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.
From beautiful Michigan, it’s the roundup of the Roundup.
This week, in coffee news:
An important (and sometimes startling) insight into the problems and potential solutions surrounding coffee-linked migration.
In Seattle, Starbucks and union organizers face off in a court hearing over contract negotiation rules that could prove pivotal to the workers’ ongoing unionization efforts.
A new survey shows that coffee is more popular than tea in the UK for the first time.
And Blue Bottle Coffee announced its “high-level roadmap” to carbon neutrality by 2024, much of which hinges on carbon offsets (Greenpeace has labelled carbon offsets “a scam”).
If you missed it, my latest Pourover article focuses on a farmer with a simple and affordable redistribution plan who has so far struggled to find industry backing:
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
