Sipping a cup of coffee watching the morning sun has been a morning ritual for millions across the world. But a study by Climate Central says the world’s beloved beverage is getting harder to produce and more expensive due to the adverse impact of climate change.
Coffee plants thrive under specific temperature and rainfall ranges. Suboptimal conditions can harm the quality and quantity of bean harvests. And this affects the availability, price and quality of the drink that so many love. The study says climate change is bringing more excessive heat to major coffee-growing regions. An analysis reveals that climate change is pushing temperatures past the coffee harming heat threshold of 30 degree Celsius in coffee growing countries.
India, which contributes 3.5 per cent of the global coffee production, has recorded a rise of 30 hot days due to the adverse effects of climate change. The country experiences 118 days of coffee harming heat a year.
However, experts say the adverse impact of climate change has been minimal in India as we cultivate coffee under a canopy of thick natural shade in ecologically sensitive regions of the Western and Eastern Ghats. Coffee is traditionally grown in the Western Ghats, spread over Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Coffee cultivation is also expanding rapidly in the non-traditional areas of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha as well as in the North East states.
“In Kerala, around 90% of the coffee is produced in Wayanad district located in the Nigiris region. But the number of hot days has increased significantly in recent years. During summer, the mercury crosses 36 degrees C in Wayanad. It is reckless tree felling that has contributed to weather change in the hilly regions of Wayanad. However, the shade cultivation system adopted by the Coffee Board has helped ensure an ambient climate for coffee,” said former vice chairman of Coffee Board M R Mahesh. As per the Coffee Board guidelines, coffee plantations need to have two levels of shade trees. These are called lower canopy and upper canopy. Every plantation should have 40% shade trees.
“Around 84% of the coffee cultivators in Kerala are small or marginal farmers. Some of them cut down the shade trees to increase the number of plants. But this has an adverse effect as the plants are exposed to extreme weather. Besides, some farmers cultivate other crops like fruit-bearing trees and vegetables in the farmland. The ambient climate for coffee is 30 degree C. Some planters use sprinklers for irrigation. But this is expensive and unaffordable for marginal farmers. The government has to encourage farmers to plant fast growing shade trees,” said Mahesh. The year 2026 has brought new hopes to the coffee farmers in Kerala as the state has received blossom showers in February after a gap of 15 years, said Kerala government’s Climate Smart Coffee Initiative project head G Balagopal.
“The Coffee plants start blooming during the one month period starting mid - February. If we get rain during this season, it helps blossom. We have to get showers after three weeks. One of the adverse effects of climate change is unpredictable weather. The only solution is to irrigate the coffee plants but the marginal farmers cannot afford it. The Kerala government has launched a scheme to provide ₹1.10 lakh per hectare for replanting and irrigation. We distributed 85,000 coffee saplings last year,” he said.
India’s coffee exports have recorded a 4.47% decline in the 2025 calendar year. The country exported 3.84 lakh tonne coffee in 2025. But the value rose by 22.50% to USD 2,058.06 million. The unit value realisation remained high at ₹4.65 lakh per tonne in 2025 compared to ₹3.48 lakh a tonne in the previous year.
According to the Coffee Board, export of Arabica coffee showed a decline of 65% to 15,607 tonne in 2025 as against 44,315 tonne in the previous year. Robust coffee exports declined by 13% to 1.80 lakh tonne from 2.07 lakh tonne in previous year. However, the shipment of instant coffee rose 11.56% to 46,954 tonne in 2025 as against 42,054 tonne shipped in the previous year. Italy, Russia and Germany were the top-three destinations for coffee exports.