Mapping Sustainability in Coffee

The Coffee Industry Will Regret Embracing Generative AI

Coffee professionals and brands are increasingly adopting generative AI. But should an industry that prides itself on authenticity and sustainability really be embracing such a destructive tool?

A slightly delayed roundup this week as I spent all of yesterday driving through northern Europe to get to my sister's in Denmark.

Here's what went on in coffee last week:

The author and photographer Lucia Bawot has launched a project aimed at improving the mental health of women coffee workers in Colombia. A successful trial in 2023 led to the formation of SANA, a nonprofit which pairs women farmers and pickers in rural Colombia with trained psychologists for a course of teletherapy, group workshops, and virtual education programs. “When women are emotionally healthy and heard, they not only care for themselves, they ripple that strength out to their families, their communities, and the future of coffee itself,” Bawot said.
Coffee helps you live longer, according to a plethora of studies. But exactly how? New research has found that it's to do with caffeine's stimulation of AMP-activated protein kinase, or AMPK, a protein found in nearly every cell that helps to regulate energy levels. This stimulation then influences age-related processes like how cells respond to stress and how they grow and repair their DNA.
The International Coffee Organisation has revamped their sustainability project mapping tool. The new and improved Coffee Sustainability Support Database features a map of all the projects going on around the world and lets users filter by country, donors, goals, and area of focus.
Uganda has overtaken Ethiopia as Africa's top coffee exporter. World production is mostly recovering after last year's climate change-induced fall, with the two African countries seeing some of the largest increases. Even though Ethiopia saw record high production, Uganda managed to surpass that in May, which the Ugandan government said signals "a decisive shift in the continent’s coffee trade dynamics."

For more on all these stories, plus why instant coffee might be an exception to the "coffee is good for you as you age" theory, check out the full Roundup over at Fresh Cup Magazine: