'Unhealthily High' Coffee Prices

• While coffee has now been exempted from (most) tariffs, that doesn't mean retail prices are going to come down anytime soon. The CEO of Illycaffè told Bloomberg as much, saying that the Italian roaster planned to raise prices again in January, having already done so twice this year. “There is a limit to how much a company can absorb a level of green coffee price, which is so unhealthily high”, Cristina Scocchia said. (For what it's worth, Illy's last earnings report showed that its revenue climbed 6% in 2024 to €630 million, with net profit up 42% on the previous year. The company did at least give a bonus to employees.)
• Unionised workers at Blue Bottle Coffee locations in Boston and California's East Bay went on strike over the weekend in an attempt to pressure the Nestlé-owned company to finally finalise a union contract. The Blue Bottle Independent Union accused Blue Bottle of delaying the bargaining process and firing several union members in recent weeks.

The Next Step in the Coffee Union Wave? Building Global Solidarity

Workers at Blue Bottle Coffee, acquired by Nestlé in 2017, have unionised. Now, they’re building international solidarity with the conglomerate’s union in Colombia.

The PouroverFionn Pooler

• Accurate mapping of coffee-producing regions is essential as legislation like the European Union's Deforestation Regulation (eventually, probably) comes into force. Importers use geolocation maps to help them prove that the coffee they buy doesn't come from deforested land. But according to the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, much of the data behind such maps are inaccurate and could lead buyers to avoid purchasing coffee from whole areas which have been erroneously classified as "high risk" for deforestation.

For more on all these stories, plus an expanded Starbucks Workers United strike and Ethiopia's new specialty coffee association, check out the full Roundup over at Fresh Cup Magazine:

Coffee News Club: Week of December 1

Tariffs might be gone, but your latte likely isn’t getting any cheaper. Turns out coffee prices tend to be sticky. That and more: here’s the news for the week of December 1.

Fresh CupFionn Pooler

Last week, paid subscribers received first access to my latest Coffee Conversations interview, this time with Biggby Coffee CEO Bob Fish:

Coffee Conversations: Biggby’s Bob Fish on Challenging Corporate Coffee’s Status Quo

The co-founder of the chain Biggby Coffee talks about building a successful company with hundreds of franchised locations, only to switch to a new way of doing business—one that prioritises more than just growth and profit.

The PouroverFionn Pooler

I'll be back on Friday with another deep dive, but until then it's goodbye from my sister's cat Maru, caught in the act half way through trying to scale the bookshelf for snacks: