Coffee Is Too Cheap!
From the desk of the roaster
Is coffee now too expensive or was it too cheap in the first place?
Let us take a 300ml fizzy drink, a chemical concoction, made in a local factory and selling at around R11. One typically uses 16G of coffee in a cappuccino, our most expensive beverage option. At average RSA retail roasted-bean prices (Nov. 2024), 100% Arabica from reputable roasters, this 16G costs the consumer +/-R5.50… add milk and sweeteners and the entire drink, still comes in at less than R10. Pretty much the same as the aforementioned fizzy concoction. As compared to the fizzy-factory process, the humble green coffee bean was grown by a farmer thousands of miles away; cleaned, graded and
processed at a farmers co-op or depot; bagged and loaded into a container; shipped for miles and miles… by-passed war-zones andhijackers, incurring import tariffs and duties, insurance and logistics costs. When it finally arrived on our shore it had to be stored before being traded and shipped to roasters far-and-wide; roasted by skilled artisans using very expensive technology; bagged and boxed before reaching the consumer. One can but conclude that …..
Coffee would be a bargain at double the price!
"I have been personally shocked and embarrassed by these increases…but after researching and writing this blog, to be frank, is coffee not perhaps still under-priced, all things considered?" - Alan HawkinsPS: To all our coffee lovers out there, folks, we just have to get used to this … things have changed.