Climate Change Is Changing Your Coffee and Not in a Good Way

Here's another thing global warming is attempting to take from us.

Wavebreak Media/Shutterstock
Wavebreak Media/Shutterstock

Obviously, we had already concluded that climate change is bad. It's the reason for our wildfires, severe storms, and loss of species. Now, it's coming for our coffee, too. 

A recent scientific review conducted by a team of researchers at Tufts University and Montana State University found that global warming is not only changing the coffee bean crop's growth, but is also changing its taste, aroma, and overall quality, Food & Wine reports. Translation: Your cup of joe is going downhill thanks to a little thing called climate change.

"A subpar cup of coffee has economic implications as well as sensory ones. Factors that influence coffee production have great impacts on buyers' interest, the price of coffee, and ultimately the livelihoods of the farmers who grow it," senior author of the study and professor at the Tufts' Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy Sean Cash said, according to F&W. "If we can understand the science of these changes, we might help farmers and other stakeholders better manage coffee production in the face of this and future challenges."

But how exactly is global warning making your coffee taste bad? Altitude and too much sunlight are both playing a role. 

"Examining crops cultivated at different altitudes is often used as a proxy for temperature. Higher altitudes are associated with cooler temperatures that result in slower ripening, prolonged fruit-fill, and higher accumulation of flavor (taste and aroma) precursors," the study continues. "The vulnerability of coffee quality at lower elevations provides insight on what may happen to coffee quality at higher elevations in the future with increased temperature linked to climate change, highlighting that climate adaptation is needed for coffee agricultural systems at all elevations."

Overexposure to the sun, however, is a less challenging problem to solve. According to the study, coffee agricultural systems that create coffee in shaded areas with the help of manufactured canopy coverage are an adaption strategy that's been working for farms.

"This systematic review highlights that coffee quality is sensitive to shifts in environmental and management variables linked to climate change and climate adaptation," the conclusion reads. "Given the sensitivity of coffee quality to environmental variation, evidence-based innovations are called for to enhance the sustainability and resilience of the coffee sector in the context of global change." 

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Megan Schaltegger is a staff writer at Thrillist.