Why Is Coffee So Expensive?
A plain-English look at where the money goes from farm to cup.
If coffee seems more expensive lately, you are not imagining it...
The Price of Green Coffee Went Through the Roof
Before coffee is roasted, it is called green coffee. Most green coffee is bought and sold in a world market where prices can move quickly. In February 2025, the International Coffee Organization recorded the highest monthly average coffee price in its history. That price was almost double what it had been one year earlier.
The market has cooled since that peak. In July 2026, the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast record world coffee production and reported that coffee prices had fallen about 25 percent during the previous seven months. That is encouraging, but it does not mean retail prices drop overnight. Roasters may buy coffee months ahead, and the coffee being sold today may have been purchased when prices were much higher. Shipping, packaging, wages, insurance, rent, and electricity do not automatically become cheaper when the commodity market changes.
Coffee Is a Farm Crop
It is easy to forget that coffee does not come from a factory. It begins as the seed of a fruit grown on a tree. Coffee trees take years to mature, usually produce one main harvest each year, and depend on the right combination of rain, temperature, and sunshine. Too much heat, too little rain, a frost, or a serious plant disease can reduce an entire harvest.
What happens in one major coffee-growing country can affect prices everywhere. Brazil alone produces close to 40 percent of the world's coffee. When Brazilian farms have several difficult growing seasons, the rest of the world cannot always produce enough extra coffee to make up the difference. That is one reason weather reports from thousands of miles away can eventually change the price of a bag in California.
A Lot Happens Between the Farm and the Roastery
Once coffee cherries are ready, they must be picked, processed, dried, sorted, stored, milled, bagged, exported, shipped, imported, and delivered to a roaster. Every one of those steps requires people, equipment, time, and transportation.
Many higher-quality coffees receive extra attention along the way. Ripe cherries may be picked separately, and the coffee may be sorted several times to remove damaged or unripe beans. Producers must also make decisions about water use, drying, soil health, shade, and the other crops or trees growing on the farm. Not every specialty coffee is produced in exactly the same way, but careful work and careful sorting generally cost more than producing coffee as quickly and cheaply as possible.
What Does Specialty Coffee Really Mean?
Specialty coffee is not simply a fancy name for expensive coffee. The Specialty Coffee Association describes it as coffee valued for distinctive qualities. Those qualities may include flavor and aroma, but they may also include where the coffee was grown, who produced it, and how it was processed.
It is also important to understand what the word does not mean. Specialty coffee is not automatically organic, Fairtrade, shade-grown, or hand-picked. Those are separate practices or certifications that should be stated clearly. In the same way, inexpensive coffee is not automatically terrible, and a dark roast is not automatically being used to hide bad beans. A well-made dark roast can be wonderful.
The biggest difference is usually the amount of attention paid to quality, origin, freshness, and traceability. Years ago, a young man from Colombia tasted one of our Colombian coffees without being told where it came from. He recognized it immediately and said it tasted like home. That is what makes origin and careful production so meaningful. Coffee can carry a real sense of place.
People Are Part of the Price
Coffee farming is hard work, and farm families live with unpredictable weather, changing market prices, and rising costs of their own. Paying more for coffee does not automatically prove that the farmer received a fair price. That is why transparency, long-term relationships, and meaningful certifications matter. Customers should be able to ask a roaster where a coffee came from and what makes it worth more.
At Coachella Valley Coffee, our goal is not to find the cheapest beans we can buy. We look for coffee whose quality and story justify the price, and we want the people at the beginning of the supply chain to have a reason to continue growing great coffee. A higher price can help reward the extra picking, sorting, processing, and care that make a coffee stand out.
The Work Continues at the Roastery
When green coffee arrives at our roastery, the work is not finished. We develop and test roast profiles, roast each batch, check the results, package the coffee, label it, and prepare it for pickup or shipping. Coffee also loses some of its weight during roasting, so a pound of green coffee does not become a full pound of roasted coffee.
The price of a bag also helps cover the package, label, roasting equipment, maintenance, electricity, payroll, rent, insurance, and shipping. A cup purchased in a cafe includes even more: the grinder, brewer or espresso machine, water filtration, cup, lid, milk, and the employee who prepares and serves it. A 20-dollar bag is not 20 dollars of profit. That price is shared across a long chain of work.
A Bag Goes Further Than It Looks
Here is one helpful way to look at the price. A 12-ounce bag contains about 340 grams of coffee. If you use 18 to 20 grams per brew, that bag will make roughly 17 to 19 cups. For a bag priced around $22, that works out to approximately $1.15 to $1.30 per cup before adding milk or sugar. That is still real money, but it looks different from the price printed on the front of the bag.
You can also protect what you paid for by storing coffee in a cool, dry place, grinding it shortly before brewing, measuring the coffee and water, and making only what you plan to drink. Better brewing reduces waste and helps every bag taste the way it should.
So, Is Specialty Coffee Worth It?
That is a personal decision, and we know every household has a budget. We are not here to shame anyone for buying a less expensive coffee. Our job is to explain what goes into the price and to make sure that when you choose one of our coffees, you can taste the care behind it.
Specialty coffee usually costs more because more attention has been paid to the coffee at nearly every stage, from the tree to the finished bag. Many people have handled that coffee before it reaches your kitchen. Our responsibility is to honor all of that work by doing our dang best at the roastery. Your morning cup may be simple, but the journey behind it is anything but simple.
Cliff Young – Roastmaster General
Coachella Valley Coffee
Sources & Further Reading
The following sources were reviewed for current price data, global production, farmer livelihoods, and the meaning of specialty coffee. This article was written in original, plain language for Coachella Valley Coffee.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Consumer Price Index, June 2026
U.S. consumer-price data for coffee and roasted coffee.
USDA Foreign Agricultural Service - Coffee: World Markets and Trade, July 2026
Current forecasts for global production, supply, trade, stocks, and recent green-coffee prices.
International Coffee Organization - Coffee Market Report, February 2025
Market data documenting the record monthly ICO Composite Indicator Price in February 2025.
International Coffee Organization - Indicator Prices, July 2026
Current daily and monthly international green-coffee indicator prices.
Specialty Coffee Association - What Is Specialty Coffee?
The SCA's current plain-language definition of specialty coffee and the attributes that create value.
Fairtrade International - Coffee: Impact at a Glance 2025
Background on coffee-farmer livelihoods, price stability, certification, and Fair trade premiums.