Coffee News Roundup

Coffee News Roundup: Week Ending May 13th

Fionn Pooler

14 May 2022 — 13 min read

Two hands hold a coffee cup with latte art resting on a newspaper, in close up. Via Pxfuel

Hello and welcome to another Coffee News Roundup. It’ll be a quick one this week, because a) there’s not a whole lot of news, and b) I’m on holiday on the shores of Loch Ness (so far, no sightings).

Let’s see what’s been going on this week.

Update: of course this ended up being just as long as usual. I need an editor.

Colombia Coffee Output May Fall to 12 Million Bags This Year—Growers Group - via Nasdaq

After a boom year in 2019 which saw the country produce 14.8 million bags and then two successive years of declines, Colombia’s growers federation has warned that his year may see another fall in production to between 12 and 12.5 million bags due to heavy La Nina rains.

Last year, bad weather and anti-government protests saw exports fall 9%, and in 2020 production was down 6% from the previous years quarter-century high.

"We are close to more than two years of the La Nina phenomenon. We have rains that are far beyond the historical average," said federation head Roberto Velez. April was the seventh consecutive month of declines attributed to the wet weather.

Read the full story here.

Hawaii Coffee Association Inks Deal with Oritain to Address Counterfeiting - via Daily Coffee News

The Hawaii Coffee Association (HCA) is teaming up with “multinational agricultural traceability company” Oritain to create an “origin fingerprint” for the state’s coffee.

Selling coffee as Kona but only including 10% of that region’s beans is currently legal in Hawaii, something the state government is trying to rectify as lawsuits pop up alleging even less than that measly amount is being used to market coffee sold in US supermarkets as Kona-grown.

“Coffee counterfeiting is the bane of Hawaii-grown coffee,” HCA Executive Director Chris Manfredi said in a statement announcing the deal. “It represents unfair competition to Hawaii’s growers. It undermines our pricing and the generations of growers who have contributed to the exceptional quality associated with Hawaii’s brands.”

Oritain, which helps to verify the geographic authenticity of a range of agricultural products from wool to denim, is also a primary sponsor of the upcoming HCA conference. “This partnership will allow us to sample green and roasted coffee to prove its origin,” Manfredi said. “The effort will build Hawaii coffee traceability and integrity. It is designed to thwart counterfeiting and build marketability.”

Read the full story here.

James Cromwell Superglued His Hand to a Starbucks Counter to Protest Vegan Milk Charges - via CNN

James Cromwell, Oscar-nominated star of Babe (1995) and Babe: Pig in the City (1998) and renowned activist, superglued his hand to a Starbucks counter in Manhattan in a PETA-organized protest of the company’s extra charges for non-dairy milk.

Starbucks adds around 70 cents more for non-dairy alternatives, depending on US location, although it recently stopped such charges in the UK.

"My friends at PETA and I are calling on Starbucks to stop punishing kind and environmentally conscious customers for choosing plant milks," Cromwell said in a PETA press release. "We all have a stake in the life-and-death matter of the climate catastrophe, and Starbucks should do its part by ending its vegan upcharge."

Cromwell has long been associated with the animal rights movement, having been arrested numerous times over the years after protesting the mistreatment of animals in universities and SeaWorld. This is in addition to his extensive advocacy during the Civil Rights Movement and beyond.

Meanwhile, this story in Plant Based News claims that the vegan surcharge may be on its way out, although no official statement has been released either way. In response to Cromwell’s protest, a Starbucks spokesperson said, "We respect our customers' rights to respectfully voice their opinions so long as it does not disrupt our store operations.” Which sort of defeats the purpose, but okay.

Read the full story here.

A person sitting on a park bench reads a newspaper. via Wikimedia Commons

More Headlines

Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah Is Opening A Coffee Shop On Staten Island

Coffee Capsules Market to Surpass US$9.8 Billion by 2032

Victrola Owner Vibe Coffee Group Acquires Seattle Coffee Works

All Videos From The 2022 US Coffee Championships Are Now On YouTube

The Week in Coffee Unionizing

Another Starbucks-heavy week, as it always seems to be.

The National Labor Relations Board has sought a court order forcing Starbucks to reinstate the seven Memphis workers who were fired after attempting to unionize their store. The complaint alleges the company used “coercive measures” after the union drive attracted media attention, a charge Starbucks denies.
A consulting firm with longstanding links to the Biden administration has stopped working with Starbucks in the midst of what Politico calls “the Biden administration’s increasingly assertive pivot toward supporting unionization efforts across workforces.” SKDK said the decision was not related to the coffee giant’s ongoing union-busting efforts, and that it didn’t work on such issues, but its founder is about to go back to work for the White House alongside a number of former SKDK employees.
Starbucks in California, Colorado, Maryland, Florida, and Michigan voted to form unions this week, while more announced intent. As of May 11, the number of unionized Starbucks was 61 across the country.

The Week in Corporate Coffeewashing

Coffee adjacent this week, as Westrock Coffee announces “the successful achievement of its previously stated goal to responsibly source 100% of its tea globally.”

The announcement doesn’t clarify exactly what “responsibly sourced” means, but there is talk of vague certifications and digital traceability. Business-speak is sprinkled liberally throughout, of course. "Buying our tea responsibly is the foundation of Westrock Coffee’s objective to advance farmer and supplier support in the beverage industry beyond coffee," said Matt Smith, executive vice president of supply chain & sustainability.

Westrock is preparing to go public in a deal that will value the company at $1.1 billion, “and anticipates it will generate revenues of around $960m and profits of approximately $75m in 2022” according to World Coffee Portal.

“Responsibly sourced” is one of those usefully vague terms that huge companies can use to market their products as ethical and sustainable. How are they responsibly sourced? What does “responsible” even mean in this context? Could be anything, don’t worry, buy our tea.

Is Coffee Good For You?

Not if you’re a man who enjoys several espressos each day. According to a new study reported on by Bloomberg, “Men who drink espressos could have higher cholesterol levels than women.”

The research from Norway looked at the coffee habits of 21,000 over-40s, and “analysis of the data showed that the association between coffee and cholesterol varied depending on brewing method, with significant differences seen across the sexes.”

Those who drank three to four espressos per day were significantly more likely to have cholesterol in the blood than those who didn’t, and the association was much higher for men than women. Women, meanwhile, had a link to higher cholesterol than men if they drank six or more cups of filtered coffee.

Is it just me or is all this based on drinking a lot of coffee? If I drank three to four espressos per day I’d be hovering six inches off the ground and seeing through time—high cholesterol would be the least of my worries.