Monday Morning (-ish) Coffee News

Happy Monday guys! I’ve really been dropping the ball when it comes to my Monday morning news post, so here’s a recap of what’s been happening the last few weeks in coffee to catch us up:

– Climate changes are really hurting the coffee industry. The higher temperatures the crops have experienced are allowing coffee rust, a fungus that kills the trees, to really become a problem in Central America. – Things are not looking good on the coffee bean front, from droughts to deadly fungus, I’m hoping things turn around soon.

Coffee Rust Destroying Crops Across Central America (natureworldnews.com)
A Coffee Crop Withers: Fungus Cripples Coffee Production Across Central America (nytimes.com)

– A Company called Grower’s Cup has invented an instant coffee on the go bag called The Coffeebrewer– just add hot water directly into the bag and wait a few minutes before pouring out a cup of fresh coffee and then throwing away the bag. – While I can appreciate the novelty of such a thing, I can’t really see myself using it. If I’m at home, I can use my coffee machine. Same thing at work. Schools (colleges at least) and many public places have coffee vending machines if you don’t feel like buying a cup from a coffee shop. If it’s an on-the-go thing (or maybe a camping in the wilderness thing?), where the heck are you going to find the hot water?

Grower’s Cup Company Website (growerscup.com)
This Humble Bag Will Replace Your Morning Coffee (hlntv.com)

– Recent studies at Cornell University have shown another way coffee can be good for you: it can protect your eyes against retinal damage. The hero in this case is Chlorogenic Acid, an antioxidant found in raw coffee at higher percentages than the caffeine the bean is so well known for. Further studies are planned to see just how beneficial this finding is and how it can be utilized to help against retinal degeneration – This little bean is just full of wonder, isn’t it?

A Cup Of Coffee A Day May Keep Retinal Damage Away (news.cornell.edu)
Can Coffee Protect Our Eye Sight? (medicalnewstoday.com)

In Memoriam: The coffee world, and the world at large, lost two important men recently

– Edmund Able, the inventor of the Mr. Coffee drip system that replaced percolators in homes across America in the 1970’s, passed away at the age of 92 on April 21^st. For someone who changed the face of home brewed coffee, it is interesting to note that family members said he never actually drank coffee.

Edmund Able, Mr. Coffee Creator Who Shunned Brew, Dies At 92 (bloomberg.com)
Edmund Able, Engineer Who Changed The Way Americans Brewed Coffee, Dies at 92 (washingtonpost.com)

– Herbert Hyman, the man who founded The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf back in the 1960’s before Starbucks was even a twinkle in someone’s eye, died on April 28^th of natural causes at the age of 82. He was truly a pioneer of the current coffee culture.