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In terms of carbon footprint, coffee (as a low gram-per-serving product) is probably low. For example, I consume ~200g/week of coffee (10kg/yr), all of which w

In terms of carbon footprint, coffee (as a low gram-per-serving product) is probably low. For example, I consume ~200g/week of coffee (10kg/yr), all of which would be shipped in 25kg bags from the producing locale to my local roastery. The shipping carbon impact would likely be easily offset by a single consumer item purchased from overseas

maddyboo 5y ago
Water usage may be a larger concern than shipping. From Wikipedia: > Coffee production use a large volume of water. On average it takes about 140 liters (37 U.S. gal) of water to grow the coffee beans needed to produce one cup of coffee, producing 1 kg (2.2 lb) of roasted coffee in Africa, South America or Asia requires 26,400 liters (7,000 U.S. gal) of water. Coffee is often grown in countries where there is a water shortage, such as Ethiopia. So, assuming those numbers are accurate, your 10kg year of coffee required 264,000 liters of water, or just over 10% the volume of an Olympic swimming pool (2,500,000 liters). That’s a lot of water. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee#Ecological_effects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee#Ecological_effects
- SECProto 5y ago
  Yes, water usage is likely a concern (though not the one the original comment had raised/I responded to). That section of the Wikipedia article is very poorly cited, linking to a single EBI source [1] which doesn't cite a primary source. I'd be unsurprised if coffee (particular wet-processed coffee) used a fair bit of water, but other agricultural products also use more water than people expect - a 500g loaf of bread would need 250 to 2000L of water, according to this one random source [2]. Daily household water usage in North America is in the ~400 litre [3] range (~150000L/yr per person). [1] https://www.eib.org/en/essays/on-water https://www.eib.org/en/essays/on-water [2] https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/10/how-much-water-food-production-waste https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/10/how-mu... [3] https://www.hamiltonproject.org/charts/domestic_water_use_per_capita_in_gallons_per_day_by_state_2005 https://www.hamiltonproject.org/charts/domestic_water_use_pe...
- 4gotunameagain 5y ago
  > Coffee is often grown in countries where there is a water shortage, such as Ethiopia. I would imagine that the water shortage is a problem in the low altitude arid deserts near the coast, while coffee is grown in the high altitude inland mountainous regions. Coffee needs a high altitude tropical climate with a lot of rainfall, that's why it is grown in tropical monsoon/rainforest climates (Brazil, Indonesia, Africa) where rain is abundant

maddyboo 5y ago

Water usage may be a larger concern than shipping. From Wikipedia: > Coffee production use a large volume of water. On average it takes about 140 liters (37 U.S. gal) of water to grow the coffee beans needed to produce one cup of coffee, producing 1 kg (2.2 lb) of roasted coffee in Africa, South America or Asia requires 26,400 liters (7,000 U.S. gal) of water. Coffee is often grown in countries where there is a water shortage, such as Ethiopia. So, assuming those numbers are accurate, your 10kg year of coffee required 264,000 liters of water, or just over 10% the volume of an Olympic swimming pool (2,500,000 liters). That’s a lot of water. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee#Ecological_effects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee#Ecological_effects

SECProto 5y ago
Yes, water usage is likely a concern (though not the one the original comment had raised/I responded to). That section of the Wikipedia article is very poorly cited, linking to a single EBI source [1] which doesn't cite a primary source. I'd be unsurprised if coffee (particular wet-processed coffee) used a fair bit of water, but other agricultural products also use more water than people expect - a 500g loaf of bread would need 250 to 2000L of water, according to this one random source [2]. Daily household water usage in North America is in the ~400 litre [3] range (~150000L/yr per person). [1] https://www.eib.org/en/essays/on-water https://www.eib.org/en/essays/on-water [2] https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/10/how-much-water-food-production-waste https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/10/how-mu... [3] https://www.hamiltonproject.org/charts/domestic_water_use_per_capita_in_gallons_per_day_by_state_2005 https://www.hamiltonproject.org/charts/domestic_water_use_pe...
4gotunameagain 5y ago
> Coffee is often grown in countries where there is a water shortage, such as Ethiopia. I would imagine that the water shortage is a problem in the low altitude arid deserts near the coast, while coffee is grown in the high altitude inland mountainous regions. Coffee needs a high altitude tropical climate with a lot of rainfall, that's why it is grown in tropical monsoon/rainforest climates (Brazil, Indonesia, Africa) where rain is abundant