Latest posts
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A short history of tea, and the main varieties
The oldest tea ever found dates to about 255 BCE. Green, white, oolong, black and pu-erh come off one species; an enzyme and a microbe do the rest.
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What the EU’s deforestation rules ask of coffee
Geolocated plots, due diligence statements, and a December 31, 2020 cutoff. What the EUDR requires of coffee, and why smallholders carry the weight.
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A moka pot method that stops before the coffee burns
Hot water in the base, a level basket, medium-low heat, and off the burner at the first gurgle. What the measurements say about why that sequence works.
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Bird Friendly coffee turns 25, and stays small
The Smithsonian marked 25 years of its Bird Friendly seal in August 2025. The scale figures, the standard’s requirements, and why strictness caps adoption.
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Water is 98% of your coffee, and two numbers describe it
Total hardness and alkalinity are separate variables. What each does to extraction, why high alkalinity flattens acidity, and why distilled water fails twice.
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Coffee and its alternatives, measured
Coffee’s footprint is mostly the farm, so every substitute wins by not being coffee. What chicory, barley, matcha, mate and tea actually replace.
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What shade cover does on a coffee farm
Canopy pays for itself in pest control and soil before it pays anything to birds. What 60-plus studies say about shade coffee, and where the case stops.
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Paper or metal filter: what changes in the cup
Paper filters hold back the diterpenes that raise LDL cholesterol. Metal filters do not. What that costs, what it buys, and how to brew on either.
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Why arabica hit a record price — and what climate had to do with it
Arabica futures set records in December 2024 and February 2025. Drought during Brazil’s flowering window and a short Vietnamese crop explain most of it.
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Milk alternatives, compared
Dairy is worst on emissions and land by a wide margin. Below that the rankings rearrange in every column, and almond, soy, oat and rice each lose somewhere.
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Most of a latte’s carbon footprint is the milk
Life-cycle assessments agree on the ranking: in a milk drink, the dairy outweighs the coffee. What an LCA counts, and where shipping actually sits.
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What the coffee certification labels actually require
Four labels, four different promises. What Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, Organic and Bird Friendly each require, and where marketing runs ahead.