☕ How Much Have Coffee Prices Really Increased? A Journey from 2020 to 2026
If you’ve bought coffee in the last few years, whether beans for your grinder or a latte at your favorite café, you’ve likely felt a familiar sting at the price tag. Maybe you paused. Maybe you sighed. Maybe you just nodded, because let’s be honest: coffee is one of those small daily joys we aren’t willing to give up easily.
But why are coffee prices higher now? And how much higher are they compared to just a few years ago? To answer that, we need to look at the journey from the early days after COVID-19 to where we are today in 2026.
🌍 Coffee Prices in a Post-COVID World (2020–2021)
After the world began emerging from strict lockdowns in 2020, global supply chains started groaning under pressure. Ports were backed up, shipping costs skyrocketed, and labor shortages rippled across agriculture, including coffee. Coffee prices were already on the upswing before COVID, but the pandemic accelerated every challenge.
Worldwide, shipping took longer and became more expensive. Coffee roasters and importers were paying more just to get beans onto U.S. soil. In many cases, they absorbed these costs at first. But over time, they had to adjust prices to stay afloat.
So even at the beginning of the decade, coffee wasn’t escaping the effects of global economic stress, we were just noticing it yet.
📈 What Happened in 2023: The Turning Point
By 2023, many companies were starting to feel the squeeze. Supply chains had improved slightly from the pandemic’s worst bottlenecks, but new pressures emerged, particularly from climate-related issues in major coffee-producing countries like Brazil and Vietnam. These nations supply a huge chunk of the world’s coffee, and their weather patterns heavily influence prices.
And while general inflation impacted almost every product, coffee prices began to climb faster than many others. News reports from this period show businesses beginning to raise prices consistently, not only because of inflation on the ground but also because import tariffs and taxes were becoming a bigger factor behind the scenes.
📊 2024: A Year of Inflation
The year 2024 saw coffee prices climb even more noticeably. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, coffee prices increased by about over 10% year-over-year, with the average price per pound of ground coffee rising from around $2.83 in 2024 to roughly $3.12 in 2025.
And while those percentage figures might sound modest compared to some headlines, context matters. General inflation in 2024 hovered around a few percent across the whole economy. Coffee’s inflation far exceeded that average, meaning coffee was rising in price much faster than the overall rate of inflation.
This was clearly more than just “coffee prices doing their thing.”
🌀 2025: When Everything Got a Bit More Complicated
If 2024 was about inflation, then 2025 was about inflation compounded by tariffs and global supply stress. In that year, U.S. coffee prices surged, reports cited nearly 14–15% increases in retail prices for ground coffee compared to the previous year. That wasn’t just coffee beans costing more, that translated into pricier café drinks and higher prices across the board.
Part of that surge came from tariffs and trade barriers. In mid-2025, the U.S. imposed steep tariffs, sometimes as high as 50%, on coffee imports from key partners like Brazil, one of the biggest sources of Arabica beans in the world. This drove further volatility in international markets, added cost layers for importers, and ultimately filtered down to what you pay at the register.
These tariff moves were controversial, and even lawmakers introduced bills to try to remove select coffee tariffs to blunt their impact.
📅 2026: The Price of a Cup Today
Now, in 2026, we’re living in the aftermath of all these pressures, inflation, tariffs, and climate risk all at once.
Recent news highlights that policy moves in national budgets, such as removing certain import duty concessions on coffee-brewing machines and equipment, may also raise the cost of serving coffee at cafés and workplaces.
So what does that mean for you?
Coffee continues to cost significantly more than it did even just a few years ago.
Retail prices per pound of coffee have climbed well beyond inflation in many cases.
Tariffs and policy choices, not just global weather patterns, have contributed to lifting prices higher than most people expected.
These trends mean that not only beans but also brewed beverages, café menus, and related products are costing more to produce and serve.
In short: coffee prices in 2026 remain higher than at any point in the early 2020s.
☕ Why Prices Have Stayed High (While Demand Hasn’t Fallen)
If all we look at are price charts, we might miss the human side of this story.
Coffee, more than almost any other grocery item, isn’t something most of us want to give up. It’s routine, comfort, connection, and ritual. Despite price increases, consumption hasn’t dropped dramatically because two-thirds of American adults drink coffee daily and that speaks to the resilience of the coffee culture even when costs rise.
This isn’t just consumption, it’s commitment.
That emotional anchor keeps demand strong. And strong demand, even when supply is tight, means prices don’t fall quickly.
🤝 How Win Win Coffee Navigates This Landscape
So what does all this mean for you, especially if you’re a business owner, café operator, or coffee lover?
At Win Win Coffee, we believe the future of coffee isn’t just about price tags, it’s about trust, transparency, and partnership.
Here’s how we approach it:
🌱 1. We Source Responsibly
We work with partners who invest in sustainable farming and climate resilience. That means we’re thinking about supply stability long before the beans hit the roaster.
☕ 2. We Plan for Volatility
Long-term relationships with suppliers help us manage price shocks more strategically than businesses that buy on the spot market.
💬 3. We Communicate Clearly
You deserve to understand where your coffee comes from, why your costs have changed, and how those shifts affect your bottom line. That’s why we create content like this, to equip our community with knowledge, not just products.
📌 Final Thoughts
Coffee prices have undeniably risen from the post-COVID era to today. From shipping delays and inflation in 2020–2021, to climate shocks in 2023–2024, to tariff impacts and policy shifts in 2025–2026, the journey has been complex.
But even as prices change, our relationship with coffee remains strong. It’s more than a commodity, it’s connection, routine, inspiration, and community.
At Win Win Coffee, we’re committed to navigating this ever-evolving landscape with you, with honesty, purpose, and unwavering quality.
Whether you’re grinding beans at home or managing a café, you deserve a partner who understands both the numbers and the heart behind every cup. That’s us.
References
Coffee prices surge amid U.S. tariffs and premium demand, 2025 data.
U.S. coffee price inflation (2024 to 2025).
Tariff legislation efforts affecting coffee (2025).
Rising costs for coffee equipment post-2026 budget changes.
