Pop quiz: What are the 2 most commonly traded commodities on the planet? If you guessed bananas and wheat, you're wayyy off. But who would guess bananas and wheat? Maybe if you just finished eating Shredded Wheat with chopped bananas you might have it on the brain, but odds are if you just did finish breakfast, you enjoyed it with a cup of the world's #2 most traded.
Coffee, after petroleum (#1), is the second most traded commodity in the world. Of course, the name itself is very misleading. A commodity, according to my Econ textbook, is "something for which there is demand, but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across markets. It is the same no matter who produces it..." Examples given are petroleum, iron ore, copper, as well as agricultural products such as corn, soy, wheat, ethanol, and yes, coffee.
Any coffee aficianado will tell you that coffee is anything but a commodity. Can anyone truly say there's no difference between Folger's and a local artisan roaster's rich blends?
And of course, there's the sustainability aspect. Coffee has been one of the darlings of the sustainability movement. It's fairly easy and inexpensive to switch from a conventional coffee to a truly sustainable one, and gives our conscience something to feel good about with every delicious sip. For coffee to be sustainable, it can achieve a variety of certifications. Organic, Fair Trade, and Shade-Grown, coffees are available in most any city in the world. Some coffees go even further.
So what is the most sustainable coffee on the planet?
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