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.
Ethiopia’s coffee exports are a vital part of its economy, but now the country wants to keep more of the revenue by roasting and packaging its coffee before export. China could be key to this value-addition strategy, with Ethiopian coffee becoming more sought-after and Ethiopian brands now exporting roasted coffee directly to the country.
Pret a Manger’s “too good to be true” coffee subscription is now just that—the brand replaced its program, which gave customers five drinks per day for just £30 a month, with a cheaper one that just gives discounts. Needless to say, customers aren’t happy with the change, with some (of course) calling for boycotts.
And the unionisation vote at Compass Coffee ended in a stalemate after the owner and union organisers challenged 101 of the ballots. This is the company that hired 124 new employees just weeks before the vote, including the owner’s family members and several DC-area CEOs.
Read more on all these stories, plus some news about Nestlé saving coffee through the use of proprietary “high-yielding” varieties, over at Fresh Cup Magazine:
If you missed it, you can check out my latest piece that looks at where all the money in coffee is going (spoiler: it’s not going to farmers or workers):
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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
