Cafe LIfe!

[MrsLittle]

I am hearing that there will be a coffee shortage soon. Is everyone stocking up? I am new to the business but love it so far. My cafe also carries hand crafted toys, local teas, and vintage tea sets.

Best,

Liz

[ryanwanner]

Hey @MrsLittle ! Gotta love that cafe life, eh? *twitch*

Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about a coffee shortage. Yes, the speculators are having a heyday with Brazil and their crop issues. I've seen this before. Everyone freaks, the commodity price of coffee spikes, then drops again when the speculators realize they were wrong.

Realistically, there currently is enough coffee to meet demand worldwide. What I am more worried about than a frost in Brazil is the overall effect of climate change. Good arabica coffee (which I hope your coffee shop is using!) is pretty particular about its growing environment. The warmer the planet gets, the higher up the mountain the coffee will need to be grown. The higher up you go, the less land is available, which means less coffee can be grown. This is where the coffee industry is going to suffer.

There are new types of coffees starting to emerge (Liberica comes to mind) that are a little more tolerant to warmer temperatures and less moisture, but it'll be a bit before they are available at the volume needed to keep the world caffeinated.

Long story short, if you're working with a local roaster, definitely bring your concern about product availability up to them. Chances are they'll tell you the same thing I tell my clients: we don't use commodity grade coffees. We try to work directly with the growers when we can and get more money than $0.95-$2.00/lb in their pocket. (It's at $1.93/lb at the time of this post, was at $0.95/lb early this year) Because of this, we are more cushioned from price fluctuations and our stock is based solely upon what our farmers can grow, not what some speculator thinks will happen.

[MrsLittle]

Ryan,

This was so helpful. Thank you for your detailed response. I am just starting to understand the coffee world.

Best,

Liz

[CAthayde]

I had not heard about a shortage, but certainly isn't a surprise with all the other shortages. 

We use Nossa Familia coffee in our cafe. It's a farm direct supplier, actually the Brazilian coffee comes from the family farm! They are a B Certified corporation which is important to us. 

They have other blends but we have only used the Brazilian in our Brazilian cafe. Perhaps check them out as an alternative supplier. 

[MrsLittle]

Thank you, I will!