Ukrainian roasters of natural coffee stunned us the other day: it turns out they have long been resentful of our compatriots being served various ersatz. Natalia Shapoval, manager of the Panorama Company, said in Kyiv’s House of Coffee that an unprecedented step was taken last year: Ukraine purchased, for the first time, the word’s most expensive coffee brand, Blue Mountain, grown in Jamaica since 1725. The price of this coffee’s raw variety is $60,000-$85,000 a ton.
But in reality this drink is still more expensive for the consumer. To prepare one cupful, one must pour in 10- 15% more powder than it is done with other brands. If you put fewer than 15 grams of coffee per 100 milliliters of water, the taste will only seem bland. One way or another, true connoisseurs of coffee have appreciated that Blue Mountain has all that tasting experts usually achieve by blending several brands.
In any case, the Kyiv House of Coffee says one can only partake of true coffee in a few places of this city. For example, if you are pressed for time but cannot do without a cup of coffee, you had better drop in at the Perekhid (Underpass) cafe at Independence Square. If you would like to discuss essential things to your heart’s content, it is better to choose the cafe on the second floor of the Central Grocery Store on Khreshchatyk (opposite the General Post Office). You can also visit the Coffee House (the Shopping Arcade) or the Japson bar at Lviv Square. They will not cheat you because they treasure their reputation and offer the renowned brands of coffee, such as Villa Rica (Peru), Buquite (Panama), Mocca (Cameroun), and XB (Nicaragua).
But, as The Day was told in one of these coffee spots, far from all in Ukraine trust genuine coffee: “It is sometimes very difficult to convince a plant manager or a private company representative that it is better to taste good coffee than to gulp what is cheaper and fills a larger cup,” adding that one must perhaps take pity on a nation being destroyed by bad coffee.
It is of interest that according to some information instant coffee brands account for about 80% of all coffee on the Ukrainian market. It is not always profitable to supply coffee beans, for most consumers have learned the bitter experience (there were attempts to sell plastic, rather than coffee, beans) and are now afraid of being cheated again.
Simultaneously Ms. Shapoval noted that beans account for only 10% of instant coffee, with the rest being additives and mixtures.
“Suppose you face a dilemma — what to buy: a cube of chicken broth or a helping of genuine chicken soup — what would each of us prefer?” she says. “The same story with instant coffee and coffee beans. By the way, in the West if guests are served instant coffee it is considered a sign of bad taste. So it is perhaps little wonder that instant coffee is now used mostly by fast-food outlets.
In general, the Coffee House pointed out that all today’s coffee on the Ukrainian market can be divided into good and Polish. But even Poland has begun recently to understand that it is a bad idea to spoil stomachs with poor coffee. Moreover, local insurance, medical, and pension funds in that country have even unfolded a media campaign with the slogan “Think what kind of coffee to buy. Otherwise you will spend more on medicine.”
American insurance companies now also favor the sale of high-quality coffee. To this end, the Americans have even insisted that Latin America should not grow some low-grade varieties of coffee.
And such countries as Brazil and Colombia, according to Ms. Shapoval, have already allocated about $6 billion for research in order to stop all debate on whether coffee is useful or harmful to health.
When I asked the Blue Mountain sellers if they are embarrassed by asking 20 hryvnias as the price of one cup of coffee, Ms. Shapoval answered: “Each decides on his own what to eat and drink and how to take care of his health, but the only thing better than coffee is real coffee.”
