3) Plant Genetics

How can you make better coffee at home? Well, an easy way is to buy higher quality beans. But, I’m concerned this is going to get harder and harder for you in the future. Climate change is making coffee taste worse while also pushing farmers into financial hardship. In this episode we explore how genetic development can produce a coffee tree that might save the day. Is there a wild coffee tree happily growing in the forests somewhere that could be our silver bullet? What about if we mix existing documented species together? But, the big problem is that genetic research is slow, and farmers can’t wait around. So, in the second half, we learn how coffee farmers in Kenya are trying to fix the problem right now. And I’m actually tentatively hopeful the beans you brew in the morning are not going to get worse. But, it all depends on you, me and the coffee industry making a couple of changes right now. —--- Please spread the word about The Science of Coffee! Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story Write a review on Apple Podcasts Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify Learn more about how Trabocca, this episode’s sponsor, works with coffee farmers Support the work of World Coffee Research Become a member of Kew Gardens Find some of Alvans Mutero’s and Thiriku’s coffee to taste for yourself Learn more about cloning coffee plants on my other podcast, Adventures in Coffee Want to listen to more documentary podcasts about coffee? Check out Filter Stories Connect with my very knowledgeable guests: Sarada Krishnan - LinkedIn and Research Gate Aaron Davis - Kew Gardens Hanna Neuschwander - LinkedIn Bernard Gichimu - LinkedIn Learn more about the coffee varieties discussed on this episode: SL 28 SL 34 Ruiru 11 Batian  The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations: BWT Water and More Marco Beverage Systems Trabocca Eversys Oatly Fiorenzato Subscribe to A History of Coffee podcast