Coffee is increasingly at risk from the climate crisis, and corporate-driven incremental change won’t save it. The theory of degrowth offers hope for a better world and a fairer coffee industry.
For paid subscribers: Coffee is increasingly used to burnish the United Arab Emirates’ international image. Now it is being supercharged by merging with the popularity of the Dubai chocolate trend.
Promotions and buy-one-get-one deals are (understandably) popular with Starbucks customers, but less so with workers. Long queues, complicated orders, and understaffing are causing staff to (understandably) quit in frustration.
Researchers are researching whether robusta can grow at high altitudes, potentially as a way to replace or augment arabica crops that are struggling due to the climate crisis. (There is a conversation to be had about mitigation vs adaptation in coffee, but that’s for a longer piece I think.)
Starbucks put a lot of effort into promoting their new drink the Oleato last year (that’s the olive oil latte, if you somehow forgot). Howard Schultz was especially keen, as he was the one who came up with the idea. As it turns out, Schultz also part-owns the olive oil company that has made millions supplying Starbucks.
Read more on all these stories, and some new coffee health research, over at Fresh Cup Magazine:
I'm a coffee writer and creator of The Pourover. Based in Scotland, I have over a decade of experience in the specialty coffee industry. Ask me about coffeewashing. It's pronounced Fin (he/him)
Fionn Pooler
