Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee

I started reading Javatrekker over a cup of anonymous black coffee. By the time I had finished, a steaming mug of Dean's Beans Sumatran roast hovered over my lips, and I took a sip: the coffee was delicious and, best of all, I knew where it came from and what my caffeine buzz was supporting. This is the great gift of Javatrekker. You close the cover with a profoundly deep understanding of the global dimensions of the coffee trade.

But this is not all that Dean Cycon, the owner of Dean's Beans Organic Coffee, offers in his first book. Cycon recounts his travels and travails through Ethiopia and Kenya to the peaks of the Andes and the northern provinces of Sumatra (and beyond!) with humor, integrity and intelligence. His stories are engaging, and they offer an unprecedented glimpse into the history of your morning cup of coffee.

Javatrekker is peppered with fascinating pieces of trivia and pricelessly humorous anecdotes.

THE BOTTOM LINE: If you're a coffee drinker, you need to read this book. If you're not, you should read it anyway. Cycon is a true role model for corporate social responsibility, and even if we all can't lead a life of javatrekking, we can benefit from Cycon's knowledge of the global coffee market and his experience working with coffee farmers all over the world. As consumers, we should know where our money is going, but it's often hard to follow the money trail. With Cycon's help, we can all begin to piece together the truth about our morning jolt.

I learned nothing about Fair Trade,but I sure learned a lot about Dean and how grateful the many cultures of the world are to Dean, for being Dean. I thought the writing was fairly poor, the self absorbed, self congratulatory "storytelling" was over the top and I didn't even think it was a very good travelogue. I've read many better books about coffee and the effect that the systems that are in place have on the farmers. I couldn't even get all the way through the book. I was really disappointed.

If other readers came away with a solid or even marginal understanding of fair trade and shade grown coffee, then they are better readers than I am. This book did not need to be a dry study, but I obtained this book hoping for more than a travelogue. He is a great storyteller and a probably a delightful guest, but beyond a few factoids (and some interesting descriptions of cultures), I barely learned anything about coffee or coffee markets. I think this books would have been greatly enhanced by more description of why things are the way they are, where and when shade grown coffee makes economic sense, how variabilites and inequities in the market could be reduced, how large the market for fair trade is and what the big players are doing, where there is fair trade but not shade grown coffee, and on and on...

This book is amazing! Dean Cycon is amazing! I've seen "Fair Trade" coffee in stores but until I read "Javatrekker," I hadn't grasped the magnitude of the problems so many coffee farmers face. Dean Cycon is on a mission...his dedication to help poor coffee farmers improve their lives is remarkable. He deserves the Nobel Peace Prize! If you read this book and you possess an ounce of compassion for humanity, you will never buy non-Fair Trade coffee again. I highly recommend this book. It is entertaining, educational and inspirational.

Coffee is more than just another drink: it's about politics, survival, and indigenous people - and Javatrekker is the perfect guide to the politics, culture and meaning of coffee. From Fair Trade business issues to adventure travel, anthropology and politics, JAVATREKKER surveys the peoples, customs and trade of coffee around the world in an invigorating, moving account recommended for any general-interest collection and in particular for college-level libraries strong in world economics.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch