Biohackers think they can offset caffeine’s consequences. Plus, low stockpiles weigh on coffee prices despite Brazil’s harvest, and the U.S. funds new research.
‘Dr. Joseph John, Champion of Indian Coffee and Espresso, Dies at 88’ – via Daily Coffee News
Dr. Joseph John, Indian coffee expert and co-founder of the San Francisco-based importer and roaster Josuma Coffee Company, died last month at the age of 88.
Having trained and worked as a nuclear physicist, John founded Josuma with his wife Urmila in 1992 with the goal of bringing Indian coffee to the U.S. market. As well as importing green coffee, Josuma roasted and sold its own blends, notably the Malabar Gold Espresso blend which John first developed in 1996.
John also worked with farmers and the Coffee Board of India to improve their coffee’s quality, according to Daily Coffee News. Josuma was widely credited with introducing the emerging U.S. specialty market to high-quality Indian coffee, especially robusta.
John was also an educator, giving lectures at events like CoffeeFest and writing a book, “Creating a Perfect Espresso,” in 2023. Although he retired in 2017, Josuma continues to be family owned and operated by John’s son Melind and his daughter-in-law Steph.
Read more on the life and coffee career of Dr. John here and read his 2012 interview in Fresh Cup Magazine here.
‘Coffee’s Coming Glut May Not Be Enough to Calm Volatile Prices’ – via Bloomberg
Brazil’s bumper coffee harvest was forecast to ease global prices, which hit record highs last year. However, futures prices remain elevated. As Cole Martin reports for Bloomberg, this can partly be put down to low stockpiles at warehouses monitored by the Intercontinental Exchange, which runs the arabica futures market.
Warehouse stockpiles help underpin the global market by ensuring enough coffee is available to fulfill contracts. The past two years of smaller harvests and high prices have depleted those stockpiles to their lowest levels since 1999, and many farmers continue to hold back their coffee, hoping prices climb further.
Analysts told Martin that producers currently have little incentive to deliver their coffee to the exchange, as they can earn more from private buyers. Some Brazilian coffee, Archer Consulting analyst Marcelo Moreira said, is “really getting a premium in some markets.” But once the expected surplus from Brazil and elsewhere arrives, the C price could plummet, causing yet more volatility.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian real has risen against the U.S. dollar in 2026, meaning farmers there earn less on exports and have even less incentive to sell. The outcome of the country’s closely contested presidential election could impact the currency’s strength, and thus affect coffee prices as well. Right-wing senator Flávio Bolsonaro’s better-than-expected showing in the first round on October 4 saw the real jump more than 4% against the dollar.
Read the full story on the coffee surplus conundrum here or via Moneyweb here.
‘UH Mānoa and Clemson, To Lead Federal Program To Boost US, Global Coffee, Cacao Production’ – via Maui Now
Coffee production in Hawaiʻi and beyond is under pressure from a changing climate, and a new multiyear research project aims to address these challenges. Co-led by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH) and Clemson University, the initiative will research stronger crop varieties and more resilient farming practices for both coffee and cacao.
The U.S. Department of State is funding the multimillion-dollar research project, with an initial $8 million investment for the first year. The Coffee and Cacao Innovation Lab will work with farmers and researchers in Hawaiʻi and around the world to “develop improved crop varieties, test farming practices and strengthen production systems,” according to a Clemson University press release.
“Hawaiʻi is a fitting living laboratory for this program as the only state in the nation that grows both coffee and cacao commercially,” said Parwinder Grewal, dean and director of the UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience. “Innovations developed and tested here will support Hawaiʻi farmers and scale to protect our global supply chains.”
The new investment marks a change from the current administration’s agenda, which included sweeping layoffs and a funding freeze in 2025 that affected Hawaiʻi’s coffee industry. Last year the government also shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which funded dozens of coffee projects globally.
“Coffee and chocolate are two of the joys in life. I am excited for the benefits this funding brings to American growers and consumers,” said Suzanne Shriner, a coffee farmer and the administrator for the Synergistic Hawai’i Agriculture Council. “Ensuring we can all continue to enjoy these foods means investing in the farmers, research, and practices that keep them thriving. This grant helps secure a strong future for cacao and coffee grown right here in the United States, from the farm to cup and bar.”
Read more on the new Coffee and Cacao Innovation Lab here.
More News
‘The Government Wants You To Spend Trump Coins At A “Liberal Coffee Shop”’ – via Sprudge
‘Ethiopian Researchers Turn Coffee Waste into High-Purity Cellulose Using Sound Waves’ – via Ethiopian Business Review
‘Italy Launches International Coffee Strategy To Strengthen Global Coffee Collab’ – via Global Coffee Report
‘Blueprint Coffee Returns Green Coffee Tariff Refunds To Wholesale Partners & Customers’ – via Sprudge
Is Coffee Good For You?
Research has repeatedly shown that drinking coffee late at night affects sleep. As covered previously in this newsletter, caffeine makes it harder to fall asleep and keeps the brain active, leading to less restorative sleep and a decrease in gray matter. (Of course, as with all such research, other studies suggest that a late-afternoon latte is fine.)
If you are caffeine sensitive, you could switch to decaf. Or, if you’re a biohacker—someone who experiments with ways to maximize health and longevity—you could try to find a way to counteract caffeine’s effects. As reported by Will McCurdy for Scientific American, a growing number of fitness influencers and biohackers are promoting rutaecarpine, a substance derived from the fruit of a tree native to China, as a way to process caffeine faster.
Rutaecarpine has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for millennia and is sold as a supplement in the U.S. In rats, it has been shown to provoke the liver to produce an enzyme called CYP1A2 that breaks down caffeine. Higher concentrations of CYP1A2 equal faster caffeine breakdown.
However, if mixed with acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, rutaecarpine could lead to real health problems. One study, also in rats, found that the two substances together produce NAPQI, a toxic metabolic byproduct that can damage the liver. That study’s editor, Bill Baldwin, a professor of biological sciences at Clemson University, told McCurdy that the current evidence “suggests that you have to be careful with this co-treatment. You have to be very careful.”
Beyond the Headlines
‘How Coca-Cola Got Burned With a $5 Billion Bet on Costa Coffee’ by Kristina Peterson
‘Three Questions with Kris Carlson of Coffeekris’ by Nick Brown
