Climate change is making coffee more bitter and expensive

A cafe in Ho Chi Minh, Vienma, on Wednesday, November 29, 2023. In Vietnam, the world’s top producer of hardy robusta beans, farmers have not been spared the impact of increasingly erratic weather. Photographer: Maika Elan/Bloomberg

HANOI: For coffee lovers, the brew of the future is shaping up to be bitter and pricey, as climate change parches the world’s key growing regions.

Increasingly erratic weather is putting crops at risk globally. Hardier varieties are expected to fare better, and for coffee that means strong, earthy robusta. But in Vietnam, the top producer of these beans, alarm bells are ringing.