News Flash: Coffee is Political

A lot of people have a hard time connecting coffee to world events and politics. See for example: the time Fresh Cup's owner Garrett shared an article I wrote on Trump's tariffs to a coffee roaster's Facebook group and people were not happy:

Anyway, just a warning that this week's coffee news is pretty political.

• Two more U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation to exempt coffee from Trump's hugely damaging tariffs, this time in the Senate. The bipartisan bill follows similar legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in September. Also last week, Trump met with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during a trade summit in Malaysia, a conversation Lula described as "positive", while a potential trade deal between the U.S. and Vietnam could make certain imports—including coffee—tariff-free.
• Speaking of hugely damaging: As of November 1st, SNAP benefits have been stopped. The program, formerly known as food stamps, helps feed 42 million low-income Americans. However, since the U.S. government shut down in October the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, claims it can't continue to pay for it. (The agency also put out a highly partisan statement blaming the Democrats for the shutdown.) Into this void, coffee shops around the country are stepping up, most notably Heretic Coffee in Portland, Oregon, which has so far raised more than $300,000 to feed SNAP recipients. “No proof needed. No questions asked”, the shop wrote on Instagram.
• Away from politics, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol's expensive and much-publicised "Back to Starbucks" turnaround plan is still struggling. Although the coffee giant's latest quarterly report showed a slight uptick in global sales, it seems like the company has yet to achieve Niccol's goal of encouraging customers to spend more time in its stores. According to data from Placer.ai, the percentage of Starbucks cafe visits that last more than ten minutes has fallen since 2023.

For more on all these stories, plus the health implications of coffee temperature, check out the full Roundup over at Fresh Cup Magazine:

Coffee News Club: Week of November 3

Lawmakers push for coffee to be exempt from tariffs. Plus, cafes step up as SNAP benefits pause, and customers still do not want to hang out at Starbucks.

Fresh CupFionn Pooler

Last week's paid subscriber bonus article looked at the potential for robot baristas to act as strikebreakers in coffee labour disputes—something that has already happened (albeit tangentially):

Robot Baristas as Strikebreakers

Companies are turning to automation as a tool to fight back against industrial action. In coffee, that role could well be played by robot baristas—in fact, it sort of already has.

The PouroverFionn Pooler

I'll be back on Friday with a new full length article, but until then it's goodbye from this kitten that my friend's mother found wandering around in her garden last week: