighten us all into a deeper thinking about our next adventure.