Demand for coffee is growing, and climate change threatens supply—yet consumers don’t want to pay more. In an intensified and unequal industry, however, someone always pays.
For paid subscribers: One of Howard Schultz’ final acts as Starbucks CEO was inflicting upon us a line of olive oil-infused coffee drinks. He was so confident the Oleato would change the world. It didn’t.
The coffee news never stops. Here’s what happened last week:
Dry weather has hit Vietnam hard, impacting coffee harvests and pushing the price of robusta to ever-higher levels. The spike in robusta prices is having knock-on effects—demand for lesser-quality Brazilian arabica has increased, while the low production and higher prices could lead to a “squeeze [in] Asia’s café culture.”
A new state law in California passed April 1 mandating a $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers at companies with more than 60 locations nationwide. Already, Starbucks has hiked its prices in response (after raking in record revenue), and of course the media is pitting customers against workers.
Blue Bottle employees in Boston are unionizing! The workers say they’re organizing “because Blue Bottle does not pay us enough to meet our basic needs, does not allow us any input into cafe operations, and shows continuous disdain for us as workers.” It wasn’t the only specialty chain to unionize last week—workers at the Australian-inspired chain Bluestone Lane in Philadelphia have also written to their company’s CEO requesting voluntary recognition.
Read the rest of the Roundup—including a CNN “investigation” into the health effects of the decaffeination solvent methylene chloride—over at Fresh Cup Magazine:
I'm a coffee writer and creator of The Pourover. Based in Scotland, I have over a decade of experience in the specialty coffee industry. Ask me about coffeewashing. It's pronounced Fin (he/him)
