Sustainability is a consumer’s choice
Written by Ricardo Quintero
Sustainability, explained quite well by economist Kate Raworth in her Doughnut economic model states that there should be boundaries between basic human needs and our planet’s ecosystem. In other words, let us be smart about what resources we use today to allow future generations also to thrive.
let us be smart about what resources we use today to allow future generations also to thrive.
If we look at the world of coffee, by some standards the second most traded commodity in the world, through the lens of the doughnut theory we find both progress in many areas but also stagnation in many others.
On the stagnation side, we see a deliberate design-based approach of coffee delivery “systems” that respond to fast-paced consumer lives rather than answering long term sustainable goals.
However, current technology in how coffee is processed is getting better, more reliable, less farming intensive delivering tastier lighter coffees that need less or no add ons to mask its potentially bitter flavor.
As we continue to see value vs volume-driven coffee consumption growing at the rate it is, we will see efficiencies and great change in segments of the coffee value chain that will have great impact such as plantations becoming less intensive and more care on each cup of coffee prepared.
