As the FT noted in its Lex column yesterday:
First chocolate, now coffee — the supply of modern life's necessities is being squeezed by a changing climate. Extreme temperatures and droughts in south-east Asia, home to the world's second- and third-largest producers of coffee beans, have led to lower harvests.
But given that this was the FT they went on to note:
Falling bean supply has implications not just for our daily lives but also for company earnings.
Blow the impact on those growing the beans and the disruption to their lives: what matters is falling corporate earnings, not global heating and the impact it has on working people.
That said it did note that those impacts are not likely to improve, albeit still within the context of corporate earnings. As they noted, a heatwave in Vietnam, the world's second-largest bean producer, has cut production thereby maybe 20%, with much the same happening in Indonesia, which is also a major producer. Coffee prices are up 50% as a result. And this is likely to continue. Despite the price increases, climate change is making coffee too unreliable a crop to grow in south-east Asia, and farmers are pulling out.
I have never hidden the fact that if I have any form of addiction (and I really don't think I have), then coffee is the closest thing that I get to it. I consume more than my fair share of the world's coffee beans per day, I am sure.
At present, the price of coffee has not changed enough to really impact my consumption, but that does not mean that it might not at sometime in the future.
I often wonder when it will be, and what it will be, that brings home the reality of the change in consumption patterns that climate change is going to demand of us. I really do not know. But, what I'm sure about is that this will happen.
What I also know is that in a great many ways, this cannot happen soon enough: we need to really appreciate precisely what we are doing to our planet to understand the necessity of change. Rationally, we should already be there. Emotionally, we are not, so that we pretend nothing is happening. The sooner that we can close that gap so that we can let go of what is no longer possible, and imagine what might be, the better off we will all be in the long term.
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I cannot see any of the main parties changing policies to reduce climate breakdown. There is a sense of entitlement amongst too many people, particularly the affluent for continuing with unsustainable lifestyles; parties and the media are obsessed with unsustainable growth policies; and, there are too many who think that having a heat pump and an electric car and its all sorted.
You may be right
But they are in for a very rude shock
I wonder though if there is a growing disillusion with consumerism, not just on environmental grounds, but also because it is increasingly seen as spiritually empty. I noted a Guardian article today about ‘women who are turning their backs on consumerism, materialism and burnout’ – and a report yesterday noted the increasing share of secondhand clothes in fashion retailing… Maybe the ‘conspicuous consumption’ Veblen remarked over a century ago is finally playing out, and with a little help from the likes of us, conspicuous anti-consumption might become the fashion, even for the affluent.
I was at a party, just a naive teenager; somebody passed me a cup and – just for a laugh really – I tried some. You think you can control it – at first you cut it with milk and sugar, even use instant – but once you’re on that slippery slope you’re always going to hit the hard stuff, the double espressos, in the end…
I have only ever got to Americanos – black, of course.
Geof, I tried some coffee for the first time when I was a teenager. Some of us were studying at a friend’s house and he made some from which I had a cup. I thought it was so vile that I never tasted it again. Of course, it could have been his way of making it, but I never tried it again. I went onto hot chocolate and never looked back. I drink a special brand now, which I won’t name here, but some shops serve better hot chocolate than others. If I don’t have hot chocolate, I will have tea, but I am selective there, too, usually trying to avoid tea bags, which it is possible to do. Many years ago, I once drank a very, very strong espresso that tasted like chocolate. At least, to my taste buds.
Wow
It was worth another go
Mind you, I hate hot chocolate and have not had it for many years
Your chocolately espresso was probably made with good quality Brasilian beans: good quality Brasilian coffee has a rich, smooth almost chocolate flavour and the only way to serve it is in a pre-warmed hot espresso cup. I got hooked on it in Brasil when I lived there and had to go cold-turkey when I got home as I couldn’t find anything comparable in the coffee desert that was 1970s UK. The nearest in quality I can find here is Cafe Nero and Illy Intense for my home coffee machine, although I usually try any Brasilan coffee I find in delis. Most are OK for cafetiere, but only the best do it for me in the coffee machine. Must go; I’ve got a sudden urge for a caffeine-fix!
What the Financial Times does not acknowledge is that CO2 an dither greenhouse gas emissions are stil lrising and we have already exceeded 1.5 degrees c warming and still all governments and corporations are talking about economic growth which is causing the climate disaster! Melting Antic and Antartic ice, changing Atlantic ocean currents accelerating this, tundra melting, fires, drought, floods storms increasing year by year. Talk about a conspiracy of silence from the world’s elite. If everyone knew the basic facts of climate change there would be a world-wide revolt and revolution to change the suicidal tradjedtory we are now embarked upon.
What FT also failed to note was that if coffee production fails alternative crops are produced, to enable subsistence farmers to survive. One crop that is being hit by a transfer to coffee is Cocaine. So expect the price of that to fall…
But I suppose the FTs core readership in “The City” will be pleased with that…
I occasionally drink coffee first thing in the morning, but I normally can’t be bothered to grind the beans. I far prefer tea, especially fermented teas such as Pu Er.
