Coffee News Roundup

Coffee News Roundup: Week Ending January 7th

Fionn Pooler

Jan 8, 2022 — 15 min read

An espresso cup sits atop a magazine on a table, seen from above. Via PxHere

Welcome to another Roundup, where we’re back looking at the past week in coffee news. Let’s see what’s been going on.

Newly Unionized Starbucks Workers Are on Strike for COVID Protections - via Vice

Workers at the recently unionized Starbucks in Buffalo, New York, walked out of the job last week to demand more COVID-19 protections, after a barista tested positive and about 10 others were exposed.

The striking workers claim that the exposure has led to severe understaffing, and are asking for hazard pay and more PPE as well as support from management in denying service to maskless customers—something Starbucks says “is not a reflection of our mission and values”.

In the midst of a spike in cases in the Buffalo area, all stores were moved to a takeout-only model, although bathrooms were still open to the public.

“We are on strike until we believe it is safe to return to work,” the workers said in a letter to management outlining their demands.

Read the full story here.

Go Fund Bean Bringing Back Mentoring Program for 2022 - via Go Fund Bean

Last year, the hourly coffee worker support non-profit Go Fund Bean launched a mentoring initiative called Bean For Bean, in which 15 industry veterans offered guidance to coffee professionals earlier in their careers.

After this successful beta program, Bean For Bean is back and more ambitious for 2022. This year’s mentorships will begin in February and continue through August—double the length of last year’s program—and there’s no cap on the number who can participate. If you’d like to sign up, as either a mentor or mentee, use this link to apply (it appears to be US-only).

Go Fund Bean board member and program leader Jenn Chen said: "We learned a lot during our beta phase last summer and have incorporated the participants’ feedback into our official program. We’re excited to connect seasoned and new coffee professionals in all the fields that specialty coffee covers.”

The mentorships will be set up based on interests and geographical proximity, and will follow a pathway with clear goals and milestones. According to the press release, many participants from the beta test “remain in contact, continuing to grow together” six months after the program officially ended.

Read Sprudge’s story on the announcement here.

Reborn Coffee IPO Prospectus Makes Magnetised Water Claim - via Capital.com

Reborn Coffee, a California-based chain with seven locations, has filed an initial public offering notice with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

This, in itself, is not really that interesting. It’s a start up, it’s expanding rapidly, it lost $42.5 million on revenue of $41.5 million for the nine months ending September 30, 2021.

On what differentiates it from other companies, however, Reborn states in its filing that, “Our Wash Process is distinguished by the use of magnetized water to wash our green coffee beans when they arrive at the Reborn facility, in order to extract impurities and enhance hydration before the roasting process.”

Ah.

Magnetized water, the company claims, “is a process that converts the particles of water, which can naturally appear in various sizes, into evenly sized particles. As a result of this process, we believe that the water increases its hydration and ability to absorb into organic material.”

Capital.com asked a food scientist, Bryan Quac Le, about all this. Le, the report says, “was sceptical of any claims regarding magnetised water.”

“There are controversial studies about magnetised water,” Le continued, “and they leave many, many strong questions” about its claims.

On their website, Reborn goes into some detail on the “wash process” they use to “condition” the green beans before roasting. This process “allows a green coffee to sustain its potential beyond the optimal level” and therefore “carry higher quality and are proved to be more complex, flavorful, yet clean and delicate in taste.”

So there’s that.

Read the full story here.

Long shot of Colombian coffee farms with mountains in the distance.

More Headlines

Prices for both Arabica and Robusta coffee in the Brazilian market rose sharply in 2021

Junior’s Roasted Coffee Launches CSA-Style Program, Opens Inside Powell’s

Coffee Chains Do Away With Oat Milk Surcharges As Oat Prices Soar

The Week in Coffee Unionizing

Lots going on this week, so let’s break it down:

Workers at yet another Starbucks location announced their intent to hold a union vote, this time in Chicago’s Logan Square neighbourhood. Meanwhile, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled against Starbucks and allowed the Arizona union vote to go ahead on a store-by-store basis.

Baristas at Coffee Tree Roasters, who are seeking to unionize, have accused the company of doubling down on its opposition to the effort by hiring anti-union consultants to, among other things, hold “lengthy conversations in an attempt to persuade the employees to drop their push for a union.”

Colectivo Coffee, not to be outdone, has “continued its legal challenge” of last year’s successful union vote, according to Daily Coffee News. In a filing with the NLRB, the company “is requesting a review of a board representative’s previous denial of the coffee company’s objections to the vote’s validity.”

Finally, in some good news, the Slow Bloom Cooperative—risen from the ashes of the Augie’s Coffee union—is slowly opening its doors in Redlands, California. This marks the culmination of a long battle for the union, which began in 2020 after claims that Augie’s fired 50 workers for their union push.

The Week in Corporate Coffeewashing

Keurig Canada has been fined $3 million by the the Competition Bureau of Canada “stemming from the company’s claims over the recyclability of its single-use K-Cup coffee pods.”

The watchdog found that Keurig “misled consumers about being able to recycle its K-Cup coffee pods because they’re generally not accepted by municipal recycling programs outside of British Columbia and Quebec.”

If you’re thinking, “Hmm, this sounds familiar—didn’t the Roundup recently feature a story about Keurig and disputed claims of K-Cup recyclability?” you’d be right! But that was a different disputed claim.

Is Coffee Good For You?

According to a study by the National Kidney Foundation, daily coffee consumption “may significantly reduce the formation of kidney stones.”

The study, which looked at data from more than 500,000 people with kidney stones from two of the world’s largest biomedical databases, the UK Biobank and the FinnGen study, was pretty unequivocal: “Our findings show that going from, for example, one cup a day to 1.5 cups per day, reduces the risk of kidney stones by 40 percent,” wrote study co-author Susanna C. Larsson.