The Journey Ahead for
Our Documentary
Trouble Brewing is a documentary about a shared fight —
coffee farming families, roasters, baristas, and everyday coffee drinkers standing together against a climate crisis that is destroying coffee crops and pushing arabica toward a possible extinction-level collapse.
Coffee connects us: the people who grow it, roast it, serve it, and the people who drink it.
Parents waking before sunrise to pick cherries so their families can eat… and parents rushing to brew a cup before work so they can do the same. Different worlds. Same goal. Putting a meal on the table.
But climate change is tearing that connection apart. Extended rainy seasons are causing deadly landslides that erase entire farms. Elsewhere, extreme dry seasons, drought, diseases, and pests are wiping out trees at record speed. Coffee supply is shrinking every year — while demand continues to rise.
We are running out of time. Farmers can’t survive this alone.
Consumers can’t ignore it anymore.
The only path forward is unity: paying higher prices as they rise — not out of charity, but survival. Because every dollar helps coffee farming families rebuild, replant, protect their land, and fight back against climate change so quality coffee doesn’t vanish in our lifetime.
Your cup is part of their struggle. Their survival shapes your routine.
And together, we decide what coffee’s future will be.
This isn’t a warning. It’s already happening.
Support a Cause That Matters
Support Our
Documentary Project
Together, we can raise awareness about the climate challenges facing smallholder coffee farmers. Your contributions are vital in bringing this important documentary to life.
How can I help? Contact us.
More information coming soon.
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Meet the Team
Executive Producer
LEM BUTLER
I’ve spent more than twenty years in coffee—grinding it, brewing it, teaching it, competing with it, obsessing over it. I’ve stood on stages, won titles, trained baristas on three continents, and chased flavor like it was a passport stamp. Coffee built my career, my identity, my world.
Then 2022 hit me like a brick.
A close friend—another lifer in the coffee trenches—gave me his kidney. A literal piece of himself to keep me alive. And when you come that close to the edge, you start asking harder questions. Questions that don’t care about trophies, business plans, or whatever ladder you thought you were climbing.
I realized the people who mattered most weren’t sitting in boardrooms or competition halls. They were thousands of miles away—farmers and families whose labor had supported my entire journey, yet rarely had the chance to speak for themselves.
So I walked away from the company I helped build. Not because it was easy, but because ignoring the truth was harder:
coffee is in trouble, and so are the people who grow it.
Climate change is rewriting the rules—killing crops, shrinking yields, pushing smallholder farmers to the brink. These aren’t statistics. They’re friends, hosts, storytellers. People who shared meals with me, who opened their homes, who live the reality we only sip from a safe distance.
This documentary follows my travels through Colombia, Burundi, and Vietnam—not as a buyer, not as a champion, but as a guy with a second chance trying to actually listen for once. Scientists, farmers, families—the people on the front line of the crisis shaping the future of your morning cup.
My mission now?
To bend the coffee value chain until it stops being a chain at all—
and becomes a circle.
A place where the people who grow coffee and the people who drink it can finally look each other in the eye.
This film is my responsibility.
My reset button.
My calling
Executive Producer
STEVE MELLON
I am a full-time unscripted television producer and editor with 23 years of experience, eight Emmy nominations, and one win. I have created 100s of hours of premium content on every major network and streaming service. My credits include “The Amazing Race”, “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” and “Undercover Boss.” ”Throughout my career, I have been drawn to stories that create a positive impact and highlight exceptional individuals whose narratives are often overlooked.
Four years ago, my family and I left Los Angeles and relocated to Wake Forest, North Carolina, where we met Lem Butler. I was immediately captivated by Lem’s professional journey—as the only Black U.S. Barista Champion and a local entrepreneur. However, after spending time with him, I realized his story runs much deeper.
Without hesitation, I picked up my camera and began documenting Lem’s journey—from recovery to his selfless, worldwide exploration of the challenges facing coffee production. While commercial success would be incredible, my primary motivation is the opportunity to tell a deeply personal story with full creative freedom. My goal is simple: to share this story because it deserves and needs to be told.