Coffee (World Commodities)

This title in the World Commodities series offers a three-for-one deal based on the globe’s leading agricultural commodity and second overall in terms of trading only to oil. The first part of the book discusses how coffee beans are grown, treated, prepared, and enjoyed around the world, accompanied by charts detailing the greatest producers and importers of coffee as well as a time line stretching back 1,000 years to the plant’s discovery in Ethiopia. The second section offers an opportunity to use the commodity of coffee to understand such economics concepts as supply and demand or futures trading, all broken down into nicely digestible tidbits. Finally, the book spins through a look at fair trade practices; political, environmental, and social issues surrounding the coffee trade; and the sustainability and outlook of the global coffee industry. In all, the book gleans a pretty impressive and diverse array of accessible information from such a small bean. Web resources, discussion questions, and a glossary conclude. Grades 5-8. --Ian Chipman