In the UK we drink around 95 million cups of coffee a day – coffee grown and transported from some of the 125 million farmers around the world who depend on it for an income. However, these livelihoods currently hang in the balance when faced by inaction around climate change, volatile coffee prices, ongoing workers’ rights issues and poor pay. The coffee industry follows the familiar food story of monopoly. Despite 25 million smallholder farms producing 80% of the world’s coffee, three companies control approximately 50% of the global coffee trade, and ten roasters, including Nestlé and Jacobs Douwe Egberts, process about 40% of the coffee drunk worldwide. In the UK, Nestlé holds a 53% share of the instant coffee market by value of sales, followed by JDE (23%) and Carte Noire (4%).  The speciality coffee sector offers a higher quality and generally more expensive alternative to ‘commodity’ coffee, with companies getting more involved in the whole coffee supply chain from bean to brew.  It begs the question: should we drink less coffee, treat it as a luxury and make sure its sustainable?