19 years ago, when we first arrived in Rapid City, we were interviewed by the newspaper for a feature article. There was some interest in two ministers married to each other serving the same church. Since we had been married and had served the same church for all of our ministry and since we had several friends who were also clergy couples, we didn’t think our situation was that unique, but it was interesting enough for a reporter to spend some time with us. At the time we had two teenage children at home and neither had a driver’s license, so our lives were pretty busy and full. There wasn’t a lot of spare time. And I was in the midst of a steep learning curve having transitioned from a congregation that was significantly smaller than the one I now serve. The size of the job was a bit overwhelming. As a result, we had less time for each other and had to me more intentional about making time to be together. Otherwise, we would be spending most of our awake hours heading in two different directions. Despite the fact that we worked in the same church and lived in the same house, there were a lot of things that required us to be moving in different directions. The interviewer asked us several questions about how we maintained our relationship and what we enjoyed doing together as a couple. I mentioned that we liked to go out for coffee and that we were enjoying checking out the various coffee shops in Rapid City.

There weren’t that many coffee shops in Rapid City in those days. That was before Bully Blends and before Dunn Brothers. Back in those days I think the closest Starbucks was in Denver. The little coffee shop kiosks in parking lots hadn’t arrived in Rapid City yet. It wasn’t, however, a problem for us. We didn’t need much in the way of fanciness or big companies. One comment I made at the time was that I thought that probably the best cup of espresso in town came from my own kitchen.

That may still be the case, but things have changed a lot in the intervening years. There are now at least 7 Starbucks locations in our town and the new Starbucks sign on the Alex Johnson hotel is visible from the church. We’ve got espresso stands in the parking lots of many different stores around town and there are both independent and chain coffee shops in many convenient locations. There are more espresso machines in Rapid City than there were in the State of South Dakota when we moved here.

And the price of coffee has gone up a lot over those years as well. It is more than a dollar in most cafes and more than $5 in some high end coffee shops for a premium blended coffee drink.

Over the years, I have learned a lot more about where our coffee comes from as well. Part of my education comes from our church’s sister church relationship with a congregation in Costa Rica. On our first trip to Costa Rica, some of us brought home bags of roasted coffee beans. The people of Costa Rica are proud of the coffee they produce and they market it heavily to tourists. It is available in all of the tourist shops and places that sell Costa Rican crafts. Later we learned of a coffee cooperative related to our mission partners and began to purchase fairly-traded coffee as directly from producers as possible.

Coffee used to be the sole crop for many Costa Rican farmers. These days, that’s a risky business. The recent drought year is just one sign of how vulnerable the crop is to changes in weather and the weather in Central America is becoming more volatile as climate change becomes a reality that is impossible to ignore. Some believe that there is also a connection between the outbreak of leaf rust fungus, also known as roya. Estimates are that the fungus has caused $1 billion in damages to the economy of Central America. Costa Rica’s coffee industry may be especially vulnerable because coffee is a well-established crop and many of the plants are old. Even though Costa Rica has been more aggressive than its neighbors in efforts to prevent the spread of the fungus, there are some farms that have had to take out all of their plants and start over - a very expensive process.

And the market for coffee is constantly changing. Many home consumers are purchasing whole bean coffee rather than ground coffee and many are willing to pay premium prices for special blends and roasts. And there market for green, un-roasted coffee continues to expand every year. There are more an more micro-roasters who blend and roast custom coffees. When we moved to Rapid City it was hard to find fresh coffee beans in stores. Today I can go to a shop in downtown Rapid City and select a custom blend of beans that were roasted in the last 24 hours.

We pay for this privilege. The retail price of coffee continues to rise at a rate that far exceeds normal inflation. However all of this activity has not translated into greater income for coffee producers in Costa Rica. Prudent farmers are diversifying their crops and transitioning to more and more shade-grown coffees in order to provide some protection from unpredictable weather and a rapidly fluctuating market. Cooking plantains are a good companion crop for coffee an although it is not a popular export crop, the market for plantains is strong throughout Latin America.

I’ve changed as well. Despite the rapid growth of coffee shops in Rapid City, I’m less likely to go out for coffee than was the case a couple of decades ago. I’m drinking less coffee these days. I try to be more careful about how I buy coffee now that I understand the incredibly small amount of the price we pay ends up in the hands of the farmers who produce the beans.

Still, sitting down for a really good cup of coffee with Susan is a treat worth savoring and a good way to stay connected in the midst of lives that are as busy today as they were 20 years ago.

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