Specialty Coffee Retailer is a publication for owners, managers and employees of retail outlets that sell specialty coffee. Its scope includes best sales practices, supplies, business trends and anything else to assist the small coffee retailer.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/121095
INSIGHT The chill of global warming W EDITORIAL OFFICE 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230 pan demetrakakes, editor hen it comes to climate change, is Arabica coffee the canary in the coal mine? For years now, climate change has been an uneasy presence in the specialty coffee industry. I haven���t done any scientific (or even unscientific) surveys on beliefs among coffee professionals, but from my observations of online discussion boards at this magazine and elsewhere, they���re as mixed as opinions on the topic among the general population. But coffee professionals have more at stake in this debate than the average citizen. Specialty coffee depends on the Arabica coffee plant, which is among the most finicky and stress-prone plants in commercial agriculture. It is grown at high altitudes and depends on precise temperature ranges to thrive. This vulnerability makes Arabica coffee plants a potential bellwether for encroaching climate change. It���s not like there hasn���t been general evidence of global warming. Nine of the ten hottest years on record have been in the past decade, and sea ice at both poles has been visibly retreating, with a corresponding rise in sea levels. Extreme weather events are becoming the norm. As for direct effects on Arabica coffee production, those haven���t been seen yet���at least not consistently. Overall Arabica production has been fluctuating; it was slightly down for the last (2011-12) coffee growing season, although Arabica prices dropped even further, suggesting that there isn���t any real overall shortage. But there have been spotty shortages���heavy rains causing mudslides in one region, high temperatures playing havoc in another. Coffee providers have found themselves having to do, in some cases, substitutions of certain varietals. ���It���s been difficult to find, one, availability, and second, the quality that we���ve been looking for,��� one roaster told us for our State of the Roasting Industry article, which begins on page 10. It���s far from a panic-producing situation. ���There���s a lot of good coffee on the face of the Earth,��� another roaster is quoted in the article. ���No one country has cornered the market on great coffee.��� But there���s a situation that���s provoking a good deal of unease, and will probably provoke more before it���s resolved: the rust epidemic in Latin America. Coffee rust, also known as roya, is a fungus that has plagued coffee plants for as long as they have been cultivated. But its appearance this year in Latin America has been catastrophic. Costa Rica may lose up to 50 percent of this year���s crop, Guatemala up to 40 percent. Colombia has announced a massive program to replace vulnerable trees with ones cross-bred to resist rust. Several factors have been implicated in the rust outbreak, including sporadic use of fungicides that have made the fungus resistant to treatment. But the prime suspect is increased temperatures and humidity due to, yes, climate change. Whether they like it or not, Arabica farmers and everyone else along the coffee supply chain find themselves in the front lines of the climate change battle. It will be interesting to see if they add a significant voice to the debate. 4 Visit us online: www.specialty-coffee.com E-mail: specialtycoffee@specialtyim.com EDITORIAL STAFF Editor Pan Demetrakakes pan@specialtyim.com PRODUCTION STAFF Art Director Kathleen Sage Production Manager Mary Jo Tomei SALES STAFF Sales Manager Brian Grau bgrau@specialtyim.com List Rental & Reprint Services Cheryl Naughton CONTRIBUTING EDITORS EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Jason Burton, lab , Cappuccine Jack Groot, JP���s Coffee And Espresso Bar Wes Herman, The Woods Coffee Meghan Hubbs, Equal Exchange Rob Jeffries, North Atlantic Specialty Bag Craig Min, LAMIL Coffee Dillanos Coffee Roasters Kate LaPoint, Sound Provisions, Inc. Joe Monaghan, La Marzocco Tom Palm, Design & Layout Services Steve Schnitzler, Port City Java�� Atlantic Specialty Coffee , TeaSource SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION AND REQUESTS Subscriptions: $39 for one year, $61 for two years, U.S.; $48 for one year, $72 for two years, Canada; $110 for one year, all other countries (includes airmail postage). Single copies $10 each; Press releases on supplies, services and new products are welcomed and encouraged. Direct them to Specialty Coffee Retailer. Color print photography is preferred, slides and transparencies are accepted. Specialty Coffee Retailer reserves the right to edit all submissions. PRESS RELEASES: Specialty Coffee Retailer (ISSN 1077-3460) is published monthly by Specialty Information Media, 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230, Park Ridge, IL 60068. Copyright�� 2013 by Specialty Information Media. Postmaster please send address corrections to: Specialty Coffee Retailer, P.O. Box 4290, Port Jervis, NY 12771. Periodicals postage paid at Port Jervis, NY and additional mailing offices.