9/24/2007

heart of darkness

Heart of Darkness is a story written by Joseph Conrad about the evils of imperialism in Africa. Marlow, the narrator takes both a physical and psychological journey into the heart of Africa in search of Kurtz, an imperialist trader who has committed unspeakable atrocities. We have uncovered a parallel story about the evils of imperialistic coffee.

Our story begins in East Africa, more specifically Ethiopia, where coffee was born in the wild. The colonialists plucked coffee from the heart of Africa, commoditized it and shipped far afield to the imperial courts where it was consumed. Never was the true value paid for this precious jewel. Once a taste for this rich beverage developed, imperial coffee chains determined they could make even more money on it by making it uniformly bad, charring it beyond recognition and marketing it as a lifestyle. At The Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company we have journeyed to the Heart of Coffee Darkness and found Kurtz. It’s hard to avoid him these days as he is trading on nearly every street corner and in every store.

We have decided to go native with our African coffee. Ethiopia has a rich coffee culture that we try to emulate. The highest care is given to each variety of bean to roast it where it tastes the best. We also pay a living wage to the African coffee grower through Fair Trade so that he, too, is doing everything to bring the best organically grown beans to market. Our Harrar is carefully roasted on the dark side but doesn’t lose its’ phenomenally distinctive aroma of blueberries and wild honey. It has a full body rich, earthy, syrupy like an elixir of goodness coating your tongue and throat and shimmering acidity making you feel alive. Each sip of this exotic and complex coffee will take you on your own physical and psychological journey. Go native and release your inner savage with a cup of our Fair Trade Organic Ethiopia Harrar.

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