Global Rising Coffee Prices Being Felt Locally Amid Tariffs

DULUTH, Minn. — Tariffs and global issues are forcing coffee houses, including local shops like Duluth Coffee Company, to raise their prices for your morning cup of joe.

“Duluth Coffee Company is going through unprecedented times in the purchasing and selling of coffee, not only because of tariffs, but because all of the raw coffee that we buy is connected to the sea market, which is a futures market that decides the value of Arabica coffee,” said the coffee house’s owner Eric Faust.

For many owners and operators of cafes and roasteries, the additional costs feel unfair, as they’re not able to get their beans from anywhere else stateside.

“The only place that coffee grows in the United States is in Puerto Rico and Hawaii, and they produce a very small amount,” said Faust.

“The eight different countries that we buy from across central South America, Africa and Indonesia, they’ve all been affected by the tariffs, and for us, that’s done nothing more than affect our bottom line in a negative way.”

Many places, including Duluth Coffee, are doing everything in their power to keep coffee affordable, but there’s notable concern about what the future holds for both customer and barista.

“It’s just very unfortunate. We’re buying the same product that we used to, and the tariffs are just simply making the coffee cost more, and so we’re absorbing that right now as best we can, but it’s only a matter of time before consumers will have to face higher prices for coffee than it is directly due to tariffs,” said Faust.

However, no matter what the future holds for the global coffee market, you can count on your friendly neighborhood roasters to keep the prices down and the coffee flowing.

“My team has worked hard through it, and no, we haven’t had to make any sort of layoffs, we haven’t had to make any sort of cuts,” said Faust.

“We’ve charged an appropriate amount for our coffee, even with the tariffs, and we’ll continue to.”