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.
This week it's all about consequences of the coffee price surge. Here's a quick summary of the week's coffee-related news (the full Roundup, as always, is over at Fresh Cup Magazine):
Brazil's coffee stockpiles have decreased as prices have climbed. Even the biggest cooperatives like Cocapec and Cooxupe don't have much on-hand: "We never had such low stocks in February", Willian Cesar Freiria from Cocapec told Reuters.
At the other end of the supply chain, European supermarkets are renegotiating deals with big roasters like JDE Peet's. Many brands raised their own prices on the back of the commodity surge, and the stalemate has led to empty shelves in the coffee aisle. "Coffee roasters are trying to increase the prices to the supermarkets, and supermarkets are basically saying 'No'", Cyrille Filott from Rabobank told Bloomberg.
More fallout: two Brazilian coffee traders, Atlantica and Cafebras, filed for bankruptcy protection, looking to restructure debt of $367 million. The companies, which are both part of the Montesanto Tavares Group, blamed high commodity prices, currency devaluation, and contract defaults as reasons for the "economic and financial crisis".
Read more on all these stories, plus why unionised Starbucks workers in Chile are striking, at Fresh Cup Magazine:
Also this past weekend, paid subscribers received first access to my interview with the amazing Ana Vizcaino of Finca Esperanza. We talked about the challenges of growing coffee during the climate crisis, the price surge, and what it all means for the future of coffee in Guatemala.
I'll be back on Friday with another in-depth article, but until then, it's goodbye from my friend Angela's cat Clem, who is "helping" with some wool-winding:
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
Fionn Pooler
