Bone broth coffee, anyone? Savory flavors are showing up on U.S. coffee menus. Plus, storms devastate farms in Hawaii, and new research argues that coffee production causes less deforestation than previously thought.
‘Kona Low Devastates 176-Year-Old Coffee Farm on Big Island’ – via Big Island Now
In just 30 days, two fierce storms have pummeled Hawaii, severely impacting the state’s agricultural sector—including coffee farms.
Kona lows are seasonal cyclones that can affect the Hawaiian islands between October and May. This year brought back-to-back storms that caused major damage to the Big Island, where the majority of the state’s coffee is grown.
In particular, the storms devastated Greenwell Farms, a 176-year-old coffee farm. Tom Greenwell told Big Island Now’s Tiffany DeMasters that the farm will likely lose half its crop because of the storm and an estimated $10 million in damages.
Floodwater inundated Greenwell Farms’ properties and deposited debris everywhere—employees are still working to clear it all. The storm even harmed the farm’s ability to plant and rebuild for the future. “We lost about 24,000 trees in our nursery,” Greenwell said. “That’s our future planting that is gone, and trees that I grow and give to farmers to grow.”
Early estimates put the damage to Hawaii’s agricultural sector at as much as $15 million. Organizations like the Hawaiian Council and the Hawaii Foodbank launched fundraisers to support those impacted. For farmers, the Hawaiian Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity launched an emergency relief program.
As Civil Beat reports, this help is especially crucial in a state where just 3% of farmers have federal crop insurance. Most are too small to qualify, and due to the expense and difficulty of finding coverage, many don’t have any insurance at all.
Read the full story on how storms devastated Hawaiian coffee farms here.
‘Study Finds Coffee Accounts for 1% of Agriculture-Driven Global Deforestation’ – via Daily Coffee News
To grow coffee, you need a lot of land, and for years, researchers, activists, and policymakers have pointed to coffee farming as a significant contributor to deforestation. While coffee growing does result in forest loss, a new study says coffee’s impact is relatively small compared to other agricultural commodities.
Researchers from Sweden used satellite data and agricultural statistics to track the rate at which 184 different commodities contributed to deforestation from 2001 to 2022. Their approach “gives us the most comprehensive and accurate picture yet of what is driving deforestation worldwide,” said lead author Chandrakant Singh in a press release.
The study, published in Nature Food, found that beef was by far the largest contributor to deforestation, accounting for 40% of all agriculture-linked deforestation during the study period. Coffee, by comparison, was responsible for 1%.
As Nick Brown reports for Daily Coffee News, 1% is still a big number. The study found that 122 million hectares were deforested over more than two decades, meaning coffee was responsible for 1.2 million hectares of forest loss during that period.
Brazil was responsible for the most forest loss, carrying out 32% of all deforestation over the 21 years. A report published last year by the non-profit Coffee Watch found that, over a similar period, 300,000 hectares of land in Brazil’s Cerrado and Atlantic Forest were cleared specifically for coffee production.
“Our data shows where the risks are and where initiatives are needed most,” Singh said. “The goal is for the model to connect researchers, decision-makers, companies and civil society.”
Read more on how coffee contributes to deforestation here.
‘Forget Vanilla Lattes — Savory Ingredients Are Redefining Your Morning Coffee’ – via Food & Wine
Vanilla? Boring. Caramel? Pass. Bone broth? Now we’re talking.
Coffee shops have always experimented with seasonal ingredients and interesting flavors. But some are upping the ante by introducing umami to the conversation. As Fiona Chandra reports for Food & Wine, cafes around the United States are creating coffee drinks with miso, cheese, and even bone broth to liven up their menus and attract new customers.
At Tomat in Los Angeles, a koji miso latte has become a top seller. For Maman in New York City, it’s a salted tahini honeycomb latte. Discourse Coffee in Milwaukee has taken things to another level, incorporating ramen, pork fat, and the aforementioned bone broth into their drinks.
For the ramen latte, “a big part of it was finding that balance point between savory and sweet,” Discourse founder Ryan Castelaz told Chandra. “We wanted [it] to drink like a latte, but we also wanted it to be like a bowl of ramen.”
Savory coffee drinks are nothing new. Cheese and coffee are paired in many cultures, Chandra writes, such as Scandinavia’s kaffeost, which incorporates cheese curds. In China, brands like Luckin Coffee have been experimenting with unique savory flavors for years to get ahead in an increasingly competitive market. Luckin launched a cheese latte in 2023, to enormous success. Starbucks, meanwhile, introduced a limited edition pork-flavored latte in 2024 to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
Some coffee professionals see savory ingredients as the next evolution in signature coffee drinks. “No disrespect, but I think all those sweet syrups are done to death, and it’s sometimes so flat,” said Tomat’s beverage director Miley Aryucharoen. “Like, a simple vanilla latte is great, but I feel like it doesn’t excite people anymore. It’s also just flat and one-note, and so the umami depth, I think, is still missing in the coffee world.”
Read the full story on savory coffee drinks here.
More News
‘Specialty Coffee Still a Sliver of Brazil’s Total Crop, Study Finds’ – via Daily Coffee News
‘Roasters! James Hoffmann Wants You To Join His Next Global Coffee Tasting’ – via Sprudge
‘Coffee Futures Set To Fall by a Third by the End of 2026, Say Analysts in a New Survey’ – via Comunicaffe
‘Study: Social Enterprises Beat Corporate Sustainability in Farmer Well-Being’ – via Daily Coffee News
‘Caffè Nero Begins Quiet Overhaul of Compass Coffee Assets Ahead of Rebranding’ – via Washington Business Journal
‘Cxffeeblack’s Bartholomew Jones Is A Guest Lecturer At Vanderbilt University’ – via Sprudge
Is Coffee Good For You?
Moderate coffee consumption may reduce the risk of developing mood or stress disorders like anxiety, according to new research from China.
The study, due to be published next month in the Journal of Affective Disorders, used data from the U.K. Biobank biomedical database to follow more than 460,000 participants for a median of 13.4 years. Previous studies have shown associations between coffee consumption and risk of depression and anxiety. However, the researchers wrote that those findings were inconclusive.
The study found that those who drank 2-3 cups of coffee per day had the lowest risk of developing mood or stress disorders compared to those who drank no coffee at all. The same results held for those who consumed instant and decaffeinated coffee. Results were more pronounced for men than women.
However, drinking five or more cups per day was associated with a higher risk of mood disorders, no matter the kind of coffee. The researchers adjusted for variables such as age, education, and underlying health conditions, although coffee intake was assessed only at the beginning of the study and wasn’t monitored over time.
However, the researchers conclude that their findings “[suggest] that a moderate intake of coffee might be beneficial for mental health.”
