coffee

Feb. 18 (UPI) — An analysis by Climate Central found that the world’s five largest coffee-producing countries, which account for 75% of global supply, are experiencing an average of 57 additional days of extreme heat per year due to climate change.

Its researchers found that heat threatens coffee harvests and coincides with recent record highs in prices.

Climate Central, based in Princeton, N.J., is an independent group of scientists and communicators who research and report the facts about climate change and how it affects people’s lives.

The analysis, released Wednesday, examined daily temperatures between 2021 and 2025 in 25 countries that represent 97% of global production. The report concluded that all of them recorded more days of harmful heat as a result of environmental warming attributed to greenhouse gas emissions.

The two main varieties that supply the global market are arabica and robusta.

Arabica accounts for between 60% and 70% of global supply and is grown mainly in mountainous regions of Latin America and Africa, where moderate temperatures have historically prevailed.

Robusta, which is more heat-tolerant but has a stronger flavor, is produced largely in Southeast Asian countriesm such as Vietnam and Indonesia.

Coffee is cultivated in a tropical belt stretching across Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia, where it requires specific temperature ranges and consistent rainfall.

Temperatures above 86 degrees F are considered extremely harmful for arabica and suboptimal for robusta, as they reduce yields and can affect bean quality.

The analysis was published after a period in which the planet recorded the warmest years since modern measurements began, with episodes of extreme heat in Latin America.

According to Climate Central, this warming increased the frequency of days exceeding the critical 86-degree threshold in coffee-growing regions.

Brazil, the world’s largest producer and responsible for nearly 37% of global supply, experienced an average of 70 additional days per year with temperatures above 86 degrees. In Minas Gerais, its main coffee-producing state, 67 of these extra days were recorded.

Colombia, the world’s third-largest producer and one of the leading exporters of arabica coffee, recorded 48 additional days per year above the critical threshold. The increase threatens productivity and bean quality, the foundation of its international competitiveness.

Some of the sharpest increases were observed in Central America. El Salvador recorded 99 additional days of extreme heat per year and Nicaragua 77, according to the report.

“Nearly all major producing countries are now experiencing more days of extreme heat that can damage plants, reduce yields and affect quality,” said Kristina Dahl, vice president for science at Climate Central.

“Over time, these impacts can extend from farms to consumers, directly affecting the quality and cost of their daily coffee.”

According to the World Bank, its beverage price index rose 58% in 2024 and in December remained approximately 91% higher than a year earlier, driven by increases in coffee and cocoa amid supply concerns.

In December, the price of arabica coffee rose 13% compared with the previous month and more than 60% year over year, while robusta more than doubled compared with the same period the previous year.

When you read about Jason Mantzoukas’ ideal Sunday in Los Angeles, it’s important that you imagine him holding a cup of coffee in basically every location and situation. He knows all the places around the city where he can get caffeinated before he goes on to do anything else.

Fittingly, the actor, comedian and podcaster has brought an excitable, unpredictable and hilarious energy to his roles on shows including “The League,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Big Mouth.” Last year, he brought his gleeful sense of mischief to the U.K. competition series “Taskmaster.” And Disney+ recently finished airing the second season of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” where Mantzoukas portrays Mr. D (a.k.a. Dionysus), and he’ll soon wrap up a stint on Broadway, where he stars in Simon Rich’s play “All Out: Comedy About Ambition.”

For the continuously busy Mantzoukas, sometimes the perfect Sunday means never leaving the house. “All I want to do is make a whole pot of coffee, get the paper and a big stack of unread comic books, and sit on the porch.” When he does explore the city, he favors the spots where he similarly can just hang out for a while. But before that, how about a refill?

10:30 a.m.: First cup(s) of the day

I’m a night owl, so on a Sunday especially, I’m going to let myself sleep in. Then I’m making coffee. My first three cups of coffee are all from home. I’m making a French press. L.A. beans though, either Counter Culture or Go Get Em Tiger would be my beans of choice. That and the newspaper are the beginning.

Almost immediately upon getting up, I’m going to start playing the radio. My mornings are either LAist or Howard Stern if it’s a weekday. But on Sundays, I’m trying really hard to not do any talk, just music. It’s KJazz, or something like that. I’m also obsessed with a radio station called WYAR that I can’t recommend enough. It’s music from the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s. It’s the teeniest, tiniest radio station out of Yarmouth, Maine.

Noon: Hike bros

I’ve hiked with the same guys for years now. It’s all guys that I’ve done comedy with for 20-plus years. We usually do one of the Griffith Park hikes because it’s convenient for everybody. The conversation topics are: What is wrong with us physically? What doctor recommendations do we need desperately? Then it is gossip — gossip from within our world, gossip from outside of our world. Then it is just earnest conversation, like checking in emotionally. And then quite a bit of dumb bits, like really dumb bits.

