No need to brood over the brew

The trouble brewing over the recent disclosure by Switzerland that it will no longer deem coffee to be an item vital for human survival and will, thus, stop stockpiling it, is unwarranted. After all, the Swiss authorities do not intend to ban the beverage but merely stop hoarding supplies of raw beans, from 2022.

At present, besides 1,040 tonnes of gold reserves (reportedly the highest per capita), Switzerland also has 15,300 tonnes of coffee beans, stored in the warehouses of 15 importers, roasters and retailers. The latter figure is not surprising considering the Swiss individually consume 9 kg of coffee a year, but it may not be for nutritional value — the absence of which is a prime reason for its downgrading, apparently. In fact, just as world gold prices hinge on countries holding on to reserves of the precious metal, coffee prices often fluctuate too and reserves promise some stability.

Stockpiling may have mostly begun due to wartime food shortage fears, but times are equally uncertain today for reasons as varied as cyber attacks to ‘weather events’ and power outages. And dealing with all of these creates a demand for coffee from stressed humans, but not for their calorie content. The upside, of course, is that any large unloading of Swiss stocks could make those cups of coffee much cheaper than they are these days.