One of the major factors in growing high quality coffee is altitude. Coffee beans grown higher altitudes are harder and denser because they have more sugar. The coffee cherries have taken longer to ripen because the soil is less rich and there’s more drainage at altitude. Longer ripening times means more sugar and more flavour compounds.
If climate change makes these (already harsh) mountainous regions indispensable to the coffee shrubs, then we may be forced to grow coffee in lowland regions where the quality will not be as good.
What exactly does 'not as good' mean in this context? Sure for people who roast their own beans at home they will notice a difference, but would someone who drinks a regular cup of chain coffee like Starbucks be able to tell? I'd imagine the better quality coffees will go up in price, but lowland areas would take over for bulk coffee used in chains.
It seems that they are asking whether, due to global warming, some other countries much further north may be able to grow coffee at the appropriate height (while it is now impossible because they are too cold). For instance, in advanced stages of global warming it may be possible to grow coffee in northern Italy.
Yes, that's exactly right. Sure, if it gets warmer than one place currently just right will be too warm, but might there be another place too cold which is now just right? Although maybe there aren't enough places of the right altitude at the right elevations, with the right rainfall in new conditions.
