Interviews with scientists – coffee history and survival

This 5-minute video interview with Dr Charlie Clutterbuck of Manchester Metropolitan University introduces students to the history and economics of coffee and the impact of a plant pathogen on coffee production.

How long will your morning coffee be available for? This bean shaped global history, through colonisation and plantations to today’s world of Fair Trade and big business. Now a disease is threatening coffee production world-wide. Dr Charlie Clutterbuck discusses the long and strange history behind coffee – how a small plant from Ethiopia dominated the world, and why it’s under threat today.

The accompanying notes include a teachers’ summary, plus student questions and answers.