World Coffee News - September 2026

Another month, another reminder that there’s always more going on in coffee than what’s in your cup. In September, scientists have been digging into our genes, Robusta’s climate credentials are being questioned, and America is drinking more speciality coffee than ever. Meanwhile, pumpkin spice has reached what may be its logical conclusion: its own coffin.

COFFEE’S PARKINSON’S PUZZLE

Coffee has long been associated with a lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. But new research suggests that relationship may depend, at least partly, on our genes and sex.

Researchers analysed health and genetic data from more than 435,000 people in the UK Biobank, following them for almost 16 years, during which 3,319 developed Parkinson’s. The team examined variations in CYP1A2, a gene that influences how quickly the body metabolises caffeine.

Among people genetically predisposed to process caffeine quickly, drinking fewer than five cups of coffee a day was associated with a 17% lower risk of developing Parkinson’s, with the lowest risk seen at around three cups a day.

For slower caffeine metabolisers, the findings were markedly different. The same lower-risk association wasn’t observed and, among some genetic groups, drinking five or more cups a day was instead linked with a higher risk. Sex also appeared to matter: among women who metabolised caffeine quickly, coffee consumption was associated with a 27% lower risk, while men in one of the slower-metabolising groups who drank five or more cups a day had a 53% higher risk.

Published in the scientific journal npj Parkinson’s Disease, the findings could offer one explanation for why decades of research into coffee and Parkinson’s have produced a complex picture. While numerous studies have associated coffee drinking with a reduced risk of the disease, the strength of that relationship has varied.

The researchers caution that the study is observational and cannot establish that coffee either prevents or causes Parkinson’s. What it does suggest is that the effect of our daily coffee may depend as much on the person drinking it as the number of cups in the pot.

ROBUSTA NOT SO ROBUST

Once responsible for around 30% of global coffee production, Robusta’s share has climbed to 43% in recent years, driven in part by the belief that its greater tolerance of heat makes it better equipped than Arabica for a warming world.

But one of coffee’s leading climate researchers is challenging that assumption. Dr Aaron Davis of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has described Robusta’s reputation for climate resilience as an “internet myth”.

In a new paper published in Sustainable Development, Davis and researchers Akshay Dashrath and Justin Moat reviewed more than 50 scientific studies alongside evidence from wild and cultivated coffee populations. Their conclusion: heat is only half the story. The other crucial factor is water.

Arabica and Robusta have broadly similar annual water requirements, but their tolerance of dry conditions differs. Wild Arabica typically experiences a distinct dry season lasting three to four months. Robusta naturally grows in wetter environments, with a shorter and less severe dry period of around two to three months, making it less equipped to cope with prolonged drought.

That presents a problem for some of Robusta’s biggest producers. Vietnam and Brazil account for around 65% of global exports, yet farms in both countries can rely heavily on irrigation to provide the conditions the crop needs.

Crucially, the researchers argue that previous climate studies may have mistaken this success under irrigation for evidence of natural climate resilience. With drought and pressure on water supplies themselves expected to intensify, irrigation isn’t necessarily the long-term solution it might appear to be.

The findings don’t rule Robusta out of coffee’s future. Instead, they point to a more complicated challenge: matching coffee species and varieties to the right environments, while developing crops capable of coping with both rising temperatures and increasingly unreliable rainfall. In other words, coffee’s climate problem won’t be solved by simply swapping Arabica for Robusta.

AMERICA RUNS ON COFFEE

Coffee remains America’s favourite beverage, ahead of both tap and bottled water, and increasingly Americans are choosing speciality.

According to the National Coffee Association’s latest National Coffee Data Trends report, 66% of US adults surveyed drank coffee on the previous day, maintaining its position as the country’s most popular beverage. Most of it is still made at home, accounting for 83% of past-day coffee consumption. But what’s in the cup is changing. A record 48% of American adults reported drinking speciality coffee on the previous day, continuing a shift that has seen it overtake traditional coffee.

Away from home, another trend is gathering pace: convenience. Among Americans who bought coffee out during the previous week, 55% had ordered at a drive-through, while a record 40% had ordered through an app. The figures overlap – customers may have done both – but point to an increasingly digital, on-the-go coffee culture.

And while drive-through coffee might feel distinctly American, Britain may be following suit. The UK drive-through coffee market grew by 6.7% last year to 912 sites, with recent research finding that nearly half of UK coffee-shop consumers had ordered from one.

Our overall appetite for coffee is looking increasingly American too. Britons now drink an estimated 98 million cups a day, according to the British Coffee Association. And in a country traditionally associated with tea, YouGov found that 40% of British adults drink coffee at home or work at least twice a day, almost level with tea at 41%.

Taken together, the numbers point to a coffee culture increasingly driven by two things: better coffee, and easier ways to get it.

REST IN... PUMPKIN SPICE?

Just when you thought pumpkin spice had found its way into everything, someone has taken it to the grave – quite literally.

Casket manufacturer Titan has launched a $1,599 Pumpkin Spice Casket, complete with a bright orange exterior and white interior, promoted among pumpkins, cinnamon sticks and autumn leaves under the suitably final slogan: “Pumpkin spice forever. PSL season doesn’t have to end when you do.”

There is, thankfully, no actual pumpkin spice or coffee involved. The coffin is an existing orange design from Titan’s Orion range, given a seasonal makeover as a tongue-in-cheek response to more than two decades of pumpkin spice mania.

And the timing may be fitting. After years of seemingly unstoppable growth, new Google search data suggests interest in pumpkin spice could be waning. Figures released in August found pumpkin spice leading flavour searches in just 6% of US states, down from 64% at the same point last year, while matcha topped searches in 29 states.

Titan co-founder Joshua Siegel has acknowledged that the annual return of pumpkin spice now inspires something of a “collective groan” – although reports of its demise may still be premature.

Still, if two decades of pumpkin spice dominance really are coming to an end, at least someone’s sorted the coffin.