A bitter price hike in US coffee shops after tariffs

[threadfin]

A bitter price hike in US coffee shops after tariffs​

3 hours ago

Sakshi Venkatraman and Imogen James

BBC
Jorge Prudencio says the price of his Colombian-imported coffee is rising
The price for a cup of coffee in the US is going up as tariffs put the squeeze on local café and bakery owners.

Some US businesses say the queues for a morning latte are already getting shorter as customers tighten their belts and imported beans become more expensive.

Americans spend $100bn (£76bn) a year on coffee, though that might be about to change.

Jorge Prudencio, who runs Bread Bite Bakery in Washington DC, says his Colombia-based coffee distributer just increased prices after the sweeping tariffs went into effect last week.
The vast majority of coffee in the US is imported.

In fact, the US is the world's second-leading importer of coffee, with the majority coming from Brazil and Colombia, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

Since 5 April, coffee imports have been affected by the 10% US tariffs against most countries.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Prudencio said his coffee suppliers have told him his next order will carry yet another price hike.

He added that his bakery will "definitely" be increasing prices for customers just to break even.

Asked if he is worried, Mr Prudencio said: "Of course."

Kamal Mortada says: "We have less customers for coffee"
The manager of Au Lait café just down the street, Kamal Mortada, said he's been seeing the effect of steadily increasing prices for a while now. Inflation spiked to a 40-year high under former US President Joe Biden.

Before the tariffs kicked in, ground coffee reached the highest ever recorded price in March 2025, and was over a dollar more expensive than the previous year, and $3 above March 2020 prices.

"We have less customers for coffee," Mr Mortada said.

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"Most customers just get plain coffee," instead of adding syrups and milks, he said.

The prices on the menu have gone up by 25% and people are now buying smaller coffees.

Mr Mortada has also changed his own habits as a consumer. Instead of his regular trip to Starbucks, he brews coffee at home.

He said he has seen the price of a cup of coffee go up by at least half a dollar, and is worried prices will rise again.

Jenny Ngo
Jenny Ngo says: "We unfortunately project to raise prices again"
On the opposite coast in San Francisco, another local coffee shop owner is grappling with what the tariffs will mean for her business.

Jenny Ngo, who runs Telescope Coffee, said she was waiting to hear how much her roaster will hike prices.

The coffee she sells is sourced from Ethiopia and Guatemala, both facing the standard 10% tariff. She also imports her iced coffee cups from China - and said she noticed the prices on those jumped overnight.

"We unfortunately project to raise prices again in order to sustain our business," she said.
Mr Prudencio remains confident that people will still come to his shop and buy coffee. He said it is something people need.

But recent inflation has also affected the price of eggs, crucial to his bakery side of the business.

He said they paid $42 per case when the bakery opened five months ago, but two weeks later it was more than $100 per case.
"Everybody is going through the same thing. We all pay the price."

The price of eggs is a key symbol of the health of the US economy, often an arguing point for politicians.

President Donald Trump has argued he will get the cost of eggs down, blaming rising prices on the Biden administration, which culled millions of egg-laying chickens amid a bird flu outbreak.

But in March, egg prices reached a record high at $6.22 per dozen, according to the Consumer Price Index.
Joel Finkelstein runs Qualia Coffee Roasters, a small business in Washington DC where he mostly sells coffee beans online and at farmers' markets.

The tariffs will represent just the latest in a series of price hikes, he told us.

He said he noticed the price of beans go up significantly after Trump took office and cut funding to USAID, which supported some coffee growers in South America. Now, he's expecting it to go up again.

"We are going to see a decrease in sales," Mr Finklestein said.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Coffees prices has been increasing b4 Trump took office...so wat gives? N Coffees expensive, brew at home...much cheaper

 

[threadfin]

Coffees prices has been increasing b4 Trump took office...so wat gives? N Coffees expensive, brew at home...much cheaper

My starbucks sunnyday nespresso capsule prices has already increased price. But I buy in bulk of 60 capsules to save.

