Issues with green coffee bean supply...
Cost of living continues to be top of mind and you may well have seen articles in the news such as this one from SBS... Pressed: Why the cost of your coffee could be about to spike.
The other side to the astonishing rise in green coffee prices with Arabica beans now costing more than they have in over a decade, is the supply side dynamics that are at play. I've never experienced a time when it's been more difficult to source high quality greens. As you'll likely be aware, I only purchase extremely high quality raw ingredients (I'm a strong believer that the quality of the output is highly dependent on the quality of the input), and my main supplier (one of the largest importers of green beans in the country) has essentially run out of some super important beans - ones coming from Ethiopia and Guatemala.
Scarcity of Guatemalan beans has a really interesting back story. Soon to come into effect is the European Union's Deforestration Regulation (you can read more about this here). This regulation limits the sale of products in the EU which may cause deforestation or degradation of forests. It appears that Guatemala suffers from precious little deforestation (or threat of forest degradation) and therefore Guatemalan green beans have experienced significantly increased demand from coffee roasters in the EU... and now it's really difficult to purchase here in Australia!
The one upside to the stress associated with supply chain turmoil is that I've been able to diversify my green bean coffee supplier sources and I now have access to an even broader selection of excellent beans.
I hope you're travelling well into the end of 2024 and that your respective festive seasons are filled with joy.
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