For paid subscribers: Coffee is increasingly used to burnish the United Arab Emirates’ international image. Now it is being supercharged by merging with the popularity of the Dubai chocolate trend.
The coffee scene in Dubai is thriving, and the city is set to welcome the Specialty Coffee Association’s World of Coffee event next month. But underneath the glitzy facade and marketing buzz lies a moral quagmire.
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. (he/him)
Fionn Pooler
