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Comment by tomjakubowski | Hacker News Reader

> So it doesn't matter that your coffee was roasted very near where you live since on average it's two weeks old.

"Time since roast" is hardly the only reason to prefer locally roasted beans. Actually, it's not a good reason at all, since you can ship roasted beans across the country a few times before they're ready to be ground and brewed.

Some folks just like to support their neighbors, and buying from local roasters could also mean fewer shipping miles (and less carbon emissions) attached to that that bag of beans.

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As far as this 'support your neighbors' culture goes: it's an interesting thing to me because at a national level the politically correct response becomes the opposite (support free trade), and it also turns into a very inflammatory and controversial issue--likely because of nationalism. Even more interesting, it appears liberals and conservatives switch sides when going from local to national framework, i.e. liberals tend to support local, but not support protectionism, while conservatives appear the opposite.

I buy shirts that are made in San Francisco, but the fabric is almost certainly not made in the U.S. The global supply chain enables products that are in some sense "made locally". Same goes for coffee. So it's totally reasonable to be against protectionism and for buying "locally".

It can be something as simple as being able to talk to the roaster. I have a few good sources of coffee I use, but I prefer the local roaster. I do so because we can engage and he'll recommend a new coffee because he knows it's a match to my preferences. He is a former WBC contenter and have roaster for other WBC contenters, which is a testament to his skills. But I do it because I like to talk to the roaster behind the coffee.

Fair enough, but just to be clear my intention was not to debate either side as any more or less reasonable.

The divide is capital vs labor, not left vs right.

Also, protectionism != isolationism.

Actually products of labor and capital are both imported, and no one said anything about isolationism.

Smaller roasters can also specialize.

Starbucks roasts, what, 100m pounds of beans annually? In that 100m, there are plenty of awesome beans. But they have to make all 100m lbs taste good, consistent.

Whereas a small roaster can selectively buy 50 lbs of the best beans and make it taste perfect.

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