Fair enough
Mar 30th 2006 | MEXICO CITY AND SAN JOSÉ
From The Economist print edition
MAKING good coffee is not a simple business. Coffee bushes must be grown in shade—neither too much, nor too little. A hillside is best—but it mustn't be too steep. After three years, the bushes will start to produce bright-red coffee “cherries”, which are picked, processed to remove the pulp, and spread out to dry for days, ideally on concrete. They are milled again to separate the bean, which needs to rest, preferably for a few months. （1）Only then can it be roasted, ground and brewed into the stuff that dreams are ★quelled with[1].
In Mexico and parts of Central America, as in Colombia and Peru further south but not in Brazil, most coffee farmers are smallholders. （2）They found it especially hard to deal with the recent ★slump[2] in the coffee price. The price has since recovered: the benchmark price applied to mild coffee now ranges from $1.11 to $1.14 per pound. That is roughly double its ★rock-bottom[3] level of August 2002.
But the volatility of their income makes it hard for farmers to invest to sustain their crop, says Fernando Celis of the Mexican National Organisation of Coffee Growers. The slump forced many small farmers to switch to other crops, or migrate to cities. Mexico's exports of coffee are less than half of what they were six years ago.
（3）For farmers, one way out of this dilemma is to decouple the price they are paid from the international commodities markets. This is the aim of Fairtrade, a London-based organisation which certifies products as “responsibly” sourced. Fairtrade determines at what price farmers make what it considers a reasonable profit. Its current calculation is that the appropriate figure is 10% above the market price.
Worldwide, sales of Fairtrade-certified coffee have increased from $22.5m per year to $87m per year since 1998. This is still only a tiny fraction of the overall world coffee trade, worth $10 billion annually. But there are plenty of other ★niche markets[4] for high-quality coffee. Some small producers can charge more by marketing their coffee as organic—a switch which takes five years or so—or “bird-friendly” （4）because, unlike large, mechanised plantations, they have retained shade trees.
Starbucks, the Seattle-based coffee-bar chain, says it uses a similar formula to that of Fairtrade in buying its coffee. All is bought at a “fair price”, says Peter Torrebiarte, who manages Starbucks' buying operation in Costa Rica.
（5）Some niches can be large. Only 6% of world output is of top quality, but in Costa Rica and Guatemala the figure rises to 60%, says Mr Torrebiarte. Starbucks bought 37% of Costa Rica's entire coffee crop in the 2004-05 season, according to Adolfo Lizano of the country's coffee institute.
Mexico lags behind its neighbours in extracting higher prices. But 95% of the coffee in Mexico is arabica—the type of bean demanded by connoisseurs—rather than lower-grade robusta. Almost all of it is grown at altitude, which also improves quality. So Mexico, too, has the potential to compete on quality rather than price. Only by following the path forged by Costa Rica and Guatemala, says Mr Celis, can Mexico's coffee growers survive in the world market. （6）For their part, discerning coffee drinkers can satisfy their palate and their conscience at the same time.
[NOTES](LONGMAN)
[1] quell [transitive] formal
1to end a situation in which people are behaving violently or protesting, especially by using force [= put down] 镇压
quell the violence/disturbance/riot etc
Police used live ammunition to quell the disturbances.
2 literary to reduce or stop unpleasant feelings such as fear, doubt, or worry: 压制，压抑，平息
'Jerry?' she called, trying to quell the panic inside her.
[2] slump [countable, usually singular]
1 a sudden decrease in prices, sales, profits etc （价格、销售、利润等）骤降
slump in
a slump in car sales
2 a period when there is a reduction in business and many people lose their jobs [≠ boom]: 衰退时期
The war was followed by an economic slump.
a worldwide slump
3 especially American English a period when a player or team does not play well（运动员及队伍）状态低迷期
in a slump
The Dodgers have been in a slump for the last three weeks.
