Wallingford businesses Pangaea Organica Coffee and A Muddy Cup were featured during a KIRO 7 News segment on Tuesday about rising coffee prices. According to the segment, the International Coffee Organization reports that coffee prices have more than doubled in the past two years, from $1.06 per pound to $2.24 per pound. They attribute skyrocketing prices to high fuel prices and bad weather conditions in Colombia.
Coffee roaster Rick Riehle of Pangaea Organica talks about how his costs are at a 14 year high which will impact his 20 commercial customers in the area, including A Muddy Cup. Owners Mathew Willis and Sarah Dolezal from A Muddy Cup hate the thought of raising their prices, but pretty soon, they won’t have a choice. Willis said he hopes to try and make any sort of price increase “as gentle as possible.”
You can watch the segment here, (after viewing a 15 second spot, advance the counter from 46:35 to 48:45.)
Thanks for the tip, Zev and Sarah!
This morning Exxon-Mobil posted first quarter profits of $11 billion, so it’s not all bad.
How does $2.24 per pound equate to $3.50 a cup?
$2.24 is the price of the bean in it’s green state, before it is roasted. When the beans are still green they are far heavier than after being roasted, so my roaster is paying far more for these heavy little treasures. $3.50 a cup takes into account the labor going into roasting, packaging, milk, energy used, etc. We cannot survive on passing on $2.24 a pound to our customers as our businesses would go under, but as Mathew said, we are going to try to keep our prices as reasonable as possible while still being able to stay open for our Wallingford friends. Thank you for asking!
There are many reasons to dislike big oil, but them making profits isn’t one of them. If drilling for oil wasn’t profitable, they wouldn’t do it, yet we’d still be demanding it. You also have to add into the equation the potential costs of any accident, which can cost well over a billion dollars.
Get mad at them for lobbying against alternative fuels and killing the electric car. But getting mad a business for succeeding is silly.
But person, you can get mad at big oil for demanding subsidies so that they can get higher profits than they would get if they simply sold their product for a profit like any other.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/business/04bptax.html
So profits from big oil are a result of demand, right? And why do we demand oil? A lack of funding for alternative fuels and electric cars. And who lobbies against funding for alternative fuels and electric cars? Big oil. And how do they fund their lobbying efforts? Obscene profits resulting from demand. And so it goes…
we are paying higher prices for food at our local grocery stores. why should we not pay more for our carefully prepared and cheerfully served cup of joe?
Of course the taxes collected on gasoline – 28 cents/gallon by WA and 18.4 cents/gal by the feds (http://www.gaspricewatch.com/usgastaxes.asp) – might make you wonder just whose side our legislators are on in the alternative fuels discussion. The issue is nothing if not complex.