The world loves coffee. We drink two billion cups each day! But it’s very vulnerable to climate change, and millions of coffee farmers are struggling. Rising temperatures, unpredictable rainfall and diseases are threatening our favourite caffeinated drink and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. But there are solutions. We hear from a coffee farmer in Uga ... Show More
Oct 2022
Introducing: The Science of Coffee
The Science of Coffee is a journey into coffee's hidden microscopic secrets to help you make even better coffee at home. Across six episodes, documentary maker and coffee professional James Harper takes you deep into the world of water for coffee, coffee extraction, plant genetic ... Show More
3m 40s
Apr 2022
Cosmic Queries – Climate Solutions with Katharine Hayhoe, PhD
What solutions exist to fix climate change? On this Earth Day, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice answer Qs about real-world solutions and aspects of climate change you might not be thinking about, with atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe, PhD. NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watc ... Show More
50m 34s
Feb 2024
Coffee Roasting, Part 2: Roasting made easy
Roasting coffee can be maddening. Just 4° Celsius is enough to make the same green beans taste distinctly different! And there are so many things roasters can play around with: temperature, time, fan speed, drum speed, types of probes…the list goes on and on. So, if you want to s ... Show More
46m 20s
Mar 2024
Organic Coffee, Part 2: Why don’t we see more organic coffee farms?
Farming coffee organically is amazing because soils are more alive, birds and insects are more plentiful, farmers avoid getting sick with agrochemicals. But, if it’s so great, why is less than 10% of the world’s coffee grown organically? The fact is, going organic is hard. Much h ... Show More
41m 22s
Jan 2024
Coffee Roasting, Part 1: How heat transforms coffee beans
What flavours do you want from your coffee?
Every coffee bean begins its life green. And if you brewed it up without first roasting it, you’d get a yellow-green cup of grass-flavoured water.
But, as soon you apply heat to a bean, the flavour can morph to from something quite vege ... Show More
37m 42s
Aug 2023
The wide-ranging effects of climate change
This week China hit a record high temperature, a scorching 52.2°C, while Death Valley in California measured 53.9°C. Elsewhere, Europe has been battling searing heat and raging wildfires. In previous editions of Inside Science we’ve explored the effects of heat on our health. Thi ... Show More
32m 40s