Coffee lovers – the coffee world is abuzz with some news that you and your friend who are both probably made up of 70% caffeine might not appreciate.
Coffee prices have recently surged to multi-year highs according to a Bloomberg report. This comes “amid a convergence of global supply headwinds,” the publication noted. Additionally, as The Conversation expresses, coffee bean prices have doubled over the past year.
According to Business Insider, it is Arabica coffee that set a seven-year high on Thursday due to low inventories in warehouses monitored by ICE Futures US, alongside Robusta coffee price increases, which thankfully slipped slightly on Friday.
Additionally, raw sugar is also soaring in price, reported to have reached its highest level in a month on Thursday, although it traded at 1% lower on Friday.
Why did coffee get so pricey?
Volumes of coffee production in ‘off years’, as The Conversation notes, alone wouldn’t impact coffee prices so substantially. Essentially, the main cause for the spikes in prices is largely due to droughts in Brazil, which is the world’s leading coffee producer, which accounts for 35% of the global harvest.
The drought greatly reduces the number of coffee cherries and the Brazilian authorities are projecting the lowest Arabica harvest for 12 years.
The shortage was exacerbated by the supply chain disruptions that have wreaked havoc on global production and distribution of various commodities from lumber to oil, reports Bloomberg.
Now in Cape Town, it’s no secret that we love a good ‘cuppa. Our Mother City is positively buzzing with coffee shops where coffee is not just a culture – it’s the culture. Although the prices may have increased, we know that coffee-lovers will probably sigh, frown, complain to their coffee-comrades and still pull together a few coins to spend on their fix. If this sounds like you, check out a few coffee spots to try with your newfound coffee budget below!
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Coffee shops around Cape Town that are perfect for a morning pick-me-up
