They are Americans, they created a light bulb that caused outrage and they defend themselves

For a long time, Argentinian hardware stores have been selling the precious bulb “filter”. The one that looks like a bag with a plastic seal costs less than 200 pesos and the uncle and aunt use it to avoid the yerba mate powder. However, an American came on vacation to Patagonia and had a great business idea: sophisticated manufacturing, rename it and release on a platform of crowdfunding to finance the project.

The product is called “JoGo sorbet” and it serves to facilitate the preparation of coffee, even as tea, juice and even cocktails, as can be read on the Kickstarter fundraising platform about the appeal launched by 20-something Joey Jones and his partner , Nicholas Yehle, to raise funds. They wanted to reach 10 thousand dollars and they are already going over 200 thousand.

The “JoGo” is identical to a matt stainless steel bulb, but with two differences. The first, and most important, is that it has a filter screen made “exclusively” to prevent the smallest particles of coffee from entering. This way, the coffee can be drunk without having to process it before or filter it after.

The second is that it has a plastic in the spout, which would serve to regulate the temperature of the drink. They already offer several models that vary in size and color. On the web, they suggest, among other things, “forest green” and “rose quartz”.

“It’s called ‘light bulb’, boss. Stop taking advantage of Argentines “, was among thousands of comments from outraged Twitter users on the networks when the Mashable account released a video of the product’s ambitious content on Thursday. “$ 19? I’m buying myself a tall alpaca bulb, ”another joked. “It is therefore cultural appropriation”, defines in a few words a tweet, which obtained more than 61 thousand likes.

The concept of cultural appropriation has become popular in recent years in Argentina in the artistic community to talk about the racism behind the act of using elements of a culture to which one does not belong, from a place of privilege and with the aim of attract attention or appear fresher.

For example, singers Ángela Torres and Lali Espósito have been accused of cultural appropriation after wearing stitched African braids, which have deep meaning in Afro culture and date back to the days of slavery.

Bugle he asked the creators of the project if they envisaged a “cultural appropriation” of this product which, as recorded on Kickstarter, is inspired by the Argentinian light bulb with a great photo of a gaucho and traditional light bulbs. “A companion drinking tool made popular by gauchos, the legendary cowboys Argentina (cowboys) ”, they describe it.

“No, (the straw) JoGo is a unique engineering alternativeinspired by the bulb, which is optimized to enjoy coffee in an environmentally sustainable way, ”replied Yehle. “We were inspired by the electric light bulb, which we recognize as a product created by the Guaraní people and a central part of daily life and culture in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and other countries.”

“We are committed to respecting and celebrating the rich history and culture surrounding the bulb, as well as the people who developed their use, for which we will contribute 5% of our profits to Survival International, a non-profit organization that partners with the Guarani and other tribal communities to campaign for the rights of the indigenous and tribal peoples, ”he detailed.

For his part, Joey Jones added that having been “inspired” by the traditional “light bulb”, “honoring cultural origins has and always will be of enormous importance” to both, as part of this product which is still in the development phase.

Bulb partners

Joey and Nicholas consider each other “Environmental educators”, which teach environmental awareness and green practices in nature. Young people in their twenties have recently taken children and adults on numerous canoe and backpacker trips throughout the United States and Canada.

The inspiration for JoGo was born when Joey took a motorcycle trip from Minnesota to Patagonia in 2016. In Argentina, a family gave him a dull bulb be brought back to the United States.

According to the product website, young people learned all about this article. “The first bulbs were first created by the Guaraní and took the form of a simple, straight tube built from the Taquara factory. In the 17th and 18th centuries, craftsmen developed the first metal bulbs, using nickel-silver and brass, ”summarizes the site.

On his way home he went on a trip with Nicholas Yehle to Canada and while having breakfast he thought about using the sustainable bulb production method and apply it to the world of coffee “Often a wasteful.” They found that the filter on the bulb wasn’t fine enough to filter out the coffee grounds, but it was a kick to get down to business.

After several tests “in which they experienced dangerously high levels of caffeine,” they achieved a design that filtered dust, didn’t clog and was “easy to clean,” they say on their page. “It looked pretty cool to start,” they noted.

A “non-viable” method

The rationale for creating the JoGo straw is based on the premise that other methods of coffee production are less agile and less durable, compared to the smaller, portable, reusable, waste-free and even ‘tooth-friendly’ bulb. »(Respectful of the teeth).

In one of the videos, young people say that the filter coffee method is “tricky” and time consuming, the French press method is “cumbersome” and “difficult to wash”, the coffee press is “a nuisance. “, it requires filters and is made of plastic, the electric coffee maker is” expensive “, has” bad taste “and consumes too much energy.

“The criticism they make is very questionable”said Diego Lobo, a coffee educator. From a durability and practical point of view, “an aeropress beats it from afar.” “You just need a metal filter, instead of paper, to avoid generating waste. You put the coffee, the hot water, press like a syringe and that’s it. You have a better result, it is just as practical and durable.

Another criticism that has been circulating among baristas and coffee growers is that the taste of JoGo would not be as promised. “In the high-quality coffee segment, this is not viable, because once you have the ground coffee in contact with hot water, this contact must have a residence time, because over time it starts to generate more extraction, ”Lobo explained to Bugle.

When asked about this, Joey assured that the “flavor profile” obtained with JoGo resembles the “intense French press style” obtained and ensured that there are several “tactics” to tailor the coffee to taste. If you want to drink it quickly, “you can use a medium grind which will extract faster”, while if you want to take the time to drink it, “you can use a slightly cooler water temperature and a coarser grinding to slow down the extraction process ”.

For Lobo, however, “it is not possible to drink quality coffee with this method” and he suggested that instead of using an ampoule, the method of suction cups or professional coffee tasting. “The cup with ground coffee is left still, adding hot water, waiting 4 minutes, then the coffee grounds are removed from the coffee grounds, the heaviest ground coffee goes to the bottom of the cup and with a spoon without moving the cup you go sipping this coffee.

“For the French press, which is the submerged method and is the area to which this method would belong, a 4-minute infusion is carried out and the ground coffee is removed and separated, because if it does not continue to brew, overextraction and bitter flavors are starting to come out, ”he explained.

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