Coffee Cherries Stolen Directly From the Trees

A very hefty roundup this week. Here’s some of what happened:

• Coffee prices have been rising consistently for months, but while that’s generally good for farmers it has also led to an increase in thefts: specifically, coffee cherries are being stolen directly from the trees. In Uganda, producers are patrolling their plots during the night and have been urged to hire security guards or use animals like dogs (or bees!) to protect their land.
• Starbucks’ new CEO just started in the role, and already he has big plans. His main one being to go back in time to when Starbucks was an actual coffee shop. “We’re refocusing on what has always set Starbucks apart—a welcoming coffeehouse where people gather, and where we serve the finest coffee, handcrafted by our skilled baristas”, Niccol wrote in an open letter posted on the company’s website.
• A private equity company in Oregon bought up a bunch of struggling companies in 2020, including several coffee companies, and then—surprise!—proceeded to mismanage the whole thing, leading to lawsuits, evictions, and more.
• In Seattle, workers at Cherry Street Coffee House went on strike, shutting down all four of the company’s stores in protest of owner Ali Ghambari’s support for a city council bill allowing small businesses to pay staff less than minimum wage.

Read more on all these, plus some Keurig coffeewashing, over at Fresh Cup Magazine:

If you missed it, you can catch up with my latest Pourover piece: the coffee shaming of Millennials by millionaire financial gurus and newspaper columnists:

Please Just Let Millennials Enjoy Our Coffee

That latte you just bought is the reason you won’t be able to retire, according to the financial gurus. But why has coffee become such a potent symbol of Millennial misspending in the first place?

The PouroverFionn Pooler

And if that Oregon story piqued your interest and you want to read more about private equity in coffee, I have a whole series about that:

'Capitalism on Steroids': Private Equity and the Future of Specialty Coffee

The coffee industry has come a long way since the days of Folgers and Maxwell House. Specialty coffee is now big business, and the industry is awash with cash.

The PouroverFionn Pooler

Private Equity vs. the Coffee Workers

Welcome to the second article in a series investigating private equity and venture capital in the coffee industry. If you missed it, you can read the first piece here. This series has involved so much research, many interviews, and looking up the difference between private equity and venture capital embarrassi…

The PouroverFionn Pooler

Could a Private-Equity-Backed 'Collective' Offer a Template for Specialty Coffee’s Future?

Welcome to the third article in an ongoing series investigating private equity and venture capital in the coffee industry. If you missed them, you can catch up on the first and second parts here. This series has involved so much research and dozens of interviews—if you value this kind of in-depth writing about the coffee industry,

The PouroverFionn Pooler

Until next week, it’s goodbye from a very sleepy Merlin: