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Why It Matters

Trouble Brewing for Coffee

Why It Matters

Council on Foreign Relations

News

4.2876 Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2022

⏱️ 25 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Beware, coffee lovers: climate change could disrupt your precious morning cup of joe. Coffee beans could lose half of their farmable land by 2050 as temperatures and weather patterns become more extreme and less predictable. This could lead to scarcer yields and pricier brews. But there is hope that unique varieties and novel farming techniques could change coffee’s destiny. The transition will require massive investments and many observers question whether the industry can meet the challenge.   Featured Guests: Aaron P. Davis (Senior Research Leader of Crops and Global Change, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)   Amanda Grossi (Senior Africa Regional Manager, International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Earth Institute, Columbia University)   Jonathan Morris (Research Professor in History, University of Hertfordshire)   For an episode transcript and show notes, visit us at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/trouble-brewing-coffee

Transcript

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0:00.0

I have to ask how do you take your coffee I drink my coffee straight and black if it's not good enough to drink black it's not good enough coffee well it depends on the time of the day. I'm not really super fussy, I guess, but you know, I'll drink a milky coffee in the morning, but generally I like straight filter coffee. No milk, no sugar.

0:21.0

Oh my gosh, how do I take my coffee? I take my coffee over to my neighbor or a friend because I don't even like

0:28.1

Oh my gosh I don't even like coffee it is, but that's the thing.

0:33.5

You know, you don't have to be a coffee drinker

0:35.9

to care about this issue we're talking about today

0:38.5

of how climate is impacting coffee. I can't get through the day without at least two strong cups of coffee and I take

0:51.1

it with the tiniest whisper of milk.

0:54.0

And it isn't just me. In the US alone, an estimated 66% of adults drink coffee every day.

1:01.0

Technically, coffee is a luxury, right? It provides nothing that human beings need

1:05.6

nutritionally. But to many coffee drinkers, it feels essential. Global coffee culture is deeply

1:12.3

ingrained in our daily lives from Los Angeles to Osaka.

1:16.0

And for millions of coffee farmers around the world, it is essential,

1:21.0

providing a crucial source of income that is increasingly under threat.

1:25.0

Like so many other crops we grow, coffee is seriously threatened by climate change.

1:30.0

It's a delicate plant, and all around the world world the land on which it can be grown is shrinking

1:35.4

If things continue as they are the stuff we buy at the store could become very expensive or very bland

1:41.8

or even disappear from our lives altogether.

1:45.7

I'm Gabriel Sierra and this is why it matters.

1:49.2

Today will climate change take coffee off the menu?

1:53.0

If you're watching us with your first cup of coffee, take note a warming planet could make that

2:06.3

drink harder to find.

2:07.6

Your morning cup of Joe could become a thing of the past.

...

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