Public Lectures in Natural Science: Coffee

Three researchers examine coffee from root to cup. The lecture is an updated version of an event from spring 2023 and takes place in Kultursalen, Ullerslev Kultur- og Idrætscenter.

Botanist Anders Barfod has spent over 40 years studying tropical plant resources. He explains the botany of the coffee plant, including new research on its wild relatives, and describes precisely what the coffee bean is within the fruit and which steps lead from the ripened fruit on the bush to the finished cup.

Natural resource economist Aske Skovmand Bosselmann focuses on coffee cultivation in the coffee belt around the Equator, where millions of farmers produce enough coffee for 30,000 cups per second. He examines how cultivation has historically contributed to deforestation, but under certain conditions today plays a completely different role - and presents the latest research on what climate change means for future coffee production.

Diabetes and nutrition researcher Kjeld Hermansen addresses widespread claims about coffee's effects on the body: whether it is unhealthy, causes cancer or heart disease, or shortens life. He reviews what research actually shows about coffee and common diseases such as type 2 diabetes and neuropsychiatric disorders, and places Danes' coffee consumption in historical perspective from 1665 to today.