Coughing up more for your coffee

We are all living through an almost unprecedented cost of living crisis together with budget busting inflation running at around 10 per cent. This has led to dramatic and sudden price rises on virtually every commodity and coffee is no exception. You only have to consider the costs of growing it, roasting it, shipping it, packaging it and selling it to understand that at some point the cost increases will have been passed on to the customers to enjoy it.

Some wag has termed the coffee price increases as the ‘Costa living’ crisis, but it surely is no joke as prices of instant coffee have risen by a fifth in just under a year. Five popular jars including those by Kenco and L’or have risen by 19 per cent on average at four supermarkets. Other brands have succumbed to ‘shrinkflation’ where your favourite coffee costs the same but the jars are significantly smaller and you get less for your money.

The cost of coffee is currently at a ten-year high, but it’s not just coffee lovers that are taking a painful hit in their wallets, the cost of tea and milk are also higher than this time last year. Thomas Pugh from the auditors RSM told the Daily Mail. “Food cost inflation was about 8.5 per cent in May. That’s going to hit 15 per cent over the summer.”