[3]rock-bottom [only before noun]
a rock-bottom price is as low as it can possibly be: 极低的（价格）
bargain holidays at rock-bottom prices
[4] niche markets 瞄准机会的市场
niche [only before noun]
relating to selling goods to a particular small group of people who have similar needs, interests etc:
niche marketing
a niche market
a niche product
在国内，niche market被译为“利基市场”，其中niche即拾遗补缺或见缝插针的意思，因此所谓利基市场可以指空缺市场。在市场经济条件下，一些企业专注于市场的某一细分环节，他们不与强势企业正面竞争，“不拿鸡蛋碰石头”，而是通过专业化经营、见缝插针地占据有利的市场位置，这部分市场就可称为利基市场。而利基营销则是指企业通过整合各种营销要素，如开发产品、市场推广、客户服务等，集中力量于某一特定市场，从而形成独具特色的经营策略与经营方式，最终造就在这一领域的差异化优势。
[TIPS & BACKGROUND]
关于咖啡的产区、特性
咖啡的生产地带（俗称为咖啡带）介于北纬25度到南纬30度，涵盖了中、西非，中东，印度，南亚，太平洋，拉丁美洲，加勒比海的许多国家。咖啡的种植之所以集中在此一带状区域，主要是受到气温的限制。因为咖啡树很容易受到霜害，纬度偏北或偏南皆不适合，以热带地区为宜，此地区的热度和湿度最为理想。目前世界重要的咖啡豆主要来自Coffee Arabica 及Coffee Robusta 这两个品种。这两种咖啡豆的植株、栽培方式、生长环境、形状、成份及加工方式皆不同。一般来说，Arabica 咖啡的品质较好，价钱亦较贵。巴西是世界上最大的咖啡生产国，产量几佔全世界的三分之一，主要品种是自然的 Arabica-Natural Arabica），其次是哥伦比亚，委内瑞拉，秘鲁和厄瓜多尔（水洗 Arabica 咖啡豆-Washed Arabica ）。大多数的非洲国家生产 Robusta 品种的咖啡豆。在全世界的咖啡市场上，Arabica 品种的咖啡约佔 75~80%，Robusta 品种的咖啡则佔 20~25%。咖啡全年度的生产量约为9千1百万袋，每袋60公斤。中、南美洲的咖啡出产量约佔全世界产量的70%，亚洲 20%，非洲 10%。
咖啡豆是一种类似樱桃似的种子，它生长在海拔6000 英尺、狭长的亚热带区域。
咖啡树是常绿植物，生长高度可达20 英尺。为了收获简单，一般将树剪成8 到10 英尺高。咖啡果成熟期并不一致，所以主要靠手工采摘。需要大约2000 个阿拉比卡樱桃果才能制造出1 磅烤制咖啡。由于每个果实有2 个豆，所以1 磅咖啡来自于4000 颗豆。每株咖啡1 年平均产1 到2 磅烘烤咖啡。咖啡树苗需要4-5 年才能开始结果。
咖啡树开白色小花，呈簇状，外形和气味与茶树相似。花期只有几天，然后结出绿色的小咖啡果，成熟后呈黄色、红色，最后几乎变成黑色。成熟期6 到9 个月。咖啡果采摘后就送去加工。有两种脱去外皮的方法：自然法，也秤干法；即晒干或烘干后用机械方法分离。湿法稍微先进，又称为浸泡法；所制备的咖啡豆又称水洗豆。绿色咖啡豆干燥、按大小分类、分级挑选，通常全凭手工。装袋后运到世界各地的烘烤店。我们日常所用的物品，很少象咖啡这样，需要这么多人力劳动。