We do these hikes a couple of times a week, and it’s so fun and funny that we have started doing an improv show at the Elysian Theater that’s called Hike Bros. It is just us trying to approximate on stage what it is we do on hikes. It’s ridiculous.

1 p.m.: Comic book restock

After the hike, I’m in a good position to go to Secret Headquarters in Atwater Village, which is my home comic book shop. They keep a list of what comics I want them to set aside each week.

There’s a series of graphic novels called “Hobtown Mystery Stories” that are like, what if David Lynch wrote Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew-style teen detective books? I got super into them because I was in Secret Headquarters and one of the people there was like, “Oh, I bet you’d like that book.” On the internet, I miss having those trusted people.

2 p.m.: Recording digging

I want to kill time in a way that is about discovery, exploration, but also, like, “Oh, I want stuff.” That’s record shopping. L.A. has always been Amoeba for me, just in terms of I love wasting hours in a store that has a deep bench for every section of music that I’m interested in. And then if you want to do the extra work, DVDs as well. There’s a lot of great smaller record stores around town that I love, but there’s something about killing two hours at Amoeba.

6 p.m.: Dinner hang

What I want from an L.A. dinner is I just want to hang there. Little Dom’s is a great hang. You can spend hours there. You’re always going to run into people. My hope is that we can all just hang out and that we’re not going to be rushed out because they have another seating.

8 p.m.: Nighttime activities

I’m going to want to do one of three things at night:

I want to go to the movies, and I’m talking Vidiots and the Vista and the New Beverly. We can all go to all the regular theaters and see all the blockbusters, but L.A. has fantastic theaters that are doing incredible programming,

If I’m not going to the movies, I want to see live music as much as I can, but on a much smaller scale than I used to. I’m excited when an artist that I love like Mary Lattimore or Jeff Parker has a residency at Zebulon because I’m like, “Oh, great. That is not a big crowd. That is very easy, very manageable.”

Then I either want to be doing a comedy show or seeing a comedy show. There’s such a vibrant scene now. The Elysian in Frogtown is a great spot. We do Dinosaur Improv at Largo. I think Largo is pound for pound, maybe the best venue in town. Dynasty Typewriter, another great one. UCB, the OG. Over the course of a month, these are all places that I’m doing shows at, but these are also places that are showcasing some of the best comedy in L.A.

11 p.m.: The missing piece

At this point I’m done being social. I don’t want to talk to anybody anymore. My goal when I get home is a jigsaw puzzle — with either a podcast or jazz on in the background — until probably like 2 in the morning.

I do these puzzles from a company called Elms Puzzles and they’re hand cut, so they’re incredibly difficult to do. It’ll take me a month to do one. They are prohibitively expensive, so much so that I don’t buy them. They have a rental program. They send you a puzzle, you do it, you send it back to them, and they send you another puzzle. Which is perfect, I don’t need to do a puzzle more than once.

It is a great way to put myself into a frame of mind to go to bed, especially if I’ve done a show or watched a movie. If I’ve been stimulated, doing a puzzle for a couple of hours is a great way to decompress.

Eclectic and cozy define the spirit of this North Hollywood coffee shop owned by Jennifer Jackson and Libby Ward. The name (and whale logo) is a playful twist on corporate giant Starbucks (with “Starbuck” being a character in “Moby Dick”), and the satire extends to the names of the drink sizes: guppy (small), trout (medium) and whaley (large).

Inside, the whimsical nautical vibe continues in the front room with a floor mural, resembling the deep blue sea and various colorful sea creatures, done by local illustrator Tak Sparks.

Three back rooms with bold colored walls — green, blue, yellow and orange — feel like living rooms with wooden stools, desks, chairs and tables, area rugs, upholstered armchairs and worn leather seats. Out back, a shaded patio strung with Edison bulbs extends the seating.

The walls recently featured art by local comic artist/illustrator Josh Maikis, as well as art by two of the shop’s employees’ parents, J.H. Smith’s ink and intaglio prints and Carolyn Root’s wildlife paintings.

In the front space, bags of free coffee grounds are available for customers to take home for composting. There’s also a propagation station where you can leave or take plant clippings.

Beyond seasonal drinks and espresso-based drinks, try unusual signature offerings like the Shiny Squirrel, a blended espresso with caramel, whipped cream, white and dark chocolate, and sprinkles on top. Or, if coffee isn’t your thing, there are smoothies, hot chocolate and Italian sodas, and a wide array of teas. Jackson is also an herbalist and makes some of them, including Good Night Moon and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, with her own herbs.

Here, the coffee doesn’t stop at the beverages. Even a caprese sandwich has coffee in the balsamic vinegar.