Comments on: Ernesto Illy, Chairman of Coffee Company, Is Dead at 82 http://theshot.coffeeratings.com/2008/02/ernesto-illy-obituary/ Rants and Raves on Espresso Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:50:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Mark Prince http://theshot.coffeeratings.com/2008/02/ernesto-illy-obituary/#comment-3575 Mark Prince Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:27:39 +0000 http://theshot.coffeeratings.com/2008/02/ernesto-illy-obituary/#comment-3575 Re reporters being lazy - I'd agree with you for the most part, and have a lot of first hand experience with reporters being VERY lazy (coff coff Vancouver Sun, coff coff), but this is the NY Times, and the obits are done by staff reporters (not "contributing reporters" like the less than fact-checked $20K Siphon story); they have a pretty tight leash over at the Times, and after all, Peter Meehan, the guy who writes those INCREDIBLE articles for the Times on coffee is a staff reporter. Re the book - yeah - it took me five tries to read the first book through, and I'm still trying to read the second edition myself. Re reporters being lazy - I’d agree with you for the most part, and have a lot of first hand experience with reporters being VERY lazy (coff coff Vancouver Sun, coff coff), but this is the NY Times, and the obits are done by staff reporters (not “contributing reporters” like the less than fact-checked $20K Siphon story); they have a pretty tight leash over at the Times, and after all, Peter Meehan, the guy who writes those INCREDIBLE articles for the Times on coffee is a staff reporter.

Re the book - yeah - it took me five tries to read the first book through, and I’m still trying to read the second edition myself.

]]> By: TheShot http://theshot.coffeeratings.com/2008/02/ernesto-illy-obituary/#comment-3550 TheShot Wed, 06 Feb 2008 23:50:23 +0000 http://theshot.coffeeratings.com/2008/02/ernesto-illy-obituary/#comment-3550 Hey Mark -- it's funny that I would see this comment of yours at the exact moment where I was about to append a link to your great tribute to the man on your CoffeeGeek.com site: http://www.coffeegeek.com/opinions/coffeeatthemoment/02-04-2008 In any case, I'd like to think that the Times' writer did that deliberately, based on the details you've pointed out here. But knowing that the one common truth about all reporters is that they're lazy, I'm perhaps less confident than you. It parallels that old saying, one of my all-time favorites, mind you: never suspect conspiracy as an explanation where incompetence will suffice. Btw, my wife bought me a copy of "Espresso Coffee: The Science of Quality" (2nd Ed.) for Christmas last year. Now I'm no stranger to reading science textbooks -- I used to work under National Institutes of Health and Dept. of Energy funding grants. But I am only on chapter 3, and my head is starting to spin! Hey Mark — it’s funny that I would see this comment of yours at the exact moment where I was about to append a link to your great tribute to the man on your CoffeeGeek.com site:

http://www.coffeegeek.com/opinions/coffeeatthemoment/02-04-2008

In any case, I’d like to think that the Times’ writer did that deliberately, based on the details you’ve pointed out here. But knowing that the one common truth about all reporters is that they’re lazy, I’m perhaps less confident than you.

It parallels that old saying, one of my all-time favorites, mind you: never suspect conspiracy as an explanation where incompetence will suffice.

Btw, my wife bought me a copy of “Espresso Coffee: The Science of Quality” (2nd Ed.) for Christmas last year. Now I’m no stranger to reading science textbooks — I used to work under National Institutes of Health and Dept. of Energy funding grants. But I am only on chapter 3, and my head is starting to spin!

]]> By: Mark Prince http://theshot.coffeeratings.com/2008/02/ernesto-illy-obituary/#comment-3549 Mark Prince Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:21:21 +0000 http://theshot.coffeeratings.com/2008/02/ernesto-illy-obituary/#comment-3549 Hrm. I think the NYT ran that first paragraph because Dr. Illy himself was fond of calling his coffee expensive. He would point out that his company paid more for coffee beans than just about anyone else in the business (in Italy) - and that was very much true. They were doing this in the 1980s and early 1990s, and Illy was a force in establishing the "premium price market" for coffee from the farmer side for a long long time - going back to the collapse of the world coffee prices in the late 80s / early 90s. In the second or third paragraph, they even have a quote from the Doctor himself saying as much. Mark Hrm. I think the NYT ran that first paragraph because Dr. Illy himself was fond of calling his coffee expensive. He would point out that his company paid more for coffee beans than just about anyone else in the business (in Italy) - and that was very much true.

They were doing this in the 1980s and early 1990s, and Illy was a force in establishing the “premium price market” for coffee from the farmer side for a long long time - going back to the collapse of the world coffee prices in the late 80s / early 90s.

In the second or third paragraph, they even have a quote from the Doctor himself saying as much.

Mark

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