The DOWNFALL of the Coffee Industry

coffee is probably the most culturally significant drink in America but there is an uncomfortable reality that not many people understand coffee might be going extinct but why is this happening and what do we drink if not [Music] coffee I know I know what you're thinking we have talked about coffee a lot in the past on this channel but mostly those videos were talking about a particular product or how much St Starbucks sucks but in this video we felt like we wanted to tell a bigger story about how the coffee industry is literally dying out and what might be coming next now we are going to be getting into the why of coffee's downfall here in a minute but first I think it's important to talk about the scale of this problem like for most people who drink coffee its existence and availability is never even a question people say let's go for coffee instead of let's hang out because the beverage has become such a foundational part of our social structures across the world so many of us drink coffee every single morning like straight up over 2 billion cups are consumed a day globally and with a market size estimated to be about $70 billion in the USA alone America literally runs on this little bean but this commodity doesn't just magically appear in brood form in the hands of a tatted Barista and the reality of this industry's future does not look good see as much as we love it coffee doesn't grow on trees uh well actually it does but only very specific trees in very specific circumstances in very specific places it is effectually known as the coffee belt because it is a very specific region right along the middle of the world that touches countries from Central America to Asia the belt contains the perfect growing conditions for coffee moist soil that both benefits from ample rainfall and drier periods with an average temperature that doesn't fluctuate too much these are very particular little plants who like things a very particular way and sadly if we don't do it the way that they want to do it they ain't going to give us the beans that we want and the thing is with climate change and deforestation at least 60% of wild coffee today is in dire threat of Extinction even AR Arab Arab how do you say it Arabica we're going to go with Arabica even arabica coffee the most common being used globally today is bound to go extinct by the end of the century Arabica Arabic is it like Arabic Arabica what did I say why that doesn't sound hard but then I say it and I feel dumb on top of all of this these countries that are producing the coffee are typically quite poor and have been exploited terribly as a result it is such a pervasive issue today even that Starbucks has been recently accused of unth ethical sourcing and child labor and I wish that I could say that this is just a random one-off kind of situation it's not just like the oil companies that correctly predicted that climate change would happen due to fossil fuel use the coffee industry has also seen the end coming for a while now but just like the oil and gas industry greed got in the way of us doing the right thing to help everyone and so here we are now obviously we are oversimplifying a lot of the details here because this video is not about the specifics about how coffee plants work or how the industry is failing specifically what we want to talk about is the continued evolution of what we're seeing with coffee and other beverages as we try to satisfy that everpresent need for caffeine because let's be honest like we're human here even though we know that the coffee industry is doomed we're not going to stop drinking coffee no instead what we have seen is the slow development of Grassroots efforts by much smaller companies over the years attempting to make their beloved industry as sustainable as possible despite the odds you might know of this process through what are known as coffee waves the first wave of coffee didn't even get its name until later in the waves because basically this was just coffee for the masses and no one really gave about anything God damn Jimmy this some serious g ma think ground folders coffee in those big tins and like instant coffee the second wave is when people started focusing on a more modern experience of coffee this is where things got sweet and a little bit more accessible to those who don't exactly love the taste of coffee itself this was the era of the individual Brands and Starbucks and Baristas that focused on Creative drinks think Frappuccinos those white girl pumpkin spice Lutes andway me I'm in love name senorita awesome coffee's popularity as a cultural symbol really cemented itself in these years and it was around this time that the conversation around Coffey Origins was starting to happen for the first time people started connecting the cup of coffee in their hands with the farmers and the communities that grew it on the other side of the world this is when Starbucks adopted fair trade labels on their bags which they actually since abandoned for a bunch of reasons that we talk about in our other video about Starbucks which you can watch later but this increased the awareness about our coffee and where it came from and it paved the way into third wve coffee the third wave of coffee was the reaction to the Starbucks takeover of the entire industry people wanted a richer coffee experience but also the confidence that their cup in the morning wasn't created off the backs of slave labor and a crumbling ecosystem it was during this wave that players like Blue Bottle Coffee joined the club going along with the hyper local approach of freshness and the craft aspect of it this is when it kind of became more like beer or wine the third wave is also where the idea of single origin coffee came from giving the consumer the opportunity to see exactly where their Bean was coming from