The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers *** (of 4)

If the first wave of coffee was its globalized ubiquity -- think Nescafe and Maxwell House -- then the second wave was launched by Starbucks presentation of better coffee and a coffeehouse experience. The third wave treats coffee as an artisanal product meant to be savored like fine wine. Coffee tasters seek out rare bushes, fine soils, great growers, expert roasters and careful transportation of specialty beans from remote tropical slopes to high end producers. The first third of Eggers' book describes coffee production, and coffee tasting, in huge detail so we can appreciate Mokhhtar Alkhanshali, a native of California who decides he is going to import coffee from Yemen. Mokhtar is of Yemenese descent and still has family back in Sana'a, the capital, but his motivation is primarily entrepreneurial. He thinks he can make money. His pitch is that coffee's origins might well lie in the hills of Yemen. While the potential for some of the best tasting coffee the world has ever tasted might well coincide with the cresting of a third wave in coffee there are some barriers. Mokhtar has no money, coffee growers in Yemen have little experience, Yemen's coffee infrastructure is crumpled at best, and a vicious civil war has overwhelmed the country in factional violence. The Monk of Mokha is the story of what it takes to move coffee beans from a war-swamped country to high end coffee shops in San Francisco. This is a geography lesson that should make you think about a number of other products you regularly consumer without much thought.

Yemenese coffee producers. Link from Blue Bottle Coffee.