[TRANSLATION OF FULLTEXT]
还算公道
（陈继龙 学译）
生产优质咖啡并不是一件简单的事情。咖啡树必须种在荫凉处——不宜太稠密，也不宜太稀疏，最好种在山坡上——但不能太陡。三年之后，咖啡树即可结出鲜红的咖啡“樱桃”。采摘后，经加工去除（外面的）果肉，（将里面的咖啡豆）铺开干燥数日（最好放在混凝土上），然后再次研磨，分离咖啡豆，后者最好静置数月。此后才可进行烘焙、碾磨、发酵，最后制成成品咖啡豆。恰恰就是这些咖啡豆，压制了许多人的梦想。
跟哥伦比亚、秘鲁以南（不包括巴西）一样，墨西哥和中美洲部分国家的大多数咖啡种植户都是小农。最近咖啡价格的暴跌让他们感到不知所措。目前，价格已经回升：现在淡咖啡的基准价为每磅1.11美元到1.14美元，大约两倍于2002年8月时的最低价。
不过，墨西哥全国咖啡种植者组织的费尔兰多•塞利斯说，收入的不稳定让农户难以投资维持作物的种植。价格下滑迫使许多农户改种其他作物或者迁往城市。墨西哥的咖啡出口额较6年前减少了将近一半。
有一条可以帮助咖啡种植户走出这种两难困境的途径，那就是将咖啡收购价与国际商品市场脱钩。总部设在伦敦、专为产品来源提供“可靠性”认证的“公平贸易组织”的宗旨就在于此，它可根据利润是否合理来指导农户定价。按照其目前的计算方法，超出市场价10％的价格为合理价格。（译者注：对于第一句，理解的关键是decouple这个词，其意为“脱离，分离”，与后面的from构成“decouple…from…”结构，使……与……相分离开。）
从世界范围看，“公平贸易”认证的咖啡销量自1998年以来，已从每年2250万美元增加到8700万美元。放到全世界每年100亿美元的咖啡总贸易额中来看，这只占很小一部分。但是，对于品质上乘的咖啡来说，存在足够的市场空间。（比如）有些小生产者可通过开拓“有机咖啡”（实际上要5年左右时间才能转化成功）或者“鸟类友善咖啡”市场来争取更高价格，因为这类咖啡有别于大规模、机械化种植出来的咖啡，它们都属于树荫咖啡。（树荫对于咖啡生长的意义见附录）
总部位于西雅图的星巴克咖啡馆连锁店称，它在购买咖啡时所遵循的原则近似于“公平贸易”，星巴克负责在哥斯达黎加采购咖啡的彼特•托莱比阿尔特说，买来的咖啡都“价格公道”。
有时候，小市场还可以做大做强。托莱比阿尔特说，全球咖啡总产量中高品质咖啡仅占6％，其中哥斯达黎加和危地马拉就占60%。据哥斯达黎加咖啡研究所的阿多尔佛•里扎诺称，2004至2005年度，星巴克购买了哥斯达黎加咖啡总产量的37％。
就抬高咖啡价格以谋求更多利润而言，墨西哥落在了其周边国家的后面。不过，墨西哥有95％的咖啡属“阿拉比卡”咖啡（内行人追求的咖啡豆品种），而不是品级相对较低的“罗布斯达”，并且几乎所有咖啡都产自有利于改善质量的高海拔地区。因此，墨西哥的竞争潜力在于质量而非价格。塞利斯说，墨西哥咖啡种植户要想在世界市场中生存，只有仿效哥斯达黎加和危地马拉的模式。对这些种植户来说，掌握喝咖啡人的不同特点，就能让他们既感到有滋有味，又能问心无愧。（译者注：我的理解是，文章后四段均讨论的是高品质咖啡市场空间问题。在倒数第四段中，作者首先提到作为高品质咖啡的代表的“有机咖啡”和“鸟类友善”咖啡，该句用“口味”和“良心”正好与其一一对应。“有机咖啡”使咖啡更好喝，当然是“满足了口味”，而“鸟类友善咖啡”则强调咖啡树属于自然生长，树荫茂密，鸟儿可以自由歌唱，生态得以维持良好，人们“良心上就过得去了”。反之，如若为了大规模机械化种植而大肆垦荒伐林，让倦鸟无以归巢，试问，谁不自责呢？——一点肤浅看法）
