Did you buy coffee from a cafe this week? Financial experts say shame on you. Plus, US coffee shops increasingly focused on iced drinks, and coming soon: coffee grown in Spain.
Millennials are spending HOW MUCH on coffee? Scroll to find out. This and more: here’s the news for the week of September 9.
‘A Funnel Cake Macchiato, Anyone? The Coffee Wars Are Heating Up.’ – via The New York Times
In less than a decade, the number of coffee shops in Odessa, Texas, has tripled from 17 to 55. But many are angling to find the next cold coffee concoction instead of serving up drip coffee.
According to reporting from Julie Creswell for the New York Times, “cafes and drive-ins that specialize in tea and coffee drinks make up one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry.” Coffee chains are exploding and expanding across the US, including brands like Dutch Bros., Oregon’s Human Bean and 7 Brew from Arkansas.
Most of these coffee shops are focused on cold coffee and iced drinks.
“There is something of an arms race going on in the coffee world,” Creswell writes, “with a growing number of establishments seemingly desperate to outdo one another in coming up with sweetened, imaginatively flavored concoctions that in some cases bear only a passing acquaintance with what the average customer might consider ‘coffee.'”
Many of the proprietors of these ever-expanding coffee chains explicitly cite Starbucks as their inspiration—and their rivals in the market. “Starbucks is our competition,” said Brandon Knudsen of Ziggi’s Coffee, a coffee chain with over 97 locations. “People pick up on some of these foods and drinks from Starbucks, and we’re appreciative of what they do. Our job is to make it a little bit better.”
In 2021, Starbucks reported that 74% of all its drinks sold were cold, so it makes sense that other coffee chains would focus on iced beverages. But taking on the king of coffee might be easier said than done, even as sales fall and the brand’s executive leadership gets shaken up.
Starbucks has over 16,000 locations in the US, more than the following ten largest coffee and tea companies combined. Its size gives it a competitive advantage in terms of capturing customers. “If you wanted to build a competitor to Starbucks starting today, you’d be at it for 20 or 30 years before you even made a dent,” said investment banking analyst Peter Saleh.
The rapid expansion of coffee chains and the constant search for less-crowded markets have made small cities like Odessa feel oversaturated. The same is true for other small cities: there are now 80 coffee and tea shops in Green Bay, Wisconsin, compared to 33 six years ago; Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has grown from 58 to 96 within the same time frame.
“Today, real estate is more competitive than it’s ever been,” said Scott Harvey, president of Dunn Brothers Coffee. “All of us are out there looking for the same site … and that’s causing real estate pricing to go up as well.”
‘The World’s First Coffee Grown in a Continental Climate is Born in Barcelona’ – via La Vanguardia
For the past eight years, a Spanish couple has been working on a project north of Barcelona: a coffee farm with plants thriving outside the coffee belt, a region generally between the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn where coffee plants are thought to grow best.
Joan Giráldez and Eva Prat own Castellvilar, an estate located in the province of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. Laura Conde, reporting for La Vanguardia, claims this is the “world’s first coffee plantation outside a tropical or subtropical climate.” The couple planted 300 coffee trees with 5,000 more seedlings ready to go should their experiment succeed. According to Giráldez, the plants should produce a commercial harvest by 2025.
Coffee is a notoriously fragile plant that requires specific growing conditions, like predictable rainfall patterns, cool temperatures, and good soil. These conditions are generally best at high altitudes (usually 800 meters or more) near the equator. Sant Vicenç de Torelló, where Castellvilar is located, is very far north of the equator and, according to the Spanish state meteorological agency AEMET, sits 556 meters above sea level.
Giráldez admits that they face some difficulties due to the weather in Spain: “Here we can go from -5 or -6°C (21°F) to temperatures of up to 35°C (95°F) in summer,” he says. “There is a risk of frost and heavy rains that can affect the harvest, so one must always be very careful.”
However, the farm’s valley location helps protect the coffee from the worst weather, and Giráldez believes the weather fluctuations might even be beneficial. “In terms of quality, this coffee can be equated to high-altitude coffee, as the beans take longer to mature due to the extreme temperatures, so the ripening process is slow and results in more sought-after coffees.”
