Coffee is good for you—just trust your gut. Plus, the EU delays deforestation legislation—to the delight of roasters, and Luckin is buying a lot of coffee from Brazil.
‘ICP Welcomes Decision to Delay EUDR’ – via Global Coffee Report
Just a few weeks before the legislation was due to come into effect, the European Union voted to postpone implementation of its deforestation regulation known as EUDR until the end of 2025.
A consortium of large European coffee roasters, known as the International Coffee Partners (ICP), lobbied for the delay. The group welcomed news of the move, saying the extra time gives farmers and companies more time to meet the legislation’s requirements. The ICP includes big-name roasters like Lavazza, Löfbergs, Neumann Kaffee Gruppe, and Tchibo.
“ICP is committed to working alongside the EU, global partners, and other stakeholders to co-create solutions that empower smallholder farmers and ensure they are not left behind,” the consortium said in a statement.
Under the EUDR, companies importing products into the bloc must prove that they have not contributed to deforestation. Although popular with environmental groups, the regulation received strong pushback from coffee industry stakeholders—farmers were concerned about being able to comply with the stringent rules, while large companies were worried about the cost of implementation.
Not everyone is happy with the delay in implementation. EU reports show that pushing implementation back by 12 months risks losing 2,300 square kilometers of forest. Sam Lawson from the nonprofit Earthsight told Joanna Robin at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that the delay will be “devastating” for forests and a “slap in the face” for the communities who rely on them.
Others voiced concern over the delay potentially watering down the legislation. “The proposed changes make a mockery of the EUDR’s objectives, removing critical elements such as traceability for many products, and allowing products to be placed on the EU market without proper checks,” the World Wildlife Fund’s Anke Schulmeister-Oldenhove said in a press release. “This move also betrays all those companies that have already invested to prepare for the EUDR and are now faced with far reaching changes and loss of their investments.”
‘Luckin Coffee Strengthens Brazil Trade with 240,000-ton Coffee Supply Deal’ – via World Coffee Portal
Luckin Coffee, the tech-focused Chinese startup, has grown dramatically over the past few years. However, with growth—Luckin has nearly 22,000 stores in China and opened more than 1,300 in a single quarter this year—comes an increasing demand for coffee.
While many companies buy green coffee from importers or directly from producers, Luckin’s size means it has to do things differently. In this case, the brand signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Brazil to purchase 240,000 tons of green coffee—about four million 60-kg sacks—over the next four years.
The deal, negotiated with Brazil’s Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrazil), builds on an earlier MoU in 2024 involving 120,000 tons of coffee. That earlier agreement was worth approximately $500 million, while ApexBrazil said the most recent MoU will be worth $2.5 billion over the four years.
While the previous agreement covered only arabica coffee, World Coffee Portal reports that the latest MoU will include both arabica and robusta beans. The latter is in high demand due to production difficulties in Vietnam caused by high temperatures and lack of rain. “For Brazil, which produces a third of the world’s coffee, to enter China opens up a huge horizon and very good prospects for coffee producers,” said Jorge Viana, president of ApexBrazil.
The deal was one of several cooperation agreements signed by China’s President Xi Jinping during his visit to Brazil for the G20 summit. Neither ApexBrazil nor Luckin disclosed which companies or producers will be involved in supplying the coffee.
More News
‘Here’s Everyone That Has Qualified For The 2025 US Coffee Championships So Far’ – via Sprudge
‘Peru Coffee Study Underscores Environmental Benefits of Organic Production‘ – via Daily Coffee News
‘Nestle Will Lift Coffee Prices, Shrink Bags as Beans Get Pricier‘ – via Bloomberg
‘How Many Cups Of Instant Coffee Can You Drink Before You Have To Start Worrying About Acrylamide?‘ – via Sprudge
‘US Tariffs Loom Ominously‘ – via STiR Coffee & Tea
‘Peru Coffee Study Underscores Environmental Benefits of Organic Production‘ – via Daily Coffee News
‘Starbucks Reportedly Mulling Stake Sale in its China Business’ – via World Coffee Portal
‘Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters Is Back—And Now They’re A Part of Dillanos’ – via Sprudge
The Week in Coffee Unionizing
Workers at Peet’s Coffee in Portland, Oregon, voted unanimously to join Peet’s Labor Union, part of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).
Baristas voted 11-0 to join the Portland chapter of IWW, reports Cameron Crowell with Northwest Labor Press. The union drive began in early 2024 in response to deteriorating working conditions. “Peet’s has piled on the workload with an increasing volume of service, yet has not supplemented this with increased labor,” the workers wrote on Instagram. “Worse, this year they announced that they were ceasing further raises to employees.”
What began in 1966 as a single cafe in Berkeley, California, Peet’s has grown into a national chain with 287 stores. Peet’s was bought by JAB Holdings in 2012 and is now part of one of the company’s subsidiaries, JDE Peet’s. JDE Peet’s brought in $8.86 billion in revenue in 2023 across all its companies.
In 2023, workers at four Peet’s stores in Berkeley and Oakland, California, voted to join their local chapters of IWW, saying they had experienced “wage stagnation, understaffing, and unsafe working conditions.” A fifth store withdrew a petition to unionize amid allegations that the company offered workers $500 to “give Peet’s a chance.” Unionized Bay Area workers have yet to secure a collective bargaining agreement.
“It feels good to stand up and have a voice in the face of disrespect,” barista and organizer Cole Franko told Northwest Labor Press. “We deserve better wages, reasonable schedules, and respect as the valuable members of our community that we are.”
Is Coffee Good For You?
As any coffee drinker knows, everyone’s favorite morning beverage can have, er, an impact on your gut. However, according to a new study, coffee can also positively affect the health of your gut microbiome.
The gut microbiome is a vast ecosystem of microorganisms—bacteria, fungi, yeast, and parasites—that live in our gastrointestinal tracts and assist with many bodily functions. The microbiome is unique to each person, and scientists believe it can change depending on diet and environmental factors.
The new study was published in Nature Microbiology and reported on by Hatty Willmoth for Newsweek. In the study, researchers from Italy, the U.S., and the U.K. looked at how the foods we consume—in this case, coffee—contribute to the gut microbiome. The researchers examined data from almost 80,000 people in the U.S. and U.K., analyzed hundreds of plasma and fecal samples, and conducted two in-vitro experiments.
One strain of bacteria, Lawsonibacter asaccharolyticus, was particularly associated with coffee drinking. Those who consumed more than three cups daily had up to eight times the levels of L. asaccharolyticus than those who only drank a few cups per month, and the relationship was consistent across individuals in different countries. The effect of coffee was so pronounced that the bacteria even grew in size when the researchers fed it coffee in a test tube.
Dr. Tim Spector, one of the study’s authors, speculated that L. asaccharolyticus might be responsible for coffee’s association with many health benefits.
The same researchers previously found that coffee had the strongest correlation with the gut microbiome makeup out of 150 foods tested. “This study highlights just how fussy our microbes can be,” Spector told Newsweek. “This Lawsonibacter microbe hangs around in suspended animation, just waiting for a cup of coffee in order to flourish.”
Beyond the Headlines
‘The Coffee Gift Guide For Actual Coffee People’ by Ashley Rodriguez
‘In Pursuit of Sustainable, Allergy-Inclusive Packaging’ by Chloé Skye Weiser
