Nov. 7, 2025
By Nicolle Alvarez
Editor
For music teacher Mr. Garrison, mornings used to begin with the comforting chill of a medium iced coffee with cream and caramel swirl from Dunkin’. Now, they start with the hiss of his Keurig coffeemaker, an adjustment in his daily routine due to the rising cost of coffee.
“Dunkin’s prices have gone up, and Dunkin’s rewards programs have changed. I used to get free coffees all the time, going to Dunkin’ almost daily,” Garrison said. “Now I get coffee much less often. I would get coffee for $3. Now the same drink is $4.83,” Garrison said.
As a self-proclaimed coffee connoisseur who drinks four to five cups a day, he said the cost adds up.
“If prices rise too high, I would need to cut back. However, I do not anticipate any price to make me stop drinking coffee, as I do enjoy it,” Garrison said.
“If prices rise too high, I would need to cut back. However, I do not anticipate any price to make me stop drinking coffee, as I do enjoy it.”
Despite coffee prices nearly doubling over the past five years, U.S. adults still consume about 516 million cups each day, according to CNN. The media company reported that, as of August, retail coffee prices in the United States had increased by almost 21% compared to the year prior. Prices also rose 4% from the previous month, marking the sharpest monthly increase in 14 years.
The surge in coffee prices is driven by tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and by droughts in major coffee-producing countries.
Brazil, which provides the United States with 30.7% of its coffee beans, according to CNN, has been struggling with drought for over a decade. Since 2014, the country has had rain shortages almost every year.
Even when it does rain, the timing often does not match the needs of delicate coffee plants. The ongoing lack of moisture has also caused the soil to dry out, which further hinders crop growth, according to Coffee Watch, a nonprofit that monitors the coffee industry.
Biology teacher Ms. Manzella said climate change can disrupt coffee production in various ways.
“It can increase the occurrence and severity of heat waves, droughts, extreme rainfall and flooding events, as well as shift climate patterns that can affect where coffee can be grown,” Manzella said.
She said that because coffee is a plant commodity, it is sensitive to environmental changes.
“Changes in weather conditions, such as from a drought that occurred last summer in Brazil and a drought followed by heavy rainfall that occurred in Vietnam in the last year or two, have reduced crop harvests, which affects the supply chain, which in turn affects prices,” Manzella said.
Most coffee imports are now subject to a 10% tariff, though coffee beans from Brazil were tariffed at 50% since Aug. 1. However, on Oct. 30, the Senate voted to block the tariffs on most Brazilian goods.
The new tariffs impact almost all coffee consumers, as the United States imports over 99% of its coffee, according to the National Coffee Association.
Senior Alexa Gomez, whose family owns Sierra Coffee Group on 302 Ridge Road, said she is concerned about the tariffs’ impact on coffee prices, as her family imports coffee from Honduras, which is subject to a 10% tariff.
“It would be pretty bad if they keep rising, because more people are going to start not wanting to pay as much for the coffee, and that’s going to lead to lower sales for most coffee shops,” Gomez said.
The cafe currently charges $3.45 for a medium hot coffee and $5 for a medium iced coffee.
“We have not altered the prices of our coffee yet, but we probably will have to,” Gomez said. “The last purchase [of coffee] we made was before the increase of tariffs and the increase in coffee prices. Our next purchase will be affected by it.”