Giráldez and Prat aren’t the only two trying to grow coffee in Europe. There are ongoing coffee projects in Granada, on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria, and the Italian island of Sicily. None of these locations is as north as Castellvilar, although it remains to be seen whether the farm can produce coffee commercially—this year, the farm only produced 150 grams of beans.
‘The Generation With the £728-A-Year Takeaway Coffee Habit’ – via The Telegraph
Apparently, dunking on millennials for buying coffee and being unable to afford a mortgage will never get old.
According to a new survey commissioned by McDonald’s, the average millennial spends £728 ($959) each year on coffee, or less than £2 ($2.63) a day. That’s more than Gen Z and about three times as much as Baby Boomers.
The survey sparked several disapproving news articles in the British press—most used words like “staggering” or “eye watering” to describe how much millennials are spending. One opinion piece in the Independent invited millennials to “kick your ridiculous coffee habit” by buying instant coffee and brewing at home.
These articles are just another chapter in the “you could afford a house if you stopped wasting your money on lattes” moral crusade led by rich people like Suze Orman and Kevin O’Leary. “Stop buying coffee for $5.50. You got to work and spend $15 on a sandwich, what are you an idiot? It costs you 99 cents to make a sandwich at home and bring it with you,” the multi-millionaire Shark Tank judge said. (In 2019, Kevin O’Leary said he spent $5,000 weekly on food.)
According to Forbes, the average amount needed to make a down payment on a house in the US is $34,248—it would take 35 years of cutting out coffee to save that amount of money. It’s ok to acknowledge that life is hard, the world is a mess, and we’re all just trying to get by. Order a latte, tip your barista and enjoy yourself.
More News
‘Ultra-Budget Coffee Emerges as Leading Player in S. Korea‘ – via The Chosun Daily
‘California Roaster Makes Record Bid of $445/lb at Ethiopia Cup of Excellence‘ – via Daily Coffee News
‘Deion Sanders Is Now A Co-Owner Of BLK & Bold’ – via Sprudge
‘ICO Invites Coffee Sector to Embrace Collective Action‘ – via Global Coffee Report
‘International Women’s Coffee Alliance Launches Vital Impact Fund‘ – via Daily Coffee News
‘Redemption Roasters to Relocate Coffee Roastery as HM Prison Service Terminates Contract‘ – via World Coffee Portal
‘In RE:BLOOM, The SCA’s Educational Coffee Event Returns This Month’ – via Sprudge
‘Seattle-Area Bikini Barista Chain Owner Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud’ – via Daily Coffee News
Coffee and the Climate Crisis
In Vietnam, coffee farmers this season faced a prolonged drought season and pest infestations. Experts in the world’s second-largest coffee-producing country blame climate change and warn of future disruptions.
This year, there was a severe drought in the Central Highlands, an area of Vietnam that produces 95% of the country’s coffee. The drought lowered harvest expectations and made life difficult for farmers. “This climate-related stress is particularly acute in the Central Highlands, where severe droughts have scorched coffee plantations and exacerbated water scarcity for irrigation,” said Dr. Majo George from RMIT University Vietnam.
The country’s struggles mirror those of farmers in Brazil, the top coffee producer globally, which has also experienced extended drought conditions in recent months. This has led big companies to look elsewhere to diversify their coffee sourcing.
There are other sustainability complications: Vietnam is reportedly well-prepared for the incoming European Union deforestation legislation due to the agriculture ministry working on an implementation plan almost immediately after the rules were announced. However, smallholder farmers might still struggle to collect and report the required data to prove their farms do not contribute to deforestation.
Regulations such as the EUDR and others covering pesticide residue concentrations “require adjustments in farming practices and increased costs for compliance,” George said. “This puts additional pressure on smallholder farmers, who may struggle to adapt quickly.”
Beyond the Headlines
‘How Do We Know What We Know About Coffee—And Life? Part 1 and Part 2′ by Ashley Rodriguez
‘How Café Bustelo Went From Theater Coffee To Hipster Icon’ by Kirsten Reach
‘How Innovative Brands Are Making Allergy-Inclusive Coffee Menus Possible’ by Chloé Skye Weiser
