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 the producers who grow and process the coffee, to the ways it moves around the world and those who control the system, coffee's supply chain is long and opaque.
The global coffee industry is worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and yet many stakeholders struggle to make ends meet. As corporate revenues climb, it’s worth examining where those profits go.
Coffee collected from the droppings of civets is sought after by the rich and deplored by animal welfare advocates. Caught in the middle are the farmers who produce it.
Although it produces some of the world's best coffee, domestic consumption in Kenya remains low. A new generation of coffee professionals wants to change that.
