Bitter prices rise in American cafes

The cost for a cup of coffee in the US goes up when the tariffs were put on the local cafe and owners of bakery products.

Some US enterprises say the queues for the morning latte are already becoming shorter when customers tighten the straps and imported beans become more expensive.

Americans spend $ 100 billion ($ 76 billion) for coffee, though it may change.

Jorge Pruund, which manages the Bread Bite bakery in Washington, says his coffee distributor in Colombia only increased prices after last week came into force intermediate tariffs.

The vast majority of coffee in the US is imported.

In fact, the US-two in the world of coffee importers, most come from Brazil and Colombia, the US Department of Agriculture reports.

Since April 5, 10% of US tariffs have affected the import of coffee on most countries.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr. Pruunde said his coffee vendors told him that his next order would lead another hike.

He added that his bakery “necessarily” will increase the prices for customers to only break.

When asked if he was worried, Mr. Pruund replied: “Of course.”

The head of the Au Lait Cafe on Kamal Mortada Street said that there has been a constant effect for some time. Inflation rose to a 40-year maximum with former US President Joe Biden.

Before the steel tariffs, Ground Coffee reached the highest recorded price in March 2025 and was more expensive than the previous year, and on March 3, 2020.

“We have fewer customers for coffee,” Mr. Mortada said.

“Most customers just get regular coffee” instead of adding syrups and milk, he said.

The menu prices have increased by 25%and people are now buying less coffee.

Mr Mortada also changed his own habits as a consumer. Instead of his regular trip to Starbucks he cooks coffee at home.

He said he saw the price of a cup of coffee to rise at least by a semicircle dollar, and it is experiencing that prices are rising again.

On the opposite coast in San Francisco, another local owner of the cafe is fighting what the tariffs for her business will mean.

Jenny NGO, who manages the coffee telescope, said she was waiting to hear how much her stallions will welcome the prices.

The coffee she sells is obtained from Ethiopia and Guatemala, both face a standard tariff by 10%. She also imports her icy coffee cups from China – and said she noticed the prices for those who jumped over the night.

“Unfortunately, we project to raise prices to support our business again,” she said.

Mr. Pruunda remains confident that people will still come to his store and buy coffee. He said it was what people needed.

But recent inflation also affected the price of eggs, crucial to its bakery.

He said they paid $ 42 for the case where the bakery opened five months ago, but two weeks later it was more than $ 100 per case.

“Everyone is experiencing the same thing. We all pay the price.”

The cost of eggs is a key symbol of the health of the US economy, often a controversial moment for politicians.

President Donald Trump claimed he would receive the cost of the eggs, accusing the rise in Biden’s administration, which gathered millions of chickens that lay eggs amid bird flu outdoors.

But in March, the prices for eggs reached a record high level of $ 6.22 per ten, the consumer price index reports.

Joel Finkelstein rules Culastia Coffee Roasters, a small business in Washington, where it mainly sells coffee beans online and in farmers.

The tariffs will only represent the last prices in a number of hiking, he told us.

He said he noticed that the cost of the beans would increase significantly after Trump has taken office and cut USAID funding, which supported some coffee producers in South America. Now he expects he will rise again.

“We will see a decrease in sales,” said Mr. Finklestein.