For paid subscribers: retail coffee prices have soared in recent years, driven by climbing commodity costs and tariff stupidity. Some of those pressures have now started to ease, and yet retail prices continue to rise. Will they ever come down?
Welcome to the last Coffee News Roundup of 2023! After a festive break, I’ll be back with the much-anticipated (I assume) Coffee News Year in Review on January 1st.
But before that, here’s what’s been going on over the past week:
China now has more branded coffee shops than the United States, thanks mostly to brands like Luckin and Cotti Coffee furiously opening new locations across the country. While Starbucks is still the biggest in Asia, that could soon change as Luckin et al begin to expand to Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea (although do they really need more coffee shops?)
Speaking of Starbucks, the coffee giant says it wants to resume contract talks with its union in the new year. Whether it’s legit, or just another stalling tactic, remains to be seen. (Fun fact: this news dropped just in time to slightly derail my latest Pourover piece).
Finnish scientists have published exactly how to make so-called beanless coffee, in an attempt to open up the field to new companies and innovations.
Workers at ReAnimator Coffee in Philadelphia have tentatively agreed a union contract, the second Philadelphia barista union to win a contract after authorizing a strike in as many weeks.
Thanks for reading the Pourover in 2023! I’ll be back on Friday with that aforementioned slightly redirected article on Starbucks, but until then it’s goodbye from Merlin:
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)
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