Coffee's Embedded Water

A deeper look into what goes into a cup of coffee and the effects of climate change.

^Image from The Guardian's "How much water goes into producing our food and drink? - in pictures"

According to The Guardian, "around 18,900 litres of water are needed to produce 1kg of coffee beans. To put that into perspective, a standard cup of coffee (125ml) has a water footprint of 130 litres." To add further perspective, thewaterweeat.com/ produced the bar chart below revealing the shocking (to me) fact that coffee requires more water than beef to produce.

^Image from http://thewaterweeat.com/

"Obviously, for a crop this sensitive to climate variations, climate change poses a challenge." - John Timmer, Ars Technica

With the new knowledge of the embedded water in coffee bean production, the image of cappuccinos above no longer portrays just a hot beverage to enjoy. The image of coffee now captures feelings of despair as one remembers the water required to produce the beans, the dwindling conditions needed for their growth, the disappearing rainfall and extended drought periods dotted with flood events that the land can no longer retain, the coffee farmers losing their livelihoods due to changing environmental conditions, and the clear-cutting of forests and rainforests for mass-produced sun-grown beans to satisfy the overwhelming demand for coffee.

A fellow classmate, Austin, enlightened us about the difference between sun-grown and shade-grown coffee beans. Shade-grown coffee includes an entire self-sustaining and symbiotic ecosystem in which coffee plants sit next to a variety of trees that provide the shade needed to grow "Arabica" beans. As leaves fall from the trees, they become fertilizer for the plants. In most cases, these trees also eliminate the need for pesticides. With all these trees in the way, fewer coffee plants can exist, meaning smaller yield as compared to the massive coffee plantations that have taken off amidst the growing demand for coffee.

These coffee plantations often require clear-cutting of existing forests for massive coffee farms that completely ignore the necessity of the entire ecosystem of a shade coffee farm. But the purpose is to maximize profit, not taste, flavor, soil health, or support of the hydrological cycle. In these plantations, the "Arabica" beans do not survive, so "Robusta" coffee is cultivated, which is universally regarded as inferior in taste.

Additionally, "...for a crop this sensitive to climate variations, climate change poses a challenge. In most of the existing growing regions, rising temperatures would push the crop uphill," asserts John Timmer in his article "Coffee vs. climate change: The news is not good."

For all the coffee drinkers out there, opt for shade-grown coffee, which is often certified by the "Rainforest Alliance Certified" badge (the one with the frog).