Coffee Timing

One of the most exciting features of the new Science & Mathematics Center at Bridgewater State University will be the Science on a Sphere (SoS) display. SoS was developed by NOAA and is currently installed in 61 locations throughout the world. It is a large, blank sphere onto which any kind of digital map -- including animated maps -- can be projected.

Many maps have already been created by NOAA itself and the community of SoS institutions, but one of the most exciting prospects for SoS will be the ability to create and display our own globes. Among the first projects I hope to undertake -- with the help of geography students, of course -- is the creation of globes showing the global distribution of coffee production. Because the coffee season shifts from place to place throughout the year, we can develop a series of projected globes that show current distribution of coffee harvest locations each month.

We will draw on a number of resources in the creation of such maps, but for now the Sweet Maria's coffee calendar is the most convenient and complete resource for learning about the timing of the harvest.