By Kenzie Mahoskey
The rich aroma and taste of Ethiopian coffee may not last forever.
Ethiopia, the fifth-largest producer of coffee in the world, could lose up to 60 percent of its farmland by the end of this century, according to CNN. Low rainfall and rising temperatures caused by climate change have been cited as some of the main culprits for making this land unusable.
According to Specialty Coffee, a nonprofit association, the rising temperatures make the coffee beans ripen too quickly and lose their rich flavor.
“Think of it as a cherry that grows on a tree. The coffee bean is really just a pit in the fruit,” Ryan Siu, owner of Black Drop Coffeehouse in downtown Bellingham, said. “It’s an actual agricultural product, which is one of the reasons why climate change is a big deal for coffee plants.”
The 2016 World Coffee Research report said the demand for coffee will double by 2050, but the land for coffee farming will have shrunk by half.
Thousands of different kinds of coffee plants grow in Ethiopia. The coffee plants can either be processed naturally, where the cherry is dried around the coffee bean before being removed, according to Specialty Coffee’s website. This process gives the coffee a heavy fruit and wine flavor. The other process is where the cherry is stripped from the coffee bean and gives it a floral aroma.
The high-quality Ethiopian coffee found at most coffee shops is Arabica, a coffee plant species. Siu said this plant is the most affected by climate change because it grows at high altitudes.
“Coffee grows in a magical area near the equator,” Siu said. “Some of the best areas that grow coffee in Ethiopia are going to be Yirgacheffe or Harrar regions. It doesn’t get too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter there.”
