The Adventure

Where the coffee comes from. Who grew it. What it carried.

A farmer asked us if we knew the hands that picked our coffee. We did not. So we went to find out, and we keep going.

This is a list of the places the question has taken us, and the people who have answered it.

The chapters

Four chapters at v1, ongoing.

Vietnam, Central Highlands

The question. Buon Ma Thuot, 2022.

We followed a trail of butterflies through Tented Lax in Buon Ma Thuot and found ourselves on a highland farm. He walked us through the polyculture his family has worked for generations. At some point he stopped and asked us if we knew the hands that picked our coffee. We did not. That is where the work began.

People we know here: a Vietnamese farmer.

Read the Vietnam chapter →

Ethiopia, Kaffa

The foundation. Born in Kaffa.

Solomon was born here. His scholarship on the Orthodox ceremony, the reading-week tradition, and the family farms of the region is the foundation of the Ethiopia chapter of the Living Library. Almaz, Bereket, and Demekeeh are the producers whose work this chapter carries. Solomon's relationships here belong to him; ours, with the same people, were built in his company.

People we know here: Almaz Tesfaye, Bereket Wolde, Demekeeh Adamu. Solomon was born here.

Read the Kaffa chapter →

Türkiye, Istanbul

The route the coffee took.

Istanbul is not a producer chapter. It is a route chapter. The city through which Ottoman coffee crossed from Yemen and Arabia into Europe. The coffee house here is a political institution five centuries old. We went to read the route, not to import from it.

Read the Istanbul chapter →

Ethiopia II, forming

The autumn window.

A second Ethiopia expedition is forming for the autumn. Shaped by Solomon's familiarity with the region. The chapter will be named when the dates fall.

The people

The people in the work.

Vietnam, Central Highlands

  • a Vietnamese farmer

Ethiopia, Kaffa

  • Almaz Tesfaye
  • Bereket Wolde
  • Demekeeh Adamu

Co-founder

  • Solomon, born in Kaffa, scholarly engagement with the region across his life.

The Living Library

The depth behind the chapters.

The chapters above are the doorways. The Library is the depth behind them. Field documentation, oral history, scholarship from the regions, the trip wires that open the wider context behind each story.

Enter the Living Library →

Origin Story

Ancient Trade Routes

On the forest path to coffee's Mother Tree, we encounter an elderly farmer and his son transporting wild forest coffee to the local cooperative—the same route families have...