Turns out flight attendants were right about coffee brewed on planes. Plus, Compass Coffee files for bankruptcy after a tumultuous 2025 and a California-grown gesha coffee is up for auction for the first time.
‘Compass Coffee Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy’ – via Nation’s Restaurant News
After months of speculation and amid legal battles over unpaid rent, Washington, D.C.-based Compass Coffee filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on January 6.
Compass announced on its website that it would restructure parts of its business, including closing one of its roasteries, but would keep cafes open while filing for bankruptcy. The company blamed its financial struggles on a retail landscape that has “changed fundamentally since 2020.” They cited a collapse in downtown foot traffic and changing consumer demands. “Retail models built for a different era, including legacy lease structures and fixed operating costs, no longer align with today’s reality,” the announcement stated.
Compass was founded by Michael Haft and Harrison Suarez in 2014, and grew to 25 cafes in the D.C. area. As part of the bankruptcy filing, the company reported assets of between $1-10 million and liabilities between $10-50 million. Compass has faced multiple lawsuits over the past year: in January 2025, Suarez filed a lawsuit accusing Haft, his father, and the company of fraud and racketeering.
Although Compass plans to keep its cafes open, court filings show that the company is looking to terminate 10 leases. Workers at Compass have been trying to unionize since 2024, and have faced significant pushback from the company. The Washington Business Journal reported that Compass is in negotiations to sell to a “global coffee retailer,” although no further details were given.
Read the full story on Compass Coffee’s challenges here.
‘A California Gesha Makes Its International Auction Debut’ – via Sprudge
The U.S. grows less than 1% of the coffee it consumes each year, a major talking point throughout last year when, in April 2025, President Donald Trump placed tariffs on imports from most of its trading partners.
The vast majority of American-grown coffee is produced in Hawaii and Puerto Rico, but over the last few years, coffee production has taken off in California. And now, a California farmer will make history as the first continental U.S. grower to take part in an international coffee auction.
One of the more established California farms is the Ventura-based Frinj Coffee, founded by Jay Ruskey in 2017. Later this month, Frinj will take part in the Dubai Coffee Auction, with a 20-kilo lot of washed gesha coffee up for grabs.
The gesha variety is widely regarded as the pinnacle of coffee quality. It is highly sought after by roasters and can sell for thousands of dollars a pound—especially at auction. In August 2025, a 20kg lot (about 44 pounds) of washed gesha coffee from Hacienda La Esmerelda in Panama earned over $600,000 at auction, more than triple the previous record set a year earlier.
One of the reasons the U.S. doesn’t produce much coffee is that its climate and topography haven’t been considered ideal for production. “This is a significant moment of recognition that honors the California growers who’ve dedicated themselves to these plants,” Ruskey told Sprudge. “It validates everyone who believed California could produce world-class coffee when the rest of the industry said it couldn’t be done.”
Read more on the California-grown coffee here.
More News
‘FairWave Acquires Second Milwaukee Coffeehouse Chain’ – via Urban Milwaukee
‘Indonesia Coffee Report: Robusta Booming as Demand Builds’ – via Daily Coffee News
‘Heavy Rains Threaten Coffee Harvest in Guerrero’ – via Mexico Business News
‘Orchestra PE signs deal to buy South Korea’s Mammoth Coffee Lab’ – via Verdict Food Service
‘The First Two US Coffee Championships Of The Year Are Next Month In Seattle’ – via Sprudge
The Week in Coffee Unionizing
- Workers at Kaldi’s Coffee in St. Louis, Missouri, filed three Unfair Labor Practices charges against the company as they prepared to vote in a union election late last week. Workers at eight of the company’s locations announced their intent to unionize in November and have accused management of union-busting in the lead-up to the election. Allegations include holding captive audience meetings, recording and interrogating workers, and firing two employees who were involved in organizing.
- Baristas at Seven Stars Bakery in Rhode Island voted to authorize strike action if deemed necessary. The vote was in response to what union organizers said were “unproductive” negotiating sessions and inadequate pay proposals from the company. Nearly 100 workers unionized in 2022 and signed a three-year contract, which expired at the end of 2025. “We are committed to maintaining an open dialogue with employees during this contract negotiation,” Seven Stars CEO JJ Smith told The Providence Journal.
Is Coffee Good For You?
The question of whether it’s safe to drink coffee brewed on an airplane comes up all the time. There are countless clickbait-y articles featuring airline staff warning people not to drink airline coffee. “Flight attendants will not drink hot water on the plane,” one anonymous flight attendant told Business Insider in 2017. “They will not drink plain coffee, and they will not drink plain tea.”
Those concerns center on water quality—and a new report suggests they may be well founded.
The report, from the nonprofit Center for Food as Medicine and Longevity, used data from the Environmental Protection Agency using samples they collected from 10 major and 11 regional airlines operating in the U.S. between 2022 and 2025. The report’s authors gave each airline a “water safety score” out of five, based on criteria including violations per aircraft, disinfecting and flushing frequency, and violations for E. coli. Anything above 3.50 was considered a passing grade.
Delta Air Lines (5.00) and Frontier Airlines (4.80) were the two major carriers with the best scores, while American Airlines (1.75) came last. Only one regional carrier, GoJet Airlines (3.85), managed a passing grade. “Nearly all regional airlines need to improve their onboard water safety, with the exception of GoJet Airlines,” said Charles Platkin, the center’s director, in a press release.
The center’s recommendations are drastic: only drink bottled water onboard, don’t drink coffee or tea brewed on the plane, and use an alcohol-based sanitiser rather than washing your hands with bathroom water. The report also criticizes the EPA for “weak enforcement” of water regulations, noting that penalties for violations “remain extremely rare if at all.”
Beyond the Headlines
‘How Specialty Cafes Are Rethinking Drip Coffee’ by Haley Greene
