There May Soon Be a Major Coffee Shortage For This Reason, Experts Say

The week started high for coffee lovers, with some cafés, like Starbucks', announcing that vaccinated customers may now enter Starbucks mask-free. Unfortunately we're ending on a less celebratory note, as Bloomberg reports that the world's biggest coffee exporter is under threat. In truth, this could soon wipe out the majority of our coffee supply.

This week, Bloomberg reported that Brazil's rainy season saw a serious lack of rain. Some of the biggest coffee-producing areas received less than half the rain than the usual amount. As a result, says the report, "production of arabica coffee, the high-end kind used by chains like Starbucks Corp., is also dropping sharply." Brazil is the world's biggest exporter of coffee.

The wet season in Brazil typically runs during the northern hemisphere's winter and leaves farmers with enough water to irrigate coffee crops and keep them alive for several months. However, some Brazilian coffee farmers in the central and southern part of the country say they've already used up the water supply that usually keeps their crops wet until September, while there are also fears that their soils didn't store enough water to stay moist for the season ahead.

Bloomberg reports that in terms of exporting cost, coffee benchmarks have reached their highest in four years. This could mean much higher prices for retailers and consumers, and a possible dearth of our beloved arabica coffee.

A downer, yes—but let's hope this turns around. In the meantime, catch up on the week's coffee news with One Major Effect Drinking Coffee Has on Your Liver, plus: