E-Matura | LiC | Cloze | B2 | Coffee and climate change

Howard Schultz wants to know if I drink coffee. The Starbucks boss is sitting on a balcony (0) ___ the company’s leafy farm

in the Costa Rican province of Alajuela, (1) ___ I’m told the coffee, harvested and roasted on-site, is a must-try.

(2) ___ more than 60% of Americans, I drink coffee at least once a day, and sometimes I indulge twice or even three times. The Costa Rican blend Schultz pours me has a special taste that mixes citrus and chocolate flavors.

But the future of my cup of Costa Rican Arabica is not guaranteed, Schultz says. (3) ___ nearly four decades at Starbucks, he is leaving at the end of June,

and in the role of executive officer (4) ___ almost 15 months, he has been looking past Starbucks’ day-to-day operations to its long- term challenges and opportunities.

Climate change ranks high among them. As temperatures rise and droughts intensify, good coffee will become increasingly difficult to (5) ___ and expensive to buy.

Since governments are reacting slowly (6) ___ the problem, companies like Starbucks have stepped in to save themselves, reaching to the bottom of their supply chains to ensure reliable access to their product. “Make no mistake,” Schultz tells me, “climate change is going to play a bigger role in affecting the quality and integrity of coffee.”

This farm, with its verdant vistas and a trickling waterfall, seems far removed from the rising sea (7) ___, blistering heat and destructive storms that characterize climate change.

But (8) ___ warming is exactly why Starbucks bought the 600-acre plot in 2013,

and why Schultz makes the 3,500-mile (9) ___ from Seattle

a few times a year as he has (10) ___ on this March day.

The farm is Starbucks’ field laboratory into the threats posed to coffee by climate change and its testing facility for how it can (11) ___ to the challenge. Schultz hopes that the research here will inform agricultural practices for millions of farmers across the globe, including the ones that supply the company. “We have to be in the soil, growing coffee, to understand firsthand how to rectify and fix the situation,” he says.