Alina Selyukh
Appearances
Up First from NPR
S. Korea President, Texas Abortion Lawsuit, Coffee Prices
Yes, coffee prices have soared. And it all started with problems with harvests, first in Vietnam and then in Brazil. These are the two top growers of the most common types of coffee beans. And the culprit was abnormal weather, which many in the industry attribute to climate change. I talked to some longtime importers of green coffee, that's raw beans.
Up First from NPR
S. Korea President, Texas Abortion Lawsuit, Coffee Prices
One of them is John Cassette from Royal Coffee in California. And he says, first you had Vietnam with a serious drought, followed by heavier rains than usual. And that drove up prices for the bean that grows there. And already had people scrambling to switch to the bean that grows in Brazil. And then Brazil had one of the worst droughts on record. Here's Cassette.
Up First from NPR
S. Korea President, Texas Abortion Lawsuit, Coffee Prices
Eventually it did rain, but farmers later said a lot of the damage was irreversible. And so the price of the most common coffee, that's called Arabica, jumped 70 percent this year. The price of the other type of coffee called Robusta at one point doubled in price. Both cost more than they ever did. Arabica and Robusta. How different are these?
Up First from NPR
S. Korea President, Texas Abortion Lawsuit, Coffee Prices
Yeah, so they have different flavor based on where they grow. What I have here in my cup is Arabica. It is the most common. Brazil is the biggest grower. And this coffee grows at higher altitudes. It has a softer, sweeter taste. And that's what you find often in your roast coffee, your ground coffee. Robusta grows at lower elevation. Vietnam is the biggest grower.
Up First from NPR
S. Korea President, Texas Abortion Lawsuit, Coffee Prices
And this bean has a harsher, more bitter taste. It's used a lot for instant coffee.
Up First from NPR
S. Korea President, Texas Abortion Lawsuit, Coffee Prices
You know, coffee markets are complicated, like all commodities. Many of the traders actually need the physical coffee, the bags of beans. But many traders are just financial speculators. They're trying to game the price change, you know, buy cheaper, sell higher. And everyone bets on how much they think beans will cost in the future.
Up First from NPR
S. Korea President, Texas Abortion Lawsuit, Coffee Prices
And so when people think those beans won't grow or there won't be enough, those who need those beans scramble, speculators go nuts, and it all only spirals the price further, which is what's happened. And it doesn't help that this week one of the world's biggest coffee traders made a forecast that Arabica—coffee like I have here— could see supply decline by nearly a quarter in the next cycle.
Up First from NPR
S. Korea President, Texas Abortion Lawsuit, Coffee Prices
So I'm sorry to say those prices have already been rising. If you shop at the supermarket, brands like Nescafe, Maxwell House, Folgers, Dunkin', they've all had waves of price increases. They've cited higher cost of the green raw coffee. At your local coffee shop, it really depends. Depends on how they source their products.
Up First from NPR
S. Korea President, Texas Abortion Lawsuit, Coffee Prices
But yes, likely they're feeling the pressure to raise prices and they're just trying to assess how to do that without scaring away shoppers. But fact of the matter is, as a world, we are drinking more and more and more coffee. So demand has not waned so far. People so far have been willing to pay those higher prices for their coffee habit. The markets will probably eventually calm down.
Up First from NPR
S. Korea President, Texas Abortion Lawsuit, Coffee Prices
Importers I talked to pointed out historically adjusted for inflation. We've actually been paying pretty low prices for a pound of coffee. So maybe it's the days of cheap coffee that are over.