World Coffee News - August 2026

It’s been an eventful month in the world of coffee. From an earthquake affecting thousands of families and coffee-producing facilities in Colombia, to the Pope’s surprisingly punchy coffee order and a tiny new resident of Costa Rica’s coffee farms, here’s what’s been brewing...

QUAKE HITS COFFEE HEARTLAND

Earlier this month, a powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia, with its epicentre in Chocó. The country's strongest earthquake this century killed more than 300 people and caused widespread damage across provinces responsible for around a third of Colombia's coffee crop.

Initial assessments have identified 10,500 coffee-growing families within the disaster zone, with 8,000 reporting partial or total damage to homes and coffee-processing facilities. Farms, roads and basic infrastructure have also been affected across major producing regions including Risaralda, Valle del Cauca, Caldas, Antioquia, Chocó and Quindío.

Beyond the tragedy and human toll, this disruption carries significance far beyond Colombia. The country is the world's third-largest coffee producer, behind Brazil and Vietnam, and its leading supplier of washed arabica. Landslides have disrupted the main road to the Pacific port of Buenaventura, through which around 60% of all Colombian coffee exports pass. This, combined with temporary safety inspections at the port, brought shipments close to a standstill in the days following the disaster.

The earthquake comes at an already volatile time for the global coffee market. While Colombia's crop appears to have largely escaped direct damage and exports have resumed, production is already forecast to fall around 8% this year, from 13.7 million to 12.5 million 60kg bags, following heavy rains and with El Niño posing a further threat to growing conditions.

For the market, the immediate disruption may have eased. For the 8,000 coffee-growing families reporting damage, however, the work of rebuilding is only just beginning.

Coffee for Colombia: In response to the earthquake, £1 from every bag of Colombia El Diviso Advanced Washed Nº 368 and Colombia Cencoic Tacueyo Nº 358 will be donated to support disaster relief efforts in affected communities.

Colombia has long been an important part of Rave's coffee story, and the people behind its coffee now face a long process of rebuilding homes, businesses and livelihoods.

THE POPE’S PERFECT CUP

As Pope Leo XIV prepares to return to Peru later this year, details have emerged of one local habit he acquired during his years in the country: a taste for particularly strong coffee.

Before becoming the first American pope, Robert Prevost spent decades working in Peru and served as Bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023. According to the National Catholic Register and one Eduard Montoya Altamirano, owner of Trébol restaurant in Chiclayo where Prevost regularly ate breakfast, his usual coffee was prepared in the traditional northern Peruvian style.

Known as esencia de café, the concentrated brew is made using a cafetera gota a gota, or “drop-by-drop” coffee maker. Hot water slowly passes through ground coffee to create a dark concentrate reported to be up to four times stronger than conventional filter coffee, which is then diluted with hot water according to taste.

Prevost, it seems, wasn't particularly interested in the diluting part. Montoya recalls that the future Pope preferred his coffee firmly on the stronger side and never added milk. During his time there, Trébol used beans grown around San Ignacio in Cajamarca, in Peru's northern Andean highlands.

Whether life in Rome has converted Pope Leo to the Italian espresso remains unclear. But when he returns to Chiclayo in November, his old coffee order should be waiting.

RIBBITING NEW DISCOVERY...

Scientists have identified a new species of tiny tree frog living among the coffee plantations of Tarrazú, Costa Rica, one of the country's best-known growing regions.

Measuring less than 4cm, Isthmohyla nacientes is endemic to Costa Rica and was identified by researchers from the University of Costa Rica and Argentina's National Council for Scientific and Technical Research. Nicknamed the “coffee frog”, the nocturnal amphibian can be found perched on coffee shrubs after dark, where males use their translucent throats to produce a short, high-pitched call.

But coffee cherries aren’t on the menu. The frogs instead feed on small insects and are thought to favour plantations for their shade, moisture and ample food supply; another example of the biodiversity that can exist alongside coffee cultivation. Researchers have, however, warned that pesticides used on farms could threaten the species by entering the waterways where its tadpoles develop.