A complex web of pressures, from climate change to tariffs, are pushing up coffee prices. But the industry has a challenge: How to communicate necessary price rises to consumers without scaring them off.
For paid subscribers: deleted scenes from last week's lexicon. Musings on the words "Sustainability", "Specialty", and the old-school buzzwords like "Artisan" and "Gourmet".
The Specialty Coffee Association of Panama isn’t a fan of co-fermentation, a processing method that adds things like fruit or spices to coffee cherries to assist the fermentation process and, hopefully, enhance flavour. The SCAP disqualified four coffees and put out a statement accusing farmers of “cheating” in this year’s Best of Panama green coffee competition.
Even though everything else is expensive, Americans are still drinking coffee—and visiting cafes. Foot traffic analysis shows that several coffee chains have seen an uptick in visitors in 2024 (although Starbucks wasn’t one of them) as they expand across the US.
Workers at Washington, DC-based Compass Coffee are voting in a union election soon. Quite coincidentally, the company hired over a hundred new baristas to work at unionizing locations, and many of them just happen to be friends of the CEO. Nothing to see here, just an Uber lobbyist and a bunch of food industry executives taking on second jobs to make rent, probably.
Read the rest of the Roundup, including some coffee-and-DNA research, over at Fresh Cup Magazine:
I’ll be back on Friday with a new article, but until then it’s goodbye from Merlin, who’s been interrupted enjoying the bowl of milk our local chippie puts out for her:
I'm the creator and writer of The Pourover. Based in Scotland, I have over a decade of experience in the specialty coffee industry as a barista, roaster, and writer. Ask me about coffeewashing.
