If you have noticed price changes on some of our menu items and bags over the past year, we owe you an honest explanation. The short version: coffee costs nearly doubled due to tariffs, and as a small family business, we had to adjust some prices to keep our doors open. The good news is that relief is on the horizon.
What Happened to Coffee Prices
Over the past twelve months, tariffs on imported coffee drove green bean costs to levels the industry has not seen in decades. Coffee is grown almost exclusively in equatorial countries and must be imported, so when tariffs hit, there was no domestic alternative to absorb the impact. Roasters large and small saw their raw material costs roughly double almost overnight.
For a small roaster like us, where green coffee is our single largest expense, that kind of increase is impossible to fully absorb. We held our prices as long as we could, dipped into margins we did not have much of, and ultimately had to raise prices on some items to keep operating.
Tariffs Have Been Removed, But...
The welcome news is that tariffs on coffee have since been removed. However, prices have not dropped yet, and here is why: the supply chain has a long memory. Coffee we are roasting today was purchased and imported months ago when tariffs were still in effect. Those beans were bought at the higher price, and they are what is currently in our inventory and moving through the pipeline.
It takes time for new, lower-cost shipments to work through the system. Importers, distributors, and roasters all have existing stock that was purchased at peak pricing. Until that inventory cycles through, the relief at the farm gate has not yet reached the roaster.
Spring Arrivals Look Promising
Here is the part we are genuinely excited about: the next round of spring shipments is expected to arrive at significantly lower costs. As these new-crop beans land and replace our current inventory, we will be in a position to bring our prices back down.
We are committed to passing those savings along to you. When our costs come down, your prices will too. That is a promise.
Thank You
We want to sincerely thank every one of you who has continued to support us through what has been a genuinely difficult year in the coffee world. Running a small, family-owned roastery means every customer matters, and your patience and loyalty during this period has meant more than we can express.
We did not raise prices because we wanted to. We did it because the alternative was closing our doors. And because of your support, we made it through. Now we are looking forward to better days ahead, lower prices, and continuing to roast the best coffee we can for this community.
If you ever have questions about our pricing, sourcing, or anything else, do not hesitate to reach out. Transparency is important to us, and we would rather have an honest conversation than leave you guessing.
Here is to a better spring.