☕ Coffee to Get More Expensive?
Climate change has already made the weather unpredictable but now it is coming after your favourite drink.
Coffee. It’s not just a beverage, it’s a feeling. There's nothing better than starting your day with a hot cup of coffee. Coffee mugs have witnessed more love stories than chocolates ever could. Who else even comes to your rescue when you need to pull an all-nighter or lift your spirits on a gloomy rainy day?
In this primarily tea-drinking nation, coffee has built its own cult. But what would happen if this coffee became expensive or just extinct?
Sadly, a coffee-less world could become a reality in the near future. All because of climate change.
What is Threatening Coffee?
The most widely used coffee beans in the world, arabica coffee beans, are in short supply. They make up 60% of the world's production. But Brazil, the main producer of arabica beans, has faced both frost and droughts, which has destroyed the crops.
This limited supply has raised the prices of arabica by almost 80% this year. You can imagine the plight of coffee manufacturers. What options do they have?
They can either raise prices and alienate customers or go for a different tasting cheaper grade of coffee and alienate customers.
It doesn’t stop here. Even if they make this difficult decision, the coffee beans probably won't reach them for a long long time. All thanks to the seemingly never-ending supply chain crisis. (Here's our detailed piece about this problem).
But we Indians produce our own coffee. Not just that. India is also the fifth-largest exporter of coffee in the world. So why bother? We can ignore the crisis and enjoy our cuppa, no?
We hate to be the bearer of bad news but rising coffee prices or a bitter-tasting coffee is the least of our problems. What's more concerning is the possible extinction of coffee.
You know how you like your coffee "just right"? It has to be made perfectly according to your taste, with the perfect sugar to milk to coffee ratio. Coffee is just the same. It prefers a specific kind of climate. But with global warming, places that are ideal to grow coffee are shrinking.
And climate change doesn’t hold anything special against Brazil. India's coffee production has also been affected due to excess rainfall. This will reduce the supply of arabica coffee by 30% and robusta coffee by 20%. The rising cost of electricity and fertilizers, increasing wages, and a labour shortage have further increased the coffee supply problem.
Not just that. 60% of coffee species face extinction due to deforestation. So, are we doomed to a coffee-less future?
Coffeeless Coffee?
Not really, because where there's a problem, there's a start-up trying to solve it. Here's where Atomo Coffee enters the scene.
Atomo makes coffeeless coffee. Yeah, you read that right. The company takes sunflower seed husks and watermelon seeds. These then undergo a special chemical process to make sure they taste and feel exactly like the coffee we drink today. And if you're worried that this won't help you stay awake and energized, don't be. It still contains caffeine.
The best part? Atomo produces 93% fewer emissions than traditional coffee. Yes, your favourite coffee is also responsible for climate change.
Scientists are also trying to do their best to make sure traditional coffee doesn't die completely. So, scientists in Finland are now trying to create coffee in the lab. How? With the same technology that is used to make meatless meat.
Yeah, your coffee could soon come from a lab. But hey, at least you'll still have your favourite drink! While this is good news for us, it does spell doom for thousands if not millions of coffee farmers, pickers, and roasters.
What’s more alarming is that coffee is not the only thing that is threatened by climate change. One-third of all plant and animal species could go extinct in the next 50 years.
Will we be able to save them all?
Only time will tell...
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