This Week in Coffee: Robot Barista, pay-to-💩 and coffee shipping costs
The Big Three
Robot Barista at CES 24
Link
I don't make the rules - robots are cool.
Let's not look too closely at how this lovely-looking chap makes no sense and all this startup has done is invent an automatic machine with extra steps. Robots are cool and Richtech (literally their name) should sponsor this newsletter and send me one of these things.
Flush App launches at CES to commodify your bathroom
Link
What man-made horror beyond my comprehension is up next?
It's paying to use a toilet - but in an app. Perfect.
Launched at CES, Flush promises cafes a trickle of cash in return for stopping customers performing a natural bodily function in their toilet without permission. Truly a win-win!
In good news for me, this is fully against the law in a cafe in the UK. Fellow bris, rejoice in elf-n-safety gone mad.
Shipping Lines Raise Freight Prices For Some Coffee Routes
As you may know, over the past months rebels in Yemen (known as The Houthis) have been targeting container ships at the south end of the Suez passage in response to the violence in Gaza. These attacks have led both individual ships and shipping firms to reroute their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.
This is an extremely costly exercise for everyone involved affecting the amount of shipping available to the industry and pushing up the price of fuel and insurance. These costs will inevitably filter through onto the consumer.
The ICO has sensibly warned that the biggest impact will be on East African and SE Asian coffee being shipped into Europe and the Middle East. Expect some price instability in the coming weeks as the US prepares an 'intervention'...
Other news :
"First" eco-friend sailboat transports coffee from Costa Rica to Canada
The World Cup of Coffee! via The New Yorker
Peru Cupping Session in London with San Remo on the 24th of Jan