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.
We’re back at it, and as always at this time of year interesting coffee news is a bit thin on the ground. Nevertheless, I managed to find the odd tidbit, including:
Kenya’s coffee farmers are feeling the effects of climate change, from hotter weather to erratic rainfall to increased instances of pests and disease. “Coffee production has decreased over the last few years”, one farmer told BBC News. (My last big article was on this subject.)
Keurig and Nespresso are trying to make their popular, convenient, but extremely wasteful pod machines more sustainable and/or recyclable. However, it turns out that doing so is a lot harder than it seems. (I’ve also written about this subject in the past.)
Staff at a coffee shop in Baltimore, Maryland, unionised. But interestingly they were already worker-owners of the company, having bought out the previous owner who had closed the business down two years earlier after the first unionisation attempt. The unionisation, a press release stated, “demonstrates the potential for innovative labor partnerships, even within worker-owned cooperatives”.
For more on all these stories, plus two new “coffee is good for you” studies, read the full roundup over at Fresh Cup Magazine:
If you missed it, why not check out the now-annual State of the Pourover, which, as well as some general musings, also includes my five favourite articles from last year:
Usually I end these Monday newsletters with a picture of Merlin, next door’s cat who basically runs the neighbourhood. Sadly she’s very old and is now almost completely blind and deaf, so she’s not out and about as much as she used to be (also it’s freezing cold). Hopefully in the spring she’ll be able to wander around a bit more and I can say hi and take some more photos.
But until then, the coveted ‘Goodbye From’ slot will be filled by a succession of guest stars, starting with my sister’s cat Maru who has recently moved from Scotland to Denmark to live with them. He seems to be settling in well:
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
