In my latest
article on
Guardian Sustainable Business, I talk about the impact
water supplies could have on the viability of the coffee industry. I found research that the ratio of water necessary to create a cup of
coffee is as high as 1100 to one. The consultancy
Deloitte suggests a more conservative ratio: 37 cups of water are needed to make one cup of coffee. Either way, coffee’s water footprint is huge.
Most of coffee’s water footprint are in the mean green bean’s
cultivation. Droughts in coffee giants like
Colombia and
Brazil may lead to a temporary increase in price, but the long term health of the industry is an issue that companies both large and small must address.
And they have:
Starbucks has tackled the low hanging fruit (or beans) by eliminating drip wells from its stores, but that is just one sliver of the problem. To that end, companies like Nestle and Kraft are working on projects that tackle water scarcity at the source.
Read more on
The Guardian, and be sure to visit its
Water Hub.
PS: My apologies to Colombia, from the folks who work on the farms to my beloved Sofia Vergara. You would think after writing about Colombia several times, I would get rid of that “U.” So I apologize for the typo in the Guardian. I admit spellcheck is my greatest love and harshest downfall.
