08/08/2025
TODAY’S COFFEES roasted in San Diego on 8/8/25:
Puerto Rican-Grown Coffee Trade Almost Extinct; hurricanes, lack of available labor, climate change reduce production to 6% of pre-’17 levels
From Puerto Rican trade sources: Puerto Rico Secretary of Agriculture Josué Rivera Castro admitted recently that the alarming condition of coffee production, which is now evident, is the result of the 2017 Hurricane Maria, which destroyed some 20 million coffee trees. Puerto Rico’s coffee trade may not survive, as a result. Hindered by a perceived labor shortage, changing climate and rising prices, The response has been inadequate, with only about 150,000 trees planted so far.
With coffee plants taking 2 to 4 years to start yielding and even longer to reach peak production, the timeline for recovery is daunting. In 2022, Puerto Rico faced a dramatic loss of 74% of its coffee farms, with 19 municipalities entirely devoid of active coffee plantations, according to a state sponsored Puerto Rico Agricultural Census. Current production now stands at a mere 6% of its previous levels.
Compounding the issue is the prices of coffee: Imported coffee is cheaper, while local production expenses continue to rise, pushing Puerto Rican coffee closer to extinction. Urgent demand for 7,000 pickers has been made by the growers, yet local and foreign workers are in short supply. Efforts to recruit foreign labor have been hindered by prohibitive costs and bureaucratic red tape. Climate change poses a significant threat to coffee production in Puerto Rico, not only because of fiercer hurricanes, but temperature and rainfall is not as predictable as it once was, making growing less certain.
UC Researchers Find Combination of Natural Compounds for Brain “Cleaning” in Green Tea
UC News Service: In a paper published recently in the journal GeroScience, the UC Irvine team reports that a combination of naturally occurring compounds – nicotinamide (a form of vitamin B3) and epigallocatechin gallate (a green tea antioxidant) – can reinstate levels of guanosine triphosphate, an essential energy molecule in brain cells. In tests on neurons in a dish, the treatment reversed age-related cellular deficits and improved the brain cells’ ability to clear damaging amyloid protein aggregates, an Alzheimer’s hallmark.
The researchers used a genetically encoded fluorescent sensor called GEVAL to track live guanosine triphosphate levels in neurons from aged Alzheimer’s model mice. They discovered that free GTP levels declined with age – particularly in mitochondria, the cells’ energy hubs – leading to impaired autophagy, the process by which cells eliminate damaged components.
But when aged neurons were treated for just 24 hours with nicotinamide and epigallocatechin gallate, GTP levels were restored to those typically seen in younger cells. This revival triggered a cascade of benefits: improved energy metabolism; activation of key GTPases involved in cellular trafficking, Rab7 and Arl8b; and efficient clearance of amyloid beta aggregates. Oxidative stress, another contributor to neurodegeneration, was also reduced.
