Which Coffee Films Suit a Coffee Enthusiast at Each Stage?
Eight films and television works cover the coffee world for viewers at different levels, from complete beginners to seasoned drinkers. The selection spans the specialty coffee supply chain, industrial instant coffee production, coffee history and culture, the development of Yunnan coffee, and behind-the-scenes stories from the World Barista Championship.
A Film About Coffee runs 67 minutes and follows the chain from African growing regions to shops worldwide. Inside the Factory: Coffee spends 59 minutes inside Nescafé and explains instant production plus coffee biology and history. Coffee Confidential, presented in Cantonese, covers the industry from a Chinese-language perspective, and other titles address Yunnan coffee and competition preparation.
Drinking coffee is easy, but understanding it takes a bit of accumulated knowledge. For those who don't enjoy poring over written materials, learning about coffee through film is a relaxed and efficient choice. Below is a roundup of eight films suited to coffee lovers at different stages, covering multiple dimensions including the specialty coffee industry chain, the industrial production of instant coffee, coffee history and culture, the development of Yunnan coffee, and the behind-the-scenes stories of the World Barista Championship. Whether you're a complete beginner or a seasoned connoisseur who already knows a thing or two, you're sure to find something worth watching.
No lengthy pleasantries to start! (I'm really not brushing you off!!) When I shared a coffee book list earlier, some friends said that reading pure text gets tiring easily (completely understandable!), so this time I'm switching things up and picking a few movies and documentaries suited to coffee lovers at different stages—easy to watch and you'll learn something too! The following list is in no particular order~
A Film About Coffee This documentary tells the story of specialty coffee's history and culture. The camera travels from African coffee-growing regions all the way to coffee shops around the world, and over 67 minutes it introduces one by one the various participants in the specialty coffee chain—the farmers who grow the coffee, the traders who deal in it, the baristas behind the counter, and the consumers who lift the cup. Everyone does their best in their own position, all aiming to make higher-quality coffee. Coffee beans are not just goods to be bought and sold, and coffee is far more than just a drink—behind every cup is a vivid and vibrant story.
Inside the Factory: Coffee If you want to truly understand the coffee industry, focusing only on specialty coffee isn't enough. Instant, freeze-dried, and ready-to-drink products are the categories with the largest shipment volumes on the market. This 59-minute documentary turns its lens on Nescafé, showing the complete production process of instant coffee. At the same time, the film intersperses explanations of coffee's historical development as well as related biology and botany knowledge.
Coffee Confidential This is a documentary presented in Cantonese, and friends from Guangdong may have some impression of it. Produced by Hong Kong's TVB, it's a travel-style documentary that invites veteran coffee lover and well-known Hong Kong actor Moses Chan to serve as host. In the program, he takes viewers to visit multiple coffee holy lands, including Italy, Venice, Denmark, Indonesia, Kenya, and Taiwan, explaining all kinds of coffee knowledge along the way, personally brewing the best-tasting coffee, carefully selecting the music that pairs best with coffee, and also visiting many coffee experts to hear them share their own stories with coffee.
Black Coffee This coffee documentary has won international awards. With a total runtime of 174 minutes, its core topic is how coffee evolved from an unremarkable plant into an indispensable part of today's society, politics, and daily life. To this end, the production team traveled to numerous coffee-growing regions around the world, interviewing many historians and researchers in the field of coffee cultivation, laying out coffee's development journey for viewers while also exposing the rarely mentioned issue of unfair trade.
The Story Of Chinese Coffee This documentary uses Yunnan coffee as its entry point, letting viewers understand the complete process of Yunnan coffee from cultivation and picking to processing. Besides learning coffee-related knowledge, it also helps you gain a deeper understanding of Chinese coffee culture. In recent years, specialty coffee has developed rapidly in China, Yunnan coffee varieties have continued to improve, and people's views on Yunnan beans have gradually changed. I believe that one day in the future, Yunnan coffee will surely shine brilliantly on the international stage.
The Coffee Man & Barista Both of these documentaries focus on how baristas step by step reach the stage of the World Barista Championship (WBC). Barista records the pre-competition preparation of several contestants, such as reading psychology and philosophy books, practicing speech techniques (including aspects like tone, intonation, and expression), striving to better move the judges with their presentations during the competition.
The Coffee Man tells the story of 2015 WBC champion Sasa, showing how he improved coffee quality by working with coffee farmers while constantly refining himself, ultimately winning the WBC championship. Coffee Or Tea? This film is about three young people who come together by chance and go into coffee cultivation as partners in Yunnan. The film also presents the hardships Yunnan coffee growers have endured along the way—family members not understanding, villagers not approving. But where there's a will, there's a way, and the three protagonists ultimately rely on passion, sincerity, and ability to gradually win more and more recognition for Yunnan coffee, also showing that Yunnan coffee is a path worth investing in.
Image source: Internet
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