There are many stories told about the origins of various Chinese and Japanese teas, many claiming it was cultivated in China 6,000 years ago. It came as a surprise to learn that it was probably introduced into China by the Mongols in the 7th century, and that they drank it with milk.
There is some evidence that tea originated in northern India but had stopped being cultivated there for centuries by the time the British arrived. The British then reintroduced it from China and started drinking it with milk again.
I hadn’t realised that climate change denial is still being promoted in which at first sight seems by some apparently senior and reputable scientists in an 80 minute video
https://twitter.com/ClimateTheMovie/status/1771567529560842593
saying the world is not really warmer, and CO2 increase is a product of warming not the cause etc etc . and only really becomes obviously and ridiculously ultra right wing world conspiracy stuff towards the end with the bottom of the barrel Claire Fox and co.
Those who have only 30 minutes to watch it might be convinced –
(refutation by Keulemans – doctored graphs etc
https://twitter.com/mkeulemans/status/1771642599989711005)
But the fact that fossil fuel- linked interests think this is still worth promoting – hints at the strength of forces we are up against
Agreed
It is not an either/or situation. Increased atmospheric CO2 causes warming of the atmosphere and increased atmospheric temperature promotes oxidation of carbon to CO2, e.g. in an increase in forest fires. In other words, there is a positive feedback loop and if we don’t take control of it soon we will end up frying.
It may come as a surprise to you but Clare Fox considers herself to be on the left. At least, she did when I last spoke to her.
I was introduced to Greek coffee at an impressionable age, graduated to Turkish and ended up with Arabic style coffee ie: similar density but with spices – mine vary – this week cardomom and nutmeg, and the coffee itself is currently Colombian, though often Turkish. Worth every penny at twice the price – which it’s obviously going to be sooner or later. Olive oil has already doubled in price so I may have to cut down somewhere else……
By choice, I always go Colombian
I get the jitters from strong coffee due, of course, to the caffeine content. I counteract this by taking l-theanine, that being the stuff in tea which calms you down. That way you get the energy but not the anxiety. I mention this as it’s useful to know and while I’m here I’ll point out caffeine (and l-theanine) can be bought in bulk online from places like, er, Bulk at https://www.bulk.com/uk/
Might be an idea to stock up now, eh?
I’ve been pointing to this study to anyone who would listen since it was first published – and the results from monitoring are not looking good.
“In 2004, Donald Davis and fellow scientists at the University of Texas made an alarming discovery: 43 foods, mostly vegetables, showed a marked decrease in nutrients between the mid and late 20th century.
“According to that research, the calcium in green beans dropped from 65 to 37mg. Vitamin A levels plummeted by almost half in asparagus. Broccoli stalks had less iron.
“Nutrient loss has continued since that study. More recent research has documented the declining nutrient value in some staple crops due to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels; a 2018 study that tested rice found that higher CO2 levels reduced its protein, iron and zinc content.”
Micro-nutrients may not seem important… until you look them up… but protein is recognisably vital in our diet. Many people are changing from meat to vegetables and yet the protein levels required may become not be sufficient without consuming, literally, more food.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/28/vegetables-losing-nutrients-biofortification
Wow…
There’s no comparing meat protein to the relatively incomplete proteins found in plants either. They might work for a few but not for the majority and anyway, if we do away with ruminants where will we get tomorrow’s soil from?
As a student I spent a summer in Portugal working in a shipyard, living in a student residence which was all Brazilians. That was my introduction to serious coffee where we would go to a cafe and drink multiple super strong expressos. (Also my introduction to real fascism – Salazar was still in power and I had the experience of being chased down the streets by his thugs along with Brazilian mates – but thats another tale).
Then working in Kenya for a few years and drinking good Kenyan coffee – Arabica of course – since when Ive never touched instant! Finally a trip to Costa Rica, whose politics are as interesting as the environmental developments – and closely interlinked. Costa Rica coffee is now my go to – not the strongest but thats more about the preparation. And hot chocolate made straight from ground beans is a whole different game!
I think you can still get great coffee from most countries. My favourite is Yirgacheffe from Ethiopia, but I am easily influenced to buy anything by knowledgeable baristas. As someone else said, olive oil is getting badly affected. As are peaches. Whisky. Havana cigars. Even hops. All the little things in life it seems.
Are they little things?
Typo. I meant “little pleasures”.
But more on topic, I have often pondered over the idea that society might “get it” as climate change washes over us and impacts everything we do or are or have. Small changes would have to change fast enough to break through the cognitive bias of shifting baseline syndrome. A more reliable trigger would be a much larger catastrophe along the lines of a 36C+ wet bulb heatwave or the disappearance of Holland under the waves caused by a superstorm, with millions of dead. A nightmare of nightmares would be that we have neither sufficient small changes nor any large catastrophes, and the world goes from 8 billion citizens to 0.5 billion in an uncontrolled collapse that is “bearable in the moment to those who might be able to change it”, apostrophes to denote the first time I’ve phrased that thought.