TL;DR: In 2025, we are increasing our coffee prices to reflect the recent green coffee cost spike (mainly due to weather events affecting supply, logistic complexities and AUD currency weakness) and inflation since our last price change back in 2022.
Price increase notices are always scary. As someone behind a small business in a very competitive market, you can’t help but worry a little about how your customers will receive the news and whether they’ll turn up tomorrow or just go somewhere else.
However, this time, it won’t come as shocking or unexpected. Most general media outlets have been warning about a coffee crisis and the imminent price increase since mid/late 2024:
August 2024: The Conversation
September 2024: ABC News
December 2024: The Guardian
And they were pretty much right. Check out the ICO [International Coffee Organisation] Composite Indicator Price (I-CIP) graph for the last year:
The I-CIP for December 2024 achieved the highest monthly average since 314.96 US cents/lb (nominal prices) in April 1977. IT experienced a 10.7% increase from November 2024 and a 70.5% increase since December 2023. Source: ICO Monthly Coffee Market Report – December 2024 / ico.org
“Established in the 1960s, the ICO Composite Indicator Price (I-CIP) is one of the key reference prices of the coffee industry in the world, used by both public, private and academic sectors to assess their costs or plan budgets. I-CIP is split into four groups of coffee and are published daily on the ICO’s website.” Source: ICO Monthly Coffee Market Report – December 2024 / ico.org
The price spike is pretty obvious, right? In a nutshell, here’s what caused it:
1. Lower supply than expected due to adverse weather patterns: Inconsistent weather events in major producing countries, Brazil and Vietnam, resulted in a shortage of green coffee (both Arabica and Robusta) in the global market. The consumer demand, however, is constant, if not growing.
2. Higher demand than usual due to uncertainty: Some major trading companies may have felt inclined to secure more coffee than usual due to the uncertainty in how laws and regulations may impact the coffee market in the short term (i.e. EU deforestation laws, change of government and trade taxes in the US).
3. Weak AUD to USD exchange: The global coffee market generally works in USD, so our costs depend on and fluctuate with the Australian Dollar exchange value. Right now, we’re paying more for the same USD/lb value than last year.
4. Global inflation and logistics context: The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, uncertainty on future trade agreements and duties (i.e. European deforestation laws), amongst other factors, have impacted (and will continue to do so) the price of goods and services necessary for coffee production and export (fertiliser, fuel, freight, etc.)
Green coffee aside, there’s also inflation. We’re understandably not immune to it, and the price of everything necessary to make coffee happen (utilities, goods, services, wages, postage…) has also gone up since we last adjusted our prices back in May 2022. This is something that pretty much all of you will understand and feel in your own households—we’re no different!
So, what does this mean for us?
As we said before, if we want to keep operating sustainably and maintain our quality and consistency standards untouched, we must increase our coffee prices; the alternative would be to buy a cheaper, lower-grade product, and that’s definitely not part of our ethos and vision.
We’ve already updated our online and cafe retail prices, and we’ll do the same with wholesale and subscription in the coming weeks.
And what does this mean for you?
You’ll pay a bit more for your beans and brews, and you’ll get the same level of quality, consistency and service. That simple.
Now, we understand that not everyone will be able to keep up with this and other price increases and will have to reconsider their habits and purchases. If this is you, we hope you travel through this period as easy as possible and get a chance to keep drinking our brews, even if it’s less often. If you can afford to keep buying Sample Coffee as usual, what a treat—for you and us.
No matter your situation, we thank you for your support in the past, present and future.
Hopefully, this post has helped you understand that coffee is complex, that price increases are not arbitrary or light, and that our commitment to flavour, quality and values is the only thing that doesn’t change here at Sample Coffee.
Cheers
The team at Sample