This Is Why I Write About Coffee

Pause for a moment.
If you work with coffee — this text is for you.
If you only drink it — it’s for you too.

This blog was born the moment I stopped believing that what we commonly call “normal” in coffee actually is.
I rejected that façade.

For years, I was deep inside specialty coffee.
I taught, evaluated, brewed, roasted.
I created, organized, judged, consulted.

I saw everything — and yet, for a long time, I did not see the truth about coffee.
If you still don’t see it, give me a chance to show it to you, step by step.

You know the rush of a “nine” on a score sheet?
Look at how those same “nines” can cover up exploitation, lack of sleep, lack of safety, lack of health, and lack of voice.

What we call “normal” has become unacceptable.
And increasingly cynical.

The most important thing I understood is simple:
the problem is not coffee.
It’s not the people either.
The problem is the language we use to talk about it.

Language shapes our actions, our attitudes, and our justifications.
It’s the language that turns harm into “normal” and violence into “progress.”

Red Ink Coffee is an attempt to reclaim red ink —
a language that allows us to name our own lack of freedom.

Instead, what we usually get are narratives.
Motivational. Professional. Smooth.

What does this have to do with you?

The language of specialty coffee often works as a tool for easing our conscience.
Think about it.

We all know this story:
sustainable coffee, higher quality, saving the world.
Beautiful cups, scores, farm stories, “transparency.”

So if coffee is really that good — why does it hurt so much?
And what force makes us sleepwalk into it, sweeping the truth under the rug?

Now an honest question:
why, in this supposedly “good” coffee market, are so many people hungry, exhausted, burned out, underpaid, and quietly angry?

Red Ink Coffee emerged precisely at this point of fracture.
Between story and experience.
Between the language of success and the everyday reality of coffee people.

This blog is meant to give you the words and knowledge to say:
– this is not a free choice
– this is not fair
– this is harming me
– this is not progress, just violence wrapped in better packaging

If this made you angry — good.
If you felt relief — even better.
If, for a moment, you thought, “finally, someone said it” — then you’re in the right place.

Red Ink Coffee is a space for writing.
Open. Independent. Sometimes uncomfortable.

We have clear positions, and we know not everyone will agree witah them.
We write about social, political, and ecological issues.
We are redefining what better means for coffee — as an ethical orientation toward the future of coffee people.
This is a voice for those who are often overlooked.

I love writing.
For years, I worked as a journalist.
Writing about coffee allows me to connect experience with thinking — but I don’t want to do this alone.

You have your own experiences and perspectives too.
On this blog, anyone can write — as long as they take responsibility for their words.

We will often refer to The Better Coffee.
It is a new standard for coffee.
You can explore its principles and take part in it not only through this blog.

The Better Coffee has its own structures, documents, methods, and tools:
The Standard, The Places, The Curriculum, The Ranking Method,
and a shared space for collaboration in M+E.
You’ll find links to all of this in the blog menu.

One last thing:
you don’t have to do anything.

But you are given a choice:
to turn your silent participation in what is called “normal”
into a voice,

or to keep maintaining the illusion of values that were never really there.

After this text, silence will no longer be neutral.