and if you follow blogs or do some Googling you will find even more information about how there's actually a fourth wave of coffee but as far as I can tell it's kind of the same as third wave coffee but it has something to do with home brewing uh rather than what you get at a shop you can look up all this stuff on your own time if you need more details but all of this is to say that it has taken decades for the markets and consumers alike to finally care about the product from the moment of its Inception and the conditions that the workers and the farmers that cultivate it are under to the moment that it's poured into a cup for you to enjoy and as we've worked our way closer to a truly sustainable option the prices have gone up and up today we have the full spectrum you can buy a cup of coffee from McDonald's for under $2 or you can pay as much as $20 for a cup from an artisan coffee shop like blue bottle so in this sense you can actually see that the coffee industry is already shifting while coffee is still an everyday commodity for some the true cost of coffee is seen in the more exclusive and more luxurious iterations of this product and as the price of coffee goes up and the future of this industry becomes more precarious things are starting to shift in response see with an inevitably changing coffee Market there is the question of what will replace it or how it will adapt into the future and you've definitely seen a lot of this already if you know what to look for first of all we've definitely noticed a lot of beverages at places like Starbucks that don't actually contain that much coffee per beverage as you can see from this coffee Frappuccino syrup they're relying more and more on sugar and flavoring there is also growing interest in and countless lists for non- coffee beverages that they offer like lemonade at the same time we have seen a growing market for other beverage categories that have caffeine in them energy drinks are probably the most notable in this sense with newer Brands like Prime Celsius Matador ghost and many others entering the market to fulfill your caffeine needs we've also made a couple videos about prime back in the day so if you want to break down on that nightmare we got you covered we are also seeing the rise of matcha as a daily drink option uh I'm going to be honest with you this is not really my thing I didn't know it was happening uh the only reason I know is because Lou uh won't shut up about it look she literally has the matcha right now it matcha has been around for a long time pal and then of course there is tea and I'd love to say that tea is going to make some big push to disrupt the coffee drinkers cuz I have nothing to say about this B except off you some tea but I feel like most coffee drinkers feel like Ted lasso does on the subject subject you know I always figured that tea was just going to taste like hot brown water and you know what I was right so I would say that tea and matcha are kind of like adjacent categories but there is a whole new category of drinks specifically trying to disrupt the coffee industry with so-called coffee Alternatives now if you've been wandering around the coffee World online you have probably seen some targeted ads from one of these companies mudwater for itic wooden spoon herbs something like that many of these companies are trying to specifically Target coffee drinkers because they know that if they can just get even. 1% of the people who drink coffee to drink their drink instead they have a very viable business model the way that they're hoping to do this is by targeting some of the weaknesses of the coffee itself they're focusing on a better way to get that jolt of energy that you get from the caffeine and coffee there is a clear Wellness message in many of these companies branding and it seems like they're branding their products as a more holistic or healthy version of coffee let's focus on mudwater as an example cuz they're kind of the biggest one in the market right now their most notable piece of advertising features the phrase your coffee on their website they also use the phrase we're not mad at Coffee we're just disappointed and the founder has been pretty vocal about how he created this product because coffee just wasn't cutting it for him anymore so it's not coffee it's better than coffee what actually is this thing well it turns out to be a lot more complicated than I was expecting mudwater now has four products on offer but their original mixture is basically a chai cocoa blend with Lion's man chaga Corps RI turmeric cinnamon and salt this is a wild combination of things honestly upon first reading and I don't know much about them uh individually but apparently the idea is that this blend is specifically made to give you a boost while not giving you the Jitters that are associated with coffee although their advertisements do vary most of these brands have one thing in common they're appealing to a demographic of people that care about what they consume enough to question the status quo and go out in search of something better specifically both for sigmatic and mudwater are leaning into their Mushroom ingredients as a defining piece of their product and are considered adaptogenic drinks now I had never heard of this word before doing the research for the script so I was right here with you when I first read through this okay so apparently adaptogens are having a moment right now but they have been around for centuries these are roots and herbs and plant substances like mushrooms and other natural components like ashwagandha and even turmeric that are supposed to help your body manage stress better and improve your stress responses once again I don't know the full details of this industry but the idea with these beverages I'm guessing is that these natural substances balance out or replace the caffeine and