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“It is not too far-fetched to begin questioning the very existence of specialty coffee.”

That’s a quote from a coffee trade group, the Specialty Coffee Association of America, that’s one among many such organizations warning that climate change is pushing us towards peak coffee. Yes, it’s another ‘peak’ — first oil, then fish, then chocolate, now coffee — Richard Heinberg’s ‘peak everything’ thesis is looking more and more astute. In this case, it’s because coffee, like cocoa, are picky, finicky plants — they require just the right temperature and amount of rainfall to produce a decent yield. And climate change is screwing it all up: yields are way down, it’s becoming impossible to plant in certain regions, and as a result, prices of coffee beans are soaring. As a result, higher end coffee may vanish altogether, and the cheap stuff you buy in Costco by the 5 pound tin may become a luxury item.

The New York Times reports that over the last decade, coffee yields have plummeted “in many of Latin America’s other premier coffee regions as a result of rising temperatures and more intense and unpredictable rains, phenomena that many scientists link partly to global warming.” You’ve got to love that New York Timesian approach to tiptoeing around climate issues. Yes, “link partly”. Please — it’s quite well understood that climate change is already having a devastating impact on crop yields around the world, for the myriad reasons cited right in this very article.