Paid bonus articles
For paid subscribers to The Pourover. These pieces offer extra analysis and opinion around major stories in coffee.
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 King of Sweden’s Coffee Experiment
For paid subscribers: Today, Sweden is famous for its love of coffee. But historically that hasn’t always been the case, and one particular ruler’s attempts to prove coffee’s harmful health impacts may have been the world’s first randomised controlled trial.
Coffee Discourse is Becoming Increasingly Sensationalised
For paid subscribers: What happens when the melodramatic language of social media and political discourse begins to impact how we discuss the coffee industry.
Coffee Contamination
For paid subscribers: It turns out that coffee’s impact on the environment continues after we drink it.
The Coffee Smuggler of Boca Raton
For paid subscribers: A tale of international intrigue, bank fraud, and coffee smuggling from the 1980s that sounds like an episode of Miami Vice.
Crypto Coffee; or, Why a Struggling Spanish Cafe Chain Is Going All-In on Bitcoin
For paid subscribers: Troubled coffee companies now have a new way to escape their problems: invest in cryptocurrencies and pray that the line keeps going up.
How Low Can Coffee Prices in China Go?
For paid subscribers: Competition among coffee chains in China is driving prices to ridiculous new lows. Where will it end?
The Never-Ending Tariff Story
For paid subscribers: Donald Trump’s latest arbitrary tariff threat, this time against Brazil, has once again enveloped the coffee industry in chaos and uncertainty. When will it end?
Starbucks’ MAHA Misstep
For paid subscribers: What Starbucks’ CEO Brian Niccol’s meeting with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. says about the company’s embrace of coffee’s wellness trend—and the trend’s darker side.
Why Studies on Coffee’s Health Benefits Are So Popular
For paid subscribers: A look at what makes coffee health studies so attractive to news organisations and readers, and how such stories also benefit the coffee industry.
Bonus Coffee Buzzwords
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".