Chatbots telling us what we want. Robots making our coffee. Baristas reduced to smiling servers. If Starbucks and other brands get their way, this is the future: a frictionless, interactionless, lifeless coffee experience.
Slightly delayed due to Labor Day yesterday in the US, here’s the week’s news:
As the climate crisis intensifies and coffee prices skyrocket, big companies are looking to diversify their sourcing away from just Vietnam and Brazil. “There is an urgency now, because this year proves that the impact of climate change cannot be underestimated,” Andrea Illy, CEO of Illycaffe, told Bloomberg. “It is starting to change the market itself.”
Someone in Taos, New Mexico, really hates Starbucks. A new drive-thru development in the resort town has been set ablaze twice, and although police say they know who the culprits are, they don’t have enough evidence. Locals are ambivalent, with some criticising the tactics while others are more forthright: “We don’t know who did it, but we loved it,” Todd Lazar, a holistic healer, told Reuters.
Researchers in Canada have created a portable device that allows people to check their morning coffee for microplastics. This is especially important as previous studies have found that takeaway coffee cups can leach tens of thousands of microplastics when filled with boiling liquid (another reason we should stop using them).
If you missed it, you can check out my latest deep dive—exploring the scale of pesticide use in coffee production, and the impact that has on worker health:
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)
Fionn Pooler
