# Bad news for coffee



## begreen (Jun 11, 2013)

Might be a good time to develop a taste for tea.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/06/coffee-rust-epidemic/all/


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## BrianK (Jun 12, 2013)

Oh, this is not good. Not good at all.


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## jharkin (Jun 12, 2013)

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo


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## begreen (Jun 12, 2013)

Coffee is more of a random plant that likes to grow in semi-shade. We set ourselves up when we grow monocrops of coffee in plantations like it was corn. Food crop failures happened to the potato and recently bananas, mostly due to lack of genetic diversity. The can spread quickly through row crops. When or if it happens to corn it is going to be a disaster. Monsanto is working hard to bring this about.


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## Hills Hoard (Jun 12, 2013)

Time to stock pile some beans


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## northwinds (Jun 13, 2013)

Hills Hoard said:


> Time to stock pile some beans


 
Better learn to roast then.    Good speciality coffee doesn't stay fresh for very long.  It might be time to branch out to African and Indonesian beans.  Sumatra is a great bean--generally low acidity and lot of body/earthiness.  African coffees can be full of fruity notes and good brightness.  For anyone interested in stockpiling green (raw) coffee and learning to roast, there's a site for home roasting enthusiasts at http://www.home-barista.com/home-roasting/   I've been roasting with a thrift store bread machine and a heat gun ever since I sold my coffee roastery.


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## BrotherBart (Jun 13, 2013)

Stay away from the cheap crap house brand I drink. Don't go driving up the price!


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## ScotO (Jun 13, 2013)

Well, sounds like it may be a good time for me to quit drinking it for good.......

LIKE THAT'S EVER GOING TO EFFING HAPPEN!!


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## ScotO (Jun 13, 2013)

begreen said:


> Coffee is more of a random plant that likes to grow in semi-shade. We set ourselves up when we grow monocrops of coffee in plantations like it was corn. Food crop failures happened to the potato and recently bananas, mostly due to lack of genetic diversity. The can spread quickly through row crops. When or if it happens to corn it is going to be a disaster. Monsanto is working hard to bring this about.


Monsanto is destroying more than just corn...they are on a path to destroying everything we eat!  From some of what I've been seeing, they may be to blame for the eventual extinction of the honeybee.......

http://www.naturalnews.com/025287_bees_honey_crops.html


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## BrotherBart (Jun 13, 2013)

Ground bees make nasty coffee.


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## fossil (Jun 13, 2013)

Oh, c'mon...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NaturalNews

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/NaturalNews


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## ScotO (Jun 13, 2013)

Sorry Rick...I'll look for a link from Salon.com.  We can all trust them for honest news, can't we?

I don't have time to dig up other links.  do the research yourself.  Monsanto is nothing but death.  Lots and lots of info out there on it....


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## fossil (Jun 13, 2013)

I don't read Salon.com, Scotty, never have.  But I am careful what I do read and believe.  Rick


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## ScotO (Jun 13, 2013)

fossil said:


> I don't read Salon.com, Scotty, never have. But I am careful what I do read and believe. Rick


 I'm careful about what I read too, Rick.  That was just one of the first links that popped up....do you think that information in that article is all false?  I read it, and I don't.

I'm not trying to turn this into a political post here.  Have a good evening, my friend!


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## Ashful (Jun 13, 2013)

Won't affect most Americans, if true, but it will be hell on Europe and Latin America!  The overwhelming majority of American coffees ("brown water") are not even remotely 100% Arabica, being low-grade blends which vary according to current market prices.

The odd thing about this story is all the news just two months ago, about the trade price of Arabaca _dropping_.  In fact, it had become cheaper than many types of Robusta beans, one of the cheaper varieties used in low-end coffee so popular here in the states.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/09/us-coffee-robusta-arabica-idUSBRE9380Q220130409


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## Grisu (Jun 13, 2013)

Scotty Overkill said:


> Monsanto is destroying more than just corn...they are on a path to destroying everything we eat! From some of what I've been seeing, they may be to blame for the eventual extinction of the honeybee.......
> 
> http://www.naturalnews.com/025287_bees_honey_crops.html


 
A simple no because the honey bee colony collapse disorder also occurred in Europe where GMO plants carrying the Bt gene are rare and even outlawed in some countries. In addition, Monsanto seeds which are distributed and contain Bt are maize, soybean and cotton not canola as mentioned in your link. I agree with fossil: That site is dangerous as it contains just enough "science" to convince a lay person.


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## begreen (Jun 14, 2013)

Joful said:


> Won't affect most Americans, if true, but it will be hell on Europe and Latin America! The overwhelming majority of American coffees ("brown water") are not even remotely 100% Arabica, being low-grade blends which vary according to current market prices.
> 
> The odd thing about this story is all the news just two months ago, about the trade price of Arabaca _dropping_. In fact, it had become cheaper than many types of Robusta beans, one of the cheaper varieties used in low-end coffee so popular here in the states.
> 
> http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/09/us-coffee-robusta-arabica-idUSBRE9380Q220130409


 
It will affect a lot of Americans. Starbucks uses a lot of arabica beans.


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## BrianK (Jun 14, 2013)

fossil said:


> Oh, c'mon...
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NaturalNews
> 
> http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/NaturalNews



I'm no liberal by any stretch but I certainly don't trust NaturalNews either. They are very closely aligned with Scientology and therefore everything they claim becomes suspect.


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## begreen (Jun 14, 2013)

This might be a more productive link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemileia_vastatrix
Coffee crops in Guatemala have been ruined by coffee rust, and a state of emergency has been declared in February 2013.
And Mexico:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/26/mexico-coffee-crop-fungus


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## mywaynow (Jun 14, 2013)

Reminds me I don't hav a pot brewing.   Be right back.  Organic Guatemala today.


