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.
I should just start calling it the Starbucks News Roundup. Here’s what happened this week:
The world’s largest roasters are buying more sustainably-certified green coffee than ever before, according to the latest Global Coffee Platform report. However, the increase might be slightly misleading, due to the increase in participation and addition of new sustainability certifications.
Starbucks has finally figured out Australia after two decades of trying. All it needed to do was wait for the coffee snob generation to be overtaken by the TikTok generation and hey presto—massive sales jump.
Italy’s €1 espresso is a famous part of its culture, but the traditionally cheap coffee is now under threat from rising costs. However, raising the price can be very difficult for cafes: “Your business would die a very quick death”, one expert said. “The people dictate what the price is going to be”.
Read more on all these stories—plus an update on the Starbucks unionisation litigation—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)
