Coffee is one of the largest, most valuable commodities in the world, and yet, not many java connoisseurs understand the economic, environmental and cultural dynamics behind their daily lattes.
“Coffee: The World in Your Cup,” a new exhibit opening Saturday at the Burke Museum of Natural History &Culture in Seattle, will explore the world’s interconnected culture of coffee with photographs, videos, live coffee plants, coffee tastings and coffee bag displays.
“Our mission is to understand the world and our place in it,” said exhibit coordinator Ruth Pelz. “Coffee is the perfect subject for that.”
This weekend, there will be guided gallery tours and talks by coffee experts, including Edwin Martinez, a third-generation Guatemalan coffee grower; David Griswold, founder of Sustainable Harvest, a specialty coffee importer; and Max Savishinsky of the University of Washington, who has taken UW students to coffee-growing regions in Central America.
Visitors to the exhibit will learn the history of coffee, including its roots in Ethiopia, as well as the journey today’s beans make from farm to cup. That will start with a lesson in coffee botany and end with local baristas and roasters such as Camano Island Coffee Roasters, who put their local spin on the global crop.
“I’m excited to be a part of it,” said Dan Ericson, one of the owners of Camano Island Coffee Roasters, which will offer espresso and drip samples of the company’s fair-trade, shade-grown coffee at the exhibit on March 21.
Roasting is a crucial step in the delivery of a perfect cup of coffee, Ericson said.
“It’s a mixture of art and science,” he said. “Our most popular coffee as a company, if I don’t roast it properly, it can be one of the most awful-tasting things I’ve ever had.”
When the same coffee is roasted correctly, however, it is the company’s biggest seller.
“We draw out the nuances in the coffee,” Ericson said.
Pelz expects the exhibit, open through June 7, to be engaging, especially among coffee drinkers who haven’t thought about the far reaches of their caffeine habit.
“It just grabs the imagination, and it should,” Pelz said. “Everything about it is interesting.”
Reporter Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037 or sjackson@heraldnet.com
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