Ever since the discovery of coffee in Ethiopia, and it's spread to medieval Arabia, coffee has never ceased to inspire those who consumed it. Although its propagation was a tightly guarded secret by most, it's consumption quickly spread through Europe after being introduced to Italy by the Venetians in the 17th century. The rest, as they say, is history. The world has changed dramatically over the centuries. I seek to understand where and how the bean is poised to travel in the 21st century.

As a grower, I've tried to venture beyond just growing coffee, to understand what a cup of coffee means to all concerned. It has been my quest to standardise, streamline, or automate my plantation to the maximum, and I find this task rather daunting. I realise that there is a huge amount of human intervention through technique, science, art and perception in all steps of producing good coffee.

Coffee is one of the most complex things on earth. To start with there is a plethora of distinct origins, and sub-origins. In fact, many plantations in India have a variety of strains and sub-strains, climates and microclimates within the estate itself. A discerning customer may identify his origin, but every year many variables affect the quality and quantity, like climatic changes, pests or diseases. As a planter, I also find it incredible, how easily poor picking practices, unclean processing, or improper storage and handling can taint a cup. Quality coffee cannot be machine-picked, so we will always depend on skilled labour - the first of many direct human connections to your cup of coffee.

Going to areas of the bean, which do not directly concern me, but evoke a strong interest, there is the subject of roasting. Roasting is partly an art, and partly a science, and in effect, a master roaster is a person with a great deal of skill, knowledge and perception. The coffee bean is a complex body consisting of more than two thousand chemicals - more than any other food item. During roasting, complex chemical reactions take place in a short time, which can either enhance or destroy certain flavour attributes dramatically.

Roasting cannot be fully automated, or computerised, and usually requires specialist supervision, making roasting the second most important human link in the value-chain.

Then, there is quality control, where coffee is evaluated and certified by specialist cup-tasters. An expert cupper is also usually an expert roaster and blender. Unless defined and classified, coffee cannot be marketed and it is the cupper's job to do that. It takes a great deal of skill to identify defects, or simply classify a cup of coffee, since coffee has hundreds of nuances and flavours, which together influence the overall cup. Coffee has nine hundred separate aromas, compared with orange-juice, which has three! There is no machine to replace the human tongue and nose as yet, to analyse a flavour or taste in totality. So, the cupper is the third valuable specialist in the human chain. Cup tasting is the key to blending. Unless one understands the profile of a bean, blending, which is also a specialised task, cannot be done.

Having been roasted, coffee deteriorates in quality very fast, and should be consumed at the earliest. Finding a way to preserve the taste and flavour of coffee over a long period has met with only limited success, despite all the breakthroughs in packaging technology. Coffee cannot be packed immediately, since during the first few hours it emits carbon dioxide, which can make most packages burst. Hence it has to be allowed to de-gas for a few hours before packaging. Even after packaging, it goes down in quality, at a rather rapid pace. No packaged coffee is a hundred percent fresh.

Finally, there is brewing, which is an area where what would look like a simple error could ruin what could have been a great cup of coffee! Freshness, grind, proportions, water quality, water temperature, and brewing method all influence the cup dramatically. Brewing coffee is a valuable art, which has reached its pinnacle in Italy, where being an espresso maker, or Barista' is a highly respected profession.

1.4 billion cups are consumed around the world every day and increasing. It has been estimated that if all the cups were to he lined up end to end, they could circle the world twice! Howard Shultz, pioneer-entrepreneur, Starbucks Coffee, plans to have a Starbucks cafe at every street corner in every locality in every part of the world! There has to be something amazing about this bean!

In a world driven by automation, human skill, especially in specialised areas is a valuable resource. Coffee finds it's place here as a product where a high level of human skill is needed, adding a great deal of value to the finished product. At the cup level, coffee continues to remain highly profitable. But modern business has become increasingly polarised with the onset of globalisation. It's unfortunate that in the value-chain, the growers, who already live in some of the world's less to least developed countries, realise less than 3 % of the final value. In effect, this is actually threatening the very source of the bean, and also affecting quality. In another twist to the 'human' aspect of coffee, the plantation industry given employment to 25 million people, worldwide. Not something to be discounted so easily.

Meanwhile let's move back to more recent history-the birth of the 20th century. Man has achieved in the 20th century what he could not have dreamt about during the previous nineteen. Amongst the most significant, having learnt to fly, he quickly progressed with Olympian zeal and in a few short years, had gone faster, further and higher than any being on earth.

What amazes me, is that in the modern world, which is largely technology driven, and promises to be even more so in the future, and where convenience-foods prevail, coffee, with all it's complexities continues to rule as the world's favourite beverage. That coffee, in the modern world evokes the same passion and inspiration, perhaps a lot more than it's medieval and early European days, besides being a way of life. It is the second largest traded commodity in the world, next to oil.

Having realised the potential of the bean, it's important to keep abreast with all developments concerning coffee, and make sure we are firmly entrenched in the value chain, and compensated for it. As growers, it is certainly important to have our voices heard and our presence felt with the right people, at the right places. Only then could we hope for a more full-bodied tomorrow!