For 18 months, the coffee industry has remained mostly silent about the ongoing destruction of Gaza. A new fundraiser hopes to raise money—and jolt the industry awake.
For paid subscribers: I’ve written before about Starbucks’ myriad climate issues, but now conservative activist shareholders are trying to weaponise those failings in service of a climate denialist goal.
It was a bit of a slow week for coffee news, but I somehow still managed to write a whole roundup. Here’s what happened:
A California Assembly member introduced new legislation that would ban coffee decaffeinated using methylene chloride. The FDA has said that the health risks from decaffeinated coffee using methylene chloride are so low “as to be essentially non-existent”, but that hasn’t stopped a food safety nonprofit from pushing for the ban.
Keurig will introduce a plastic-free coffee pod—well, it’s more of a puck—as part of what its CEO calls “our ambitious agenda [which] reflects our commitment to providing variety, quality, value, and sustainability to the 45 million North American coffee consumers who currently use Keurig brewers.” Those 45 million people will need an entirely new machine in order to use the new K-Rounds, so what happens to all those old brewers?
Coffee has a complicated relationship with migraines—does it cause them? Cure them? Science doesn’t know! Things are no clearer despite two new studies investigating the subject.
I'm the creator and writer of The Pourover. Based in Scotland, I have over a decade of experience in the specialty coffee industry as a barista, roaster, and writer. Ask me about coffeewashing.
Fionn Pooler
