I’m a full-time coffee addict. Two to three mugs a day, every day. Mornings are cappuccino time espresso shot, steamed milk, a touch of sugar. Afternoons, it’s cold brew or French press, depending on mood. I brew it all at home with my Agaro manual machine. Grinding, tamping, locking in the portafilter I love the ritual.
For years, half a kilo of beans from my local dealer cost about ₹600. Then one day, out of nowhere, the same bag was ₹850. “Farmers aren’t seeing good yields this year,” the shopkeeper shrugged.
I checked another shop same story. I left empty-handed, but within days my cravings won. Coffee is my first morning ritual. Without it, something felt missing. So I went back, bought the beans, and brewed a large mug. Bliss returned but the question lingered: Why had coffee prices spiked so suddenly?
Global Weather, Local Impact
My digging started online. And what I found was wild: the price of my coffee in India had a lot to do with weather in Brazil and Vietnam.
Brazil, the world’s top coffee grower, faced back-to-back extremes droughts followed by frosts that wiped out large parts of its crop. Vietnam, another giant, saw storms and floods derail its harvests.
These aren’t random blips. They’re the fingerprints of climate change unpredictable swings in rainfall, heat, and cold that hit sensitive crops like coffee hardest.
When supply from Brazil and Vietnam crashed, the world looked elsewhere. Suddenly, India’s beans were in demand abroad. That meant fewer beans left for local shelves and higher prices for people like me. My ₹850 shock was the ripple of a storm thousands of miles away.
India Steps In – The Export Boom
As global crops fell, international buyers turned to India. Exports surged, and with them, local prices.
My neighborhood dealer wasn’t bluffing. The beans he once sold me for ₹600 were fetching more abroad. To stay afloat, he had to raise his prices here too.
It’s classic supply and demand, just stretched across borders:
- Poor harvests abroad → higher global demand
- More Indian exports → less stock at home
- Less supply locally → higher prices for us
Suddenly, my morning coffee was competing with European buyers willing to pay a premium. But this wasn’t just a global story it was also playing out on our own farms.
Climate Change Hits Home
I always thought Indian coffee regions Coorg, Chikmagaluru were coffee paradises. But even here, the climate is shifting.
Farmers are reporting unseasonal rains, hotter summers, and surprise dry spells. For a crop as delicate as coffee, that’s devastating.
The Delicate Balance
- Temperature: Arabica thrives at 15–24°C; Robusta at 24–30°C. Push beyond that, and yields fall.
- Rainfall: Needs 1000–2000 mm annually, with a short dry spell before flowering. Too much or too little? Flowers drop, pollination suffers, diseases spread.
- Altitude & Shade: Arabica prefers high altitudes; both species rely on shade trees and steady microclimates. Climate swings upset all three.
The Weather Threats
| Condition | Impact |
|---|---|
| Frost | Kills flowers and young trees |
| Drought | Weakens plants, reduces berries |
| Excess rain | Root rot, fruit drop |
| Heat & humidity | Coffee leaf rust outbreaks |
| Hail | Physical damage to plants |
In short, climate change is rewriting the rules. Yields are falling, quality is slipping, and costs are rising. Which explains why that price tag in my local shop had changed so dramatically.
Conclusion: Coffee, Climate, and Choices
What started as sticker shock turned into a crash course in global trade, farmer struggles, and climate change.
The droughts in Brazil, the storms in Vietnam, the erratic rains in India they all poured into my cup. My morning ritual is now a reminder of how connected we are.
I can’t fix global supply chains or stop climate change on my own. But I can:
- ☕ Support local roasters and farmers practicing sustainable methods
- 🌱 Choose shade-grown or eco-certified coffee when possible
- 💬 Talk about it spread awareness of the bigger picture
- 🗑️ Cut waste, because less waste means less climate stress
Next time you sip your coffee, pause. Appreciate its journey. Every choice we make who we buy from, how we brew, how much we waste ripples outward.
Because sometimes, the biggest global shifts show up in the smallest rituals. And change, like coffee, starts with a spark and a strong brew.
