Today, Brazil is far and away the largest producer and exporter of coffee, with Vietnam the only other country accounting for a double-digit percentage of global production.
The plants originated in Ethiopia, were first grown in Yemen in the 1600s, then spread around the world by way of European colonialism. The two major types of coffee, Arabica and Robusta, are produced primarily in subequatorial countries. To make coffee, you must have the right conditions to grow it. Each store and indeed each country will see a different price, but that gives us the foundation to start backtracking and breaking down the total costs. What they end up with is an estimated set price of $2.80 for a brewed cup of coffee at a specialty coffee store. To counteract these discrepancies, today’s infographic above uses figures sourced from the Specialty Coffee Association which are illustrative but based on the organization’s Benchmarking Report and Coffee Price Report. Even within countries, the differences of a company’s access to wholesale beans will dictate the final price. doesn’t cost the same in the U.K., or Japan, or anywhere else in the world. That’s why a cup of 16 oz brewed coffee in the U.S. Not only do global coffee prices constantly fluctuate, but each country also has differences in availability, relative costs, and the final price of a finished product. Measuring and averaging out a global industry is a complicated ordeal. The above graphic breaks down the costs incurred by retail coffee production for one pound of coffee, equivalent to about 15 cups of 16 ounce brewed coffee. The obvious answer might be coffee beans, but when you start to account for additional costs, the scope of a massive $200+ billion coffee supply chain becomes clear.įrom the labor of growing, exporting, and roasting the coffee plants to the materials like packaging, cups, and even stir sticks, there are many underlying costs that factor into every cup of coffee consumed. What goes into your morning cup of coffee, and what makes it possible?