{"id":41956,"date":"2022-02-27T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-27T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/how-much-is-your-morning-cup\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:04:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:04:23","slug":"how-much-is-your-morning-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/how-much-is-your-morning-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"How much is your morning cup?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Ellyn
Ellyn King makes a chai latte on Thursday at Durango Joes as Bridget Cahill works the cash register at the Town Plaza location. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Cups of coffee in Durango have gone up in price at a number of local coffee shops in recent months because of shipping strains caused by the pandemic, coffee prices driven up by frosts in Brazil, and a scarcity of lids and cups.<\/p>\n

Getting word in December that coffee prices were going up, a local coffee shop made the decision to raise its coffee drink prices by 10%.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just hope things don\u2019t go up anymore this year,\u201d said Durango Joes owner Joe Lloyd. \u201cI don\u2019t think they will, and I\u2019m pretty set on what I\u2019m going to be charging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lloyd said the price of a small 12-ounce coffee has risen from $2.10 to $2.45. The last time Durango Joes had to raise its prices was 18 months ago, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve prided ourselves over the last two decades to try and be more creative than just raising prices,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Crossroads Coffee, located in the lobby of the Crossroads Building downtown, also decided to raise its prices recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did just raise my prices two weeks ago,\u201d said Crossroads Coffee owner Jessie Hamilton. \u201cIt was kind of overdue. I was looking at the other prices around town and I was like 50 cents lower than other people\u2019s prices for a small cup of coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Scarcity
Scarcity of paper products, higher shipping costs and increased coffee prices caused drink prices at Durango Joes to go up. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Hamilton said when she opened 11 years ago a small coffee at her shop was 75 cents. With her recent cost increase, her small cup is up to $2.25.<\/p>\n

She said she tries to keep her prices for a small cup of coffee affordable, but doesn\u2019t want to undervalue her product.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m inside a building where there are a lot of people who work here every day. So I try to keep at least a small cup of coffee very reasonably priced so that anyone who needs it can get it,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cBut I think to stay competitive you have to raise prices, otherwise you look like you don\u2019t have a good product.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wholesale coffee roaster Durango Coffee Co. has seen the market for coffee fluctuate from both the pandemic and frosts in Brazil.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrices have gone up considerably,\u201d said Durango Coffee Co. owner Carl Rand. \u201cPrices kind of spiked last September because of a big frost in Brazil. Brazil is the largest producer in the world, so whatever happens in Brazil affects the world\u2019s supply.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rand said before the pandemic the commercial-grade coffee traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for coffee was around $1.20 a pound, and now it\u2019s up to $2.55 a pound.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fluctuating about 15 to 20 cents a week,\u201d Rand said. \u201cThey expect these prices to stay high through this year, and maybe come off in the fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Owner of one of the newest coffee shops in town, Nicholas Random of Stimulus Cafe and Coffee, said he\u2019s working hard to keep his prices consistent. He said that as a new business he has to keep his coffee cost for customers low to bring in business.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not raising my prices, and unless prices get astronomical I don\u2019t see myself raising prices,\u201d he said. \u201cI like to keep my prices right in the middle for the local market \u2013 not too low and not too high. I base my prices on the local market here, and then went a little bit lower because I\u2019m new and I want people to know that I\u2019m here and I have good coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coffee isn\u2019t the only thing making cafes charge more for a cup of the hot stuff. Cafe owners have said that scarcity of paper and plastic products such as cups and lids has also contributed to price increases.<\/p>\n

Lloyd said paper cups have gone up 25% in cost for him. He said the only saving grace when it comes to finding paper coffee cups is that 35% of Durango Joes\u2019 customer base brings in a coffee mug from home to fill up.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, we probably get a call every other week right now from our various vendors, whether it\u2019s syrup or cappuccino mix or smoothie mix, that prices are going up 8 to 10 to 15%,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Random said for his shop, the issue isn\u2019t necessarily the price of paper and plastic cups, but that there is a lack of availability on the market.<\/p>\n

\"Some
Some coffee shops around town, as well as across the country, have had to raise prices because of market fluctuation, including local coffee chain Durango Joes. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cRight now with the way things are going around the world, companies are being weird about shipping certain products,\u201d he said. \u201cJust being able to get cups is one of the biggest problems I\u2019ve noticed around town. They\u2019re just harder to come by.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from prices going up on the coffee and related products, Lloyd said that shipping costs have gone up more than anything for his business.<\/p>\n

Rand said one of the farmers he purchases from who imports his coffee from Brazil said a container of coffee cost him $2,000 to import before the pandemic, and now it costs him $20,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoffee is sitting out in the ports, and it\u2019s a month or two behind,\u201d Rand said. \u201cIt\u2019s really crazy. Everybody is going to have to raise prices a dollar or two a pound just to cover the beans and transportation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Small coffee shops such as Crossroads and Stimulus have said that shipping has been less of a problem for them because they buy from local roasters. Hamilton purchases coffee from Fahrenheit Coffee Roasters out of Mancos, and Random purchases from Rocky Mountain Coffee Roasters in Frisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know places that get their coffee from big surplus guys have been seeing higher prices, but my local guys haven\u2019t raised their rates yet,\u201d Random said.<\/p>\n

Durango Joes gets its coffee from Dillanos Coffee Roasters in Sumner, Washington.<\/p>\n

njohnson@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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