Is it possible to turn someone’s love for coffee into a fascinating travel documentary series? It certainly is if your name is Todd Carmichael and you’re both an adventurer and a very successful coffee man. Until watching the first series of “Dangerous Grounds’’ on Travel Channel I haven’t thought too much about the places in which coffee beans grow or about the conditions which are required in order to obtain coffee whose taste is close to perfection; I didn’t even know that the best coffee can be found at high altitude and close to the Equator. I was pleased to
enjoy my favorite drink without thinking too much about its quality and the environment in which it can be obtained, but now I see this magical liquor with completely different eyes thanks to Todd Carmichael and his amazing show.The first series of ‘Dangerous Grounds’ takes viewers, across 8 one-hour long episodes, to some truly remarkable journeys along with Todd and his cameraman, nicknamed ‘Hollywood’ to some of the least visited and riskiest grounds which Todd claims that he has to cross to find the best coffee and buy it directly from the farmers without any middle-man involved. Those episodes, which show Todd and Hollywood’s adventures in Haiti, Bolivia, Colombia, Borneo and Cambodia among others, were absolute thrillers which kept me fascinated in front of the television from beginning to end.
The sense of adventure and incoming danger is amplified by the dynamic manner of shooting, which gives the viewer the impression that everything happens spontaneously, although I’m convinced some scenes were carefully planned. It’s impossible not to have your heart beat faster when you see Todd and his cameraman in some truly challenging situations, such as leaving a Haitian market in a hurry after being surrounded by some not very friendly-looking individuals, wandering at night at the outskirts of the infamous Colombian city of Medellin where going out is definitely not recommended after twilight, driving at night across the notorious North Yungas Road(or Death Road) in Bolivia, where the road is so narrow that a mistake could easily send the enthusiastic coffee seekers down a few hundred feet in a few seconds instead of going up where they should find what they are looking for, or jumping in the water of a jungle river infested with parasites in Borneo as a way to escape the heat.
These thrilling and obviously dangerous activities, combined with more relaxing and sometimes weird scenes,such as the one in which Todd
stops at the side of a Cambodian road to have a tasty snack made up of fried tarantulas, a delicacy for the locals, seem to turn ‘Dangerous Grounds’ into an action movie combined with comedy scenes, but luckily the show has a much bigger value because searching for coffee is not just a pretext for an eventful journey. The educational aspects of the show appear when Todd discovers some coffee plantations and starts to explain the difference between good and bad coffee; the knowledge he has on this topic is amazing and shows how passionate he is about his business.Some of the most exciting, tense and at the same time entertaining moments of the show are those in which Todd, after finding the Holy Grail of coffee, which means coffee grown in the best possible conditions and at the right altitude, finally tastes it to see if that coffee has indeed that special taste and flavour that sets it apart for other products on the market. Todd’s exaltation when he discovers that he has indeed found something unique and of great quality is priceless; it simply makes you want to be there and enjoy it to the last drop.
The amazing adventures from “Dangerous Grounds” continued with a second season which turned out to be equally entertaining and educational. It has certainly been a delight for many coffee aficionados from all over the series as it offered them new perspectives and valuable data on how the best coffee in the world is made. Nowadays, whenever I ke enjoy my daily cups of coffee, the wonderful drink which makes life a little better, but obviously not as good as the one Todd and his company are making, I still can’t stop wondering what it’s like to have a cup of the finest coffee that could be found on Planet Earth. Until I have this chance I’ll keep on watching Todd’s thrilling journeys and wish him good luck in his continuous searching for coffee that has an unique taste and flavor.
