- Edited
Hi all,
I wanted to ask to try and get a bit of an insight in to your coffee buying for the next year ahead. As you have probably seen as it is not just being reported in industry press but the wider press, coffee prices are at historic highs at the moment. They are up 86% year on year and have gone particularly crazy in the last few days thought mostly to be down to the threat of tariffs.
Since we started, green coffee has gone up just shy of 300%. For some context, commodity grade Robusta that is used for instant and those ‘worlds strongest coffee’ type blends is now about the same price as we were paying for a good quality Brazil that would be the base of an espresso blend.
During the time we have been roasting we have managed to suck most of that added cost up. Our Signature Bend for example has gone from £20 a kg to £24 a kg. We had a price rise at the start of the year of under 10% but I do not anticipate this being the only one this year if trends continue.
We have zero intention of switching coffee to lower grade beans although from discussing the rises with a trader yesterday he said he is seeing this some very large roasters doing this to stay competitive but in his words ’there isn’t going to be enough crap to go around’.
How do you think the price rises will affect your buying habits? Do you think you will switch your single origin purchases to historically cheaper origins? Will you switch from single origins to cheaper blended coffee? Will you just stick with it regardless? Will you (gasp) cut down your consumption?
Cheers, David