Cricketscoffee Blog

Climate change is reshaping the future of chocolate by threatening cocoa production, disrupting ecosystems, and intensifying sustainability challenges. Rising temperatures, shifting rainfall, and biodiversity loss are destabilizing cocoa yields, while the industry itself contributes to deforestation and carbon emissions. --- 🌍 Climate Change and Cocoa Cultivation • Cocoa trees thrive only in narrow equatorial zones with humid climates, primarily in West Africa, which supplies about 70% of the world’s cocoa. • Rising temperatures (up to 7°C in some regions) and erratic rainfall patterns are reducing yields by 20–31% cremefilledc.... These changes also increase vulnerability to droughts, pests, and diseases. • Research shows that climate variability could make cocoa farming unsustainable by 2036–2045, even with proposed cooling methods. --- 🍫 Environmental Footprint of Chocolate • Cocoa is among the highest carbon-emission foods, contributing significantly to deforestation, po...

Climate change is reshaping the landscape of coffee production, threatening both yield and quality. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and increased pests are forcing farmers and producers to adapt rapidly or risk losing their crops. --- ☕ Coffee Production in a Changing Climate Coffee is one of the world’s most traded commodities, with over 100 million people relying on its cultivation for their livelihoods. The two main species—Arabica and Robusta—are highly sensitive to environmental conditions. Arabica, prized for its flavor, thrives in cooler temperatures between 15°C and 24°C. However, climate models predict global temperatures could rise by 1.5°C to 2°C by 2050, rendering up to 50% of current coffee-growing land unsuitable climatecosmo.... Increased heat and unpredictable rainfall disrupt flowering cycles and reduce bean development. Droughts and floods damage root systems, while warmer climates expand the range of pests like the coffee berry borer and leaf rust fungus c...

Weather unpredictability/climate change is a leading factor in  future coffee prices. Making the small coffee grower looking to expand their land used to cultivate coffee.    Felling of rain forests will accelerate current trends in a changing climate. adding even more unpredictability to coffee supplies and future prices.   With the current world price at 90 cents a pound is making profitability in many countries nearly impossible With production cost at about $1.50 per pound.   The shortest answer is to grow more coffee witch takes more land, ,fewer trees, more c02, additional climate effects .   Climate change and general weather unpredictability are one of the driving forces in the roller coaster ride coffee prices are having and will likely continue to have in the foreseeable  future. Perhaps second only to the never ending political unrest in many coffee growing regions. 

     Coffee varieties have adapted to specific climate zones, a temperature rise of even half a degree can make a big difference. A long-term increase in the number of extreme and unseasonal rainfall events has contributed to lower crop yields that are threatening the livelihood of coffee growers. For example, between 2002 and 2011, Indian coffee production declined by nearly 30 percent.   Additionally, warming has expanded the habitat and thus the range and damage of the coffee berry borer , a grazing predator of coffee plants. This pest is placing additional stresses on all coffee crops, as is coffee rust , a devastating fungus that previously did not survive the cool mountain weather. Costa Rica, India, and Ethiopia , three of the top fifteen coffee-producing nations in the world, have all seen a dramatic decline in yields.  There is no single solution to climate change, but there are technologies and approaches available now that can reduce global...

  Reports estimate that wild coffee could go extinct by 2080. Coffee shortages can make it harder to get good coffee and that hurts the livelihoods of  millions coffee farmers around the globe.   Environmental research groups are concerned about future access to coffee. Advisors for corporate giants like Starbucks and Lavazza express agreement.   "We have a cloud hovering over our head. It’s dramatically serious," Mario Cerutti, Green Coffee and Corporate Relations Partner at Lavazza, said at a hospitality conference in Italy in 2015. "Climate change can have a significant adverse effect in the short term," he said. "It's no longer about the future; it's the present."   But a warming world and extreme weather, are making it harder to grow coffee in these regions, according to some reports. Temperature and heavy rain have helped a fungus like Coffee Leaf Rust migrate through Central America and into South America, de...

I was in the local coffee shop yesterday and over heard an interesting conversation with the Barista. Barista; Can I help you? Costumer; One large coffee please. Barista; That will be $4.99. Costumer; I couldn't help but notice your Trump campaign button. May I ask why? Barista; I work here part time to pay my bills. I go to college and live in my parents basement.   I don't need anyone's else's money. I am smart enough to know nothing is free. Costumer; But what about the top 1%? The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Like you and me. Barista; Is that an iPhone 10? Costumer; Yes. Barista; An Apple watch? Costumer; Yes. What's your point? Barista; You just spent $4.99 on 25 cents worth of coffee, some hot water and 50 cents for a cup and a lid. If your not in the 1% you Shure spend money like you are. Costumer; I see your point.  

  A very strong EL Nino thru out the coming winter is as good as a Shure bet. So get ready for not only the unusual weather a strong EL Nino brings but the likely hood of higher coffee and chocolate prices.  Coffee is only recently recover from disease problems of 2014. So the just the prediction of a strong EL Nino alone is enough to get markets on edge and leaning to a price increase.   It is the ever increasing demand for chocolate that is bring higher prices. With the recent "chocolate is good for your health"  press is perhaps the largest factor on chocolates increasing demand. With the additional threat of the bad growing conditions an EL Nino brings look for you dark chocolate fix to start getting a little more expensive.  

  With the environment in the news lately. Here is one you didn't see coming. Used coffee grounds are very good at storing Methane.   Methane is a global warming gas many times more potent that carbon dioxide.With Methane having one advantage over Carbon Dioxide. That is Methane can be used as a fuel.   The process to make this work is relative simple with the moist used coffee grounds being heated with potassium hydroxide.   So who cares you may be asking yourself. While It's not likely your local power company will be digging around in your trash ben for your used coffee grounds in order to capture and store their Methane emissions.   Some smaller producers of Methane emissions may have some interest. Many oil wells also produce small amounts of natural gas. The volume of gas is so small that it's uneconomical to lay the needed pipe in order to place this gas into the natural gas lines that heat your home. So this g...