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## jharkin (Jun 14, 2013)

begreen said:


> It will affect a lot of Americans. Starbucks uses a lot of arabica beans.


 
Even Dunkin Donuts coffee is 100% arabica. And I run on Dunkins (tm).


Another _Europe is better than us_ urban legend I suspect.


Edit to add:
It was hard to find but I found one link that seems to show 70+ % of the coffee beans we import are arabica. Top 3 countries we import from? - Columbia, Mexico and Brazil.

http://dev.ico.org/documents/cy2012-13/sc-28e-soluble-decaffeinated.pdf (ts titled decaf, but table 2 at the end has all coffee imports)


So yes, I would say this will effect us.


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## jharkin (Jun 14, 2013)

fossil said:


> Oh, c'mon...
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NaturalNews
> 
> http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/NaturalNews


 

AIDS denialist?, thats a new one....


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## BrotherBart (Jun 14, 2013)

Scotty Overkill said:


> I'm careful about what I read too, Rick. That was just one of the first links that popped up...


 

" Even other quacks think it's a quack site."


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## Ashful (Jun 14, 2013)

My statement is correct, and 72% is not that high.  For every 100% arabaca (Starbucks, Dunkin, the hipster coffee shop on the corner), there is a large-scale counterpoint, using much less than 70% arabaca (Folgers, Maxwell House, etc., etc.).  Not a "Europe is better" comment, just a statement of fact and numbers.

This could have positive effect, though!  The lines at Dunkin Donuts are always way too long, and people who think Starbucks is good are just plain annoying.  One stone, two birds.


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## Grisu (Jun 14, 2013)

jharkin said:


> AIDS denialist?, thats a new one....


 
Not really new and another low for the intelligence of our species: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_denialism

Conspiracy theories have been so widespread now that they become the topic of scientific studies: http://psychologyforasafeclimate.org/resources/Motivated rejection of science-2.pdf
The response to the first paper was another conspiracy theory!


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## firebroad (Jun 14, 2013)

I love coffee.  I also am fond of good tea, brewed loose.  Did you know that tea was once such an expensive luxury item that people owned tea safes, to lock up their stash?  I wonder if that will happen with coffee.
Can see it in the newspaper now--"Major Heist of Armored Truck Bound for Starbucks"


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## pdf27 (Jun 14, 2013)

Grisu said:


> A simple no because the honey bee colony collapse disorder also occurred in Europe where GMO plants carrying the Bt gene are rare and even outlawed in some countries. In addition, Monsanto seeds which are distributed and contain Bt are maize, soybean and cotton not canola as mentioned in your link. I agree with fossil: That site is dangerous as it contains just enough "science" to convince a lay person.


The prime suspect for Colony Collapse Disorder over here is Neonicotinoid pesticides, which have just been banned over here for 2 years - see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22335520 .
If we wait a year or two and we stop having problems with it, that'll be fairly conclusive evidence.


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## Jack Straw (Jun 14, 2013)

Well, that's the end of my coffee enamas......


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## firebroad (Jun 14, 2013)

Jack Straw said:


> Well, that's the end of my coffee enamas......


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## Jack Straw (Jun 14, 2013)

firebroad said:


>




I know, pics or it didn't happen.........


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## mywaynow (Jun 14, 2013)

This may be one that we can forgo pics to verify.  Thanks anyway.


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## Lake Girl (Jun 14, 2013)

The Starbucks heist could happen ..  There was a maple syrup heist in Quebec a year or two ago 

As to lack of biodiversity and GM foods, I bet that there are wheat farmers in Oregon that are not happy that their sales to Japan were just flushed because of Monsanto's lack of control on their GM test farms  (those darn bees not staying in one field or was it the birds or the wind!).  The mid-west may have problems too.  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/eu-test-u-wheat-shipments-block-gmo-strain-100808757.html?.tsrc=samsungwn

And while some may think Natural News is junk science (no opinion at this point they`re new to me), they do come up with what seems to be legitimate research.  While the title of the article was less than glamorous ("GMO feed turns pigs stomachs to mush"), the study they referenced makes one wonder about GM food stuffs.  Some partners were - University of Adelaide, AU; Institute of Health and Environmental Research, AU. 
http://www.organic-systems.org/journal/81/8106.pdf

A farmer in Saskatchewan nearly lost his farm due to uncontrolled GM infiltration into his canola - Monsanto`s Round-Up Ready canola.   While he technically lost his case since he did replant the seed and did not argue that Monsanto ruined 50 years of his own  seed research, he had to turn over $20,000.  But it could have been worse, he did not have to pay damages or Monsanto's court costs.
_Monsanto Canada Inc. v. Schmeiser_


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## billb3 (Jun 14, 2013)

Hills Hoard said:


> Time to stock pile some beans


Brazil had such a huge crop last year that they stockpiled arabicas hoping to sell when prices went back up . Which apparently didn't happen. Prices are still dropping from the glut.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323975004578503100760903958.html


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## BrotherBart (Jun 14, 2013)

Peak coffee?


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## ScotO (Jun 14, 2013)

BrotherBart said:


> "Even other quacks think it's a quack site."


Yeah, after looking further into that site, me's thinking the same thing!!


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## BobUrban (Jun 15, 2013)

Not good at all!!  But it is good to see we have others here that are as obsessed with good coffee as I am.  Another great resource for home roasting equipment and green coffee is Sweetmarias.com 

I have some pretty solid connections in the specialty coffee industry so I will be checking with them as to the extent of the problem from an insider point of view.


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## blujacket (Jun 15, 2013)

Jack Straw said:


> Well, that's the end of my coffee enamas......


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