Eighty-three percent of adults in America drink coffee. It’s the world’s second-most traded commodity, and it’s delicious. But there’s more to the country’s favorite hot beverage than meets the eye. From the sublime to the horrifying, coffee is a fascinating natural resource that has had a profound cultural impact around the world.

10 Deadly Coffee Crime Wave In Kenya

An epidemic of theft and violence is sweeping the coffee industry in Kenya, a country where a kilo of dried beans can be worth a week’s wages. A special police force has been set up to deal with the problem, but raids by armed gangs are a daily occurrence. Coffee growers are being forced to sleep in their fields so they can fend off would-be thieves.

The thieves aren’t subtle, with reports of security guards at coffee factories being shot with arrows and beaten to death with branches. Villagers have taken to fighting fire with fire, and criminals caught in the act have been lynched in the street.While coffee is grown on tens of thousands of small farms throughout the country, exports are only managed through licensed operations.

The coffee thieves are able to make money because of corruption reaching right to the top of the tree. With 5 million people in Kenya dependent on the coffee industry to make a living, it’s a daunting issue for the government to overcome.

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