A morning cup of coffee is essential for many people before they take on the day. Whether you order a traditional drip coffee, a latte, a cappuccino, a macchiato or an americano, your daily beverage may soon be impacted by tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration.
Good coffee beans often come from tropical equatorial regions, like Ethiopia, Indonesia, Colombia, Honduras and Brazil. These countries are seeing tariffs ranging from 10% to Brazil seeing one of the highest rates of 50%. Brazil also provides more than a third of the coffee consumed around the world.
“We pay the import fees of the tariffs. Businesses are the ones paying tariffs,” Jake Dirnberger, the General Manager at Trident Booksellers and Cafe said. “We're trying to absorb as much of the shock as possible, but we're a small business with high overhead, and some of it does have to be passed along to the customer.
A cappuccino, for instance, can range anywhere from $4.25 in Boulder to $4.75 in Denver. This does not include added tax, expected tip, and now tariffs. Cafes like Trident are expecting anywhere from a 25 to 50 cent increase in prices for espresso-based drinks, batch brew, chai, and matcha. This follows an increase that happened earlier this year.
They are not alone. Kaladi Coffee Roasters in Denver is also struggling with changing profit margins.
“The importers don't operate on margins that can absorb a 20%, 30% tariff tax,” Mark Overly, President and Coffee Buyer at Kaladi Coffee Roasters said. “We've seen an increase in expenses of 40% this year, which is very challenging to pass that on to customers.”
Despite the rising prices, many customers understand the situation and will not change their order or cafe. Camron Gall, a regular at Trident Cafe, says he has heard the owners talk about a price change but is not too concerned yet.
“People don't really notice like, quarter cent changes and things unless it goes over the $1 mark," Gall said. "That's when people start noticing things.”
Even so, Gall says he enjoys coming to the cafe and placing his order to support the local business. Other customers like Duke Mattie shares that perspective, saying he would "pay a little bit extra" to support a local shop over a chain.
