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 - https://bit.ly/2Mlkk0O Write a review on Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/3sf87MV Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3yHkjcV Learn more about how Trabocca, this episode’s sponsor, works with coffee farmers: https://bit.ly/3Tjn8bV Support the work of World Coffee Research: https://bit.ly/3VtyoV6 Become a member of Kew Gardens: https://bit.ly/3yFZ8b0 Find some of Alvans Mutero’s (https://bit.ly/3T0NHTy) and Thiriku’s (https://bit.ly/3CCxHQJ) coffee to taste for yourself Learn more about cloning coffee plants on my other podcast, Adventures in Coffee - https://bit.ly/3EFBmzG Want to listen to more documentary podcasts about coffee? Check out Filter Stories - https://bit.ly/3zb5vnO Connect with my very knowledgeable guests: Sarada Krishnan - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3rW9dwB) and Research Gate (https://bit.ly/3VvzDTq) Aaron Davis - Kew Gardens (https://bit.ly/3CAicZg) Hanna Neuschwander - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3MvW2Mi) Bernard Gichimu - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3VrOIFJ) Learn more about the coffee varieties discussed on this episode: SL 28 - https://bit.ly/3MvNIw6 SL 34 - https://bit.ly/3rTX2QX Ruiru 11 - https://bit.ly/3CXmDPf Batian - https://bit.ly/3EEls8M The Science of Coffee is made possible by these leading coffee organisations: BWT Water and More - https://bit.ly/3EEpuxN Marco Beverage Systems - https://bit.ly/3T2YDzY Trabocca - https://bit.ly/3Tjn8bV Eversys - https://bit.ly/3CBkp6X Oatly - https://bit.ly/3exvlKS Fiorenzato - https://bit.ly/3T3nmUQ Check out Standart, the award-winning coffee magazine. Get a free magazine and a free bag of coffee by clicking here. How does Perfect Moose detect what kind of milk is in the pitcher? Click here to find out. Pull a shot on the gorgeous Slayer Steam Single. What does the Marco MilkPal look like to you? WALL-E? Something Steve Jobs would be proud of? Check it out here.