Coffee Prices Just Soared Past a Record From 1977

Coffee isn't exactly cheap these days, but it's now poised to become even more expensive for both those who make it at home or buy it on the run, reports the Wall Street Journal.

• Record high: The cost of Arabica beans rose to $3.44 per pound on international commodity markets on Tuesday, reports the BBC. That's an all-time high, edging past the record set in 1977, and it marks an 80% increase this year alone, per the Guardian.

• The pinch: When Arabica beans rise in price, coffee brewers sometimes switch to less expensive robusta beans, notes the Journal. However, the price of robusta beans has nearly doubled this year, hitting a record high of nearly $5,700 per metric tonne last month, according to the Guardian.
• The reason: Severe weather in Brazil and Vietnam, two of the world's largest producers, are blamed. "Concerns over the 2025 crop in Brazil are the main driver," Ole Hansen of Saxo Bank tells the BBC. "The country experienced its worst drought in 70 years during August and September, followed by heavy rains in October, raising fears that the flowering crop could fail." Vietnam faced a similar combination of drought and heavy rain.
• Consumers: It's a safe bet that consumers will start seeing higher prices at supermarkets and coffee shops in the first quarter of the new year. However, the Journal notes that commodity prices are essentially bets on future harvests—if Brazil's next one is healthier than expected, the gloomy forecasts may not come to pass.

(More coffee stories.)