coffee to give you a more balanced Buzz these things are often used also to replace alcoholic beverages as well and if you are interested in the growing movement against alcohol the sobriety movement if you will I suggest that you check out our patreon page where we actually uploaded two exclusive videos about the rise of sobriety and the truth about non-alcoholic beers anytime that we write a script or record a video even that doesn't quite fit into what we think is going to do well on YouTube We post it onto our patreon page for them to enjoy we also have fulllength podcast episodes as well as Early Access to every single one of our uploads so if you are interested in supporting this channel you want to get a little extra something something on the side go and check that out but listen okay you're you're you're hearing me out but it feels pretty woo woo for something that is trying to disrupt the coffee industry and you're kind of right the more that we looked into this the more that we came to the conclusion that this was less about a pitch to convert coffee drinkers as it was a smoke signal to the more Health focused consumers still addicted to coffee they talk about giving their ingredients sound baths and really tap into the current fascination with my celium as a part of their ingredients each cup of mud water has 2200 mgs of mushrooms in it which seems like a lot of mushrooms for sigmatic for example has a mix of both they use coffee and mushrooms for the ultimate enhanced experience they claim that their beverages contain half the caffeine of regular coffee but without sacrificing the focus or the positivity associ iated with it they manage all of this by including all kinds of fun mushrooms but not like the really fun kind of mushrooms like lines man chaga and and throwing in some ashwagandha and I honestly I feel kind of weird reading those words out loud it sounds like I'm making up words I've heard of ashwagandha I've heard that that's a thing I just don't really know what it is but here's the thing since adaptogens are natural homeopathic treatment it is not regulated by the FDA it cannot ensure permanent solutions to your problems and it might even interfere with your prescribed medications so you're not going to see this you know widely promoted by any large Brands heading into the future I mean maybe one day but not soon however you know woo woo aside there seems to be a lot of people who genuinely seem to enjoy drinking them they're a warm stimulating yummy drink that you could theoretically replace your regular cup of joe with but there is something about coffee that these and all the other caffeine filled drinks on the market today cannot recreate because one of the most fundamental and Powerful parts of the coffee industry and the biggest reasons why no other drink has really threatened its strangle hold on our daily routines is the cultural and social weight coffee carries around the world when you randomly see a person you haven't chatted to in a while you ask if they want to go get coffee when we're tired at the end of the day we go for a coffee to get that extra push when a loved one passes away the funeral home has something that kind of looks like coffee but it's more watered down and when you taste it it mostly tastes like the container that it's been stored in but it's technically coffee and it does the job because it's what we have come to expect it's like those famous people who are just eventually famous for being famous you know coffee's assumed presence in our lives is so concrete that it seems like nothing can really replace it but eventually things are going to change many organizations around the world are doing their best through regenerative agriculture to try and save this Bean natural environment and we're trying to find some way to do that without completely ruining the livelihoods of farmers in the process it is going to be a long and challenging process with new things to try and more methods to employ it requires growth and change across the whole supply chain from Farmers to Sellers and for a a long time that probably means that they'll be losing money in the process making coffee even more expensive and for the time being it seems like coffee drinkers are just going to stick with coffee coffee Alternatives no matter how many mushrooms they pack in there aren't really a replacement but just that an alternative in the researching for this video we also learned that there is a couple of startups who are developing lab grown coffee which is super interesting to me but there is a growing sent that if we were to actually get this thing to work it would kind of ruin the livelihoods of the people who are traditionally growing coffee around the world but on top of that a recent survey showed that 72% of Canadians said that they wouldn't even touch the stuff and I think that that's maybe just how true coffee drinkers feel you know but if you have different feelings on this subject we' love to hear what you have to say down in the comments below I personally would drink the hell out of a petri dish Coffee Bean Brew you know I ain't opposed to that so let us know down in the comments if you liked today's video make sure you're subscribed and if you are we'll see you in the next one [Music]

Channel: Future Proof

Views: 92,343

Keywords: coffee, starbucks, starbucks coffee, coffee industry, agriculture, coffee farming, farming, coffee plants, coffee alternative, matcha, tea, coffee shop, third wave coffee, fourth wave coffee, fifth wave coffee, blue bottle, blue bottle coffee, macdonalds coffee, coffee drink, drink, beverage, beverage industry, sustainability, coffee sustainable, sustainable agriculture, future proof, education, explainer, coffee explained

Id: VWlj001F0cY

Length: 17min 48sec (1068 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 10 2024