For paid subscribers: A look at what makes coffee health studies so attractive to news organisations and readers, and how such stories also benefit the coffee industry.
The coffee berry borer is a destructive pest, causing half a billion dollars worth of damage to farms annually. They're also tiny and hard to spot, which makes counteracting the pesky critters difficult and expensive—but that's where drones come in. Researchers in Australia have developed a software system that uses drones and advanced image processing to detect the insects' impact, allowing farmers to remove infestations and save their harvests.
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a civil rights lawsuit against a Palestinian-owned coffee shop in Oakland, California, alleging that the owner and staff discriminated against Jewish customers on multiple occasions. In a statement to Daily Coffee News, a lawyer for the cafe's owner called the lawsuit "a political stunt designed to intimidate people who oppose Israel’s genocide and our government’s support of it."
You know when you drink coffee too late in the day and it stops you sleeping? Of course you do. Well, researchers in Canada studied this phenomenon, and found that caffeine pushes our brains into "criticality", a state of optimum functionality that keeps us alert and reactive. However, our brains use sleep to rest and recover, which caffeine interferes with. "These changes suggest that even during sleep, the brain remains in a more activated, less restorative state under the influence of caffeine," said study co-author Karim Jerbi.
For more on all these stories, plus why Starbucks is finally getting involved in China's coffee price wars, check out the full Roundup over at Fresh Cup Magazine:
On Friday, paid subscribers received their latest bonus article, which looked at why health studies in particular are so popular with news organisations:
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
Fionn Pooler
