The Cost of Coffee

Whether it’s a daily ritual, an indulgence, or a necessity in your life, you’ve probably noticed the price of coffee increasing over the past few years. According to Jeff Chean, Groundwork’s Co-Founder and Chief Coffee Guy, the main reason for this is two-fold: climate change (extreme weather) and inflation.

Climate Change & Extreme Weather 

Coffee is a delicate, weather-dependent crop with highly specific climate and environmental demands. Brazil produces over 35% of the world’s coffee so when there’s an ongoing drought (or severe frost) in Brazil, the worldwide coffee industry feels the impact. Vietnam is the world’s second largest coffee producer behind Brazil. Irregular rainfall patterns during crucial coffee crop flowering stages have caused an alarming decline in Vietnam’s coffee production. 

Those are just a few examples of the many serious weather-related concerns affecting Groundwork and our partners around the world.

Studies suggest that by 2050, about half of the land used to grow high-quality arabica coffee may be unproductive. As temperatures rise and droughts intensify, good coffee will become increasingly challenging to grow and progressively more expensive to buy.

Inflation: The Rising Cost of… Everything

For years, even before the supply chain crisis caused by the pandemic, global price increases have impacted every part of premium coffee’s journey, “from farm to cup.” The costs of transportation, fuel, rent, insurance, labor, and other production-related resources have all gone up, not to be outdone by the growing popularity and demand for premium coffee beans. As a result, we’ve witnessed the price of coffee as a traded commodity increase at a staggering rate. According to Retail Wire, the commodity price for arabica coffee has jumped more than 40% in 2024 alone. 

Eddy Cola, CEO and Jeff’s Co-Founder, adds, “While Groundwork is family-owned and glad to operate in a relatively small sandbox with coffee farmers we trust, many of whom we’ve personally known for decades, we’re still in the global playground. As a result, the cost of every bean we roast increases with the market.”  

What Can We Do?

While inflation remains outside of our control, brands and consumers can work on the environment. We do our best not only not to harm the environment, but to make a positive impact by making the best choices available to us within our means.

Conventional (non-organic) agriculture currently contributes up to 25% of the emissions driving climate change. While organic agriculture is much less damaging to the environment, it cannot reverse the damage simultaneously caused by conventional farms… But Regenerative Organic agriculture can. 

Regenerative Organic is a relatively new certification for food, fiber, and personal care ingredients. While all of Groundwork’s coffee is USDA Certified Organic, our 5 newest Regenerative Organic Certified®️ coffees are not only USDA certified, they meet additional requirements that incorporate the Regenerative Organic Alliance’s “3 Pillars” — Soil Health & Land Management, Animal Welfare, and Farmer & Worker Fairness.

By choosing Groundwork and other brands that incorporate proactive environmental frameworks into our businesses, you’re not only contributing as an individual, you’re supporting our efforts and those of our farm and co-op partners, striving to make the best specialty coffee around and change things for the better.