 

[cocobobo]

Coffees prices has been increasing b4 Trump took office...so wat gives? N Coffees expensive, brew at home...much cheaper

The beans still need to be imported.
US should grow more of them in california

 

[syed putra]

My starbucks sunnyday nespresso capsule prices has already increased price. But I buy in bulk of 60 capsules to save.

I get my kopi -o sachet same price. If price go up, i buy indonesian brand.

 

[threadfin]

I get my kopi -o sachet same price. If price go up, i buy indonesian brand.

Local kopi has lots of sodium because they use salt and margarine to roast their beans. So I don't take those anymore.

 

[ftan42]

Switching to drinking H₂O

 

[myfoot123]

The price of our kopitiam kopi will increase by 50% for every 1% increase in GST. Singaporeans already felt the pain way earlier before Americans realised about theirs.

 

[eatshitndie]

The beans still need to be imported.
US should grow more of them in california

californicate’s climate and terrain not ideal for growing coffee. ideally, you need mountains in tropical or equatorial climates. high enough to be cool but within the tropical belt to be wet and moist. hawaii grows coffee beans but land is too scarce and sexpensive plus high labor cost for coffee production. this is why kona coffee is typically double the price of other types of coffee. highlands of ml, borneo, indonesia, sri lanka, kenya, ethiopia, mexico, guatamala, honduras, el salvador, nicaragua, columbia, ecuador, bolivia, venezuela, jamaica, thighland, vietnam, burma, laos, even india, pakistan, afghanistan, nepal, bhutan should be able to grow coffee beans. but there’s no coffee culture nor domestic market in sri lanka, burma, india and nepal, thus little to no production. for some inexplicable reason, there’s little to zero coffee production in the chiangmai chiangrai region of thighland. it’s perfect for coffee, but little cum out of there. every tropical cuntry including islands with mountains should produce coffee to earn money, but many are not doing it, especially afghanistan and pakistan. don’t know why. may be they love their chai. ok, why not texas and florida? texas and florida has no mountains tall enough to be cool, not even hills. californicate has mountains but is too dry. perfect for wine though.

 

[k1976]

LVMH finds making Louis Vuitton bags messy in Texas​

Tassilo Hummel and Waylon Cunningham
Updated Thu, 10 April 2025 at 3:59 PM SGT7-min read

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LVMH finds making Louis Vuitton bags messy in Texas​

U.S. President Donald Trump visits the Louis Vuitton Rochambeau Ranch leather workshop in Keene, Texas
By Tassilo Hummel and Waylon Cunningham

ALVARADO, Texas / PARIS (Reuters) -Six years ago, LVMH's (MC.PA) billionaire CEO Bernard Arnault and President Donald Trump cut the blue ribbon on a factory in rural Texas that would make designer handbags for Louis Vuitton, one of the world’s best-known luxury brands.

But since the high-profile opening, the factory has faced a host of problems limiting production, 11 former Louis Vuitton employees told Reuters. The site has consistently ranked among the worst-performing for Louis Vuitton globally, “significantly” underperforming other facilities, according to three former Louis Vuitton workers and a senior industry source, who cited internal rankings shared with staff.

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The plant’s problems – which haven’t previously been reported – highlight the challenges for LVMH as it attempts to build its production footprint in the U.S. to avoid Trump’s threatened tariffs on European-made goods.

“The ramp-up was harder than we thought it would be, that’s true,” Ludovic Pauchard, Louis Vuitton’s industrial director, said in an interview on Friday in response to detailed questions about Reuters findings.

The Texas site, situated on a 250-acre ranch, has struggled due to a lack of skilled leather workers able to produce at the brand’s quality standards, the three former workers told Reuters. “It took them years to start making the simple pockets of the Neverfull handbag,” one source familiar with operations at the plant said, referring to the classic Louis Vuitton shoulder tote bag.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

The beans still need to be imported.
US should grow more of them in california

Yes yanks should produce more...