Forget Gas, Mainers Are Going To Lose It Over The Price Of Coffee

Coffee is a way of life for Mainers.

I first started drinking coffee at around age 8. Not like, every single day, but at camp on the weekends, Mom would usually let me have a cup at breakfast. I would naturally put about half a cup of sugar for the 10-ounce cup that was given to me. A little bit has changed though. I only put a 1/4 cup into it now.

But all my life, everywhere I've gone, there's always been a pot of coffee going. At work, at home, at band practice... you name it. And I'm not the only one. Heck, around these parts, Dunkin' or Starbucks is practically like sacred ground. Suffice it to say... very few Mainers go anywhere without a giant to-go cup of coffee.

The prices are dangerously close to exploding.

According to WMTW, the supply chain for coffee is starting to experience some pretty serious issues. As we've all been learning, all through the pandemic, supply chain issues cause price hikes. Remember when lumber was the least expensive part of a home improvement job?

For years, coffee hovered right around a buck a pound. Right now, most places are charging double that, and it doesn't look like it'll slow down much unless retailers step in to keep it down, which could happen. But we could see a scenario in the coming months where a pound of coffee could go sky high, and your $2 cup today, could easily be $4 or $5 cup tomorrow.

Frost in the forest.

One of the other major contributors to the issue was a huge frost two seasons in a row in Brazil. This caused about a 12% loss of available beans to the market. That's pretty steep. But, it may take some time to feel this. Those beans aren't set to be harvested yet, but it's causing a stir in the coffee futures market.

This means of course..... prices go up. Most major retailers will try to avoid raising prices as long as they can, but it seems like it's only a matter of time before we start seeing a pinch in our wallet where the coffee lives. Will Mainers quit coffee? No. But we will likely start having daily conversations about how much we're paying. Just like gas...