Poor Farmer

By Laura Snider   Daily Camera October 10, 2011 Majka Burhardt was sipping a latte at a coffeehouse in Boulder in the summer of 2006, when she overheard a conversation at a nearby table. The group was plotting a quest to the Horn of Africa to find a rare coffee that's valued at more than $100 a pound. A writer and adventurer herself, Burhardt's curiosity was immediately piqued. And just a few months later -- after asking if the group was in need of a journalist -- Burhardt left with the team as they headed for Ethiopia. Majka Burhardt poses with her book Coffee Story: Ethiopia in the  Ozo Coffee shop in  Boulder where she will give a talk  about her book on  Tuesday Oct 11, 2011 evening. ( PAUL AIKEN via Daily Camera ) Ultimately, the expedition returned home without the coveted bean (the government was a bit concerned what their real motives were), but Burhardt was hooked, both on east Africa and on the mystique of the local coffee...

Ed's Note:   Coffee in Retrospect   is a column prepared by   Coffee Monitor   and   Poor Farmer   blog to provide context for the current global coffee trade situation by republishing news   articles from the past. In this column, we intend to reprint archived prints by converting images into electronic file formats with careful conformity to originals and, whenever applicable and possible, we provide links to the sources of the information. Meanwhile,  responsibility for the contents lies solely with the authors and the views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect our opinions. ---- US Could Control Coffee Price Rise, Agency Head Says The Milwaukee Journal Feb 2, 1954 Washington, D.C.- (/P) - Joseph M. Mehl, administrator of the commodity exchange authority, told senators Tuesday that his agency could stop "unwarranted" spurts in coffee prices if congress gave him the authority. Mehl said he thought the coffee...