The price of coffee

March 7, 2022 by
 |  2 Comments  |  Leave Comment

If I ask you the question “how much does a cup of coffee cost?”, you can probably rattle off an answer in seconds. Of course the cost varies on whether you are making it at home, buying it at a gas station, or purchasing from an upscale coffee shop. There are a lot of factors that go into the price, including the type and quality of the bean, how it’s brewed, and what is added to the resulting brew. But those are not the only issues that come into play, says Jenn Rugolo writing for Vittles. Rugolo explores the many variables – tangible and intangible – that play a role in calculating the price of coffee.

As she dives into the various economic factors, Rugolo notes that “coffee drips with socio-cultural significance. It phases, not just from solid to liquid, but from an agricultural product to an object of social, emotional, and aesthetic value. Because of this, only a fraction of the price paid at a café till for a flat white is allocated to coffee in its raw form.”

Rugulo investigates the costs from the growing, tending, and harvesting of the coffee beans all the way to the types of containers in which coffee is served, offering up a startlingly complicated graph called the Coffee Systems Map. This map shows the many parties that you might not think about who are involved with getting the beans from the ground to your cup, including futures traders, brokers, and transportation companies. Rugolo thoughtfully explores the topic of who gets to determine what value is added at the various stages, and asks us to rethink our understanding about a simple cuppa joe.

Category: Antipasto

Post a comment

2 Comments

  • Indio32  on  March 8, 2022

    Coffee farmers living in abject poverty, dairy farmers paid less for milk than it costs to produce & barrister’s paid poverty wages. Here in London there appears to be a coffee shop on every corner. Oddly Starbucks a maker of said £3/4 coffees made gross profits of over $20,000 million last year.
    Personally I take a caffettier to work and now only buy a coffee from The Algerian Coffee Stores in Soho when I’m there buying beans.

  • Rella  on  March 11, 2022

    We’ve been buying organic green coffee beans for years and roasting them in the same electric coffee bean roaster. In the beginning decades ago, I even roasted them in a cast iron skillet, then I found a roaster that was little more than a can with a whole in it and a handle to turn. A couple of decades ago our green beans from India stopped selling our favorite bean, then we turned to a company in the U.S. that sold different varieties of beans. In the last few years we have been buying green beans from one source, and yesterday I see they no longer sell them. Coffee supports my additions of cocoa, cinnamon, cashews, turmeric, cloves and honey, all organic. I’ve not been to a coffee shop for decades. Mine is the best; I’d pay $10 for a cup of it. Shouldn’t there be a ‘coffee’ month?

Seen anything interesting? Let us know & we'll share it!

Categories

Archives