Tempest in a coffee cup? Area micro-roasters face harsh brew of tariffs, other price increases Earlier price hike, bulk buying spares customers for now

By Lorien Strange
©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC

You may have noticed that your bag of fresh roasted coffee has been taking a bigger chunk out of your wallet lately. Or you may just be wondering just when those tariff-induced price hikes are going to kick in.

The good news is that four local coffee micro-roasters that The Chester Telegraph has spoken with say they don’t expect their prices to increase significantly despite high tariffs enacted by the Trump administration this year on several coffee-producing countries, including 50 percent on Brazil, which is the biggest coffee producer in the world.

Ironically, this is  due in part to severe weather last December that hurt coffee harvests in Brazil and Vietnam and sent prices of Arabica beans, which make up the bulk of global coffee production, to record heights. In response, local micro-roasters raised their prices, giving them a buffer to absorb the tariff price increases.  “I kind of got used to that reality,” says Kristoffer Lynch, who owns Ungrounded Coffee Roasters in Jamaica.

Tariff uncertainties with a largely overseas product

Micro-roasters start with raw coffee beans, either from distributors who import in bulk or directly from farmers in coffee-producing countries.  At the roaster, the “green beans” are roasted to various heats and lengths to bring out specific characteristics of the bean, including color and aroma. Different roasts and beans can also be blended for a wide variety of tastes. Hawaii, California and Puerto Rico are the only United States regions are able to grow coffee.

“The tariff situation adds a lot of uncertainties,” says Jennifer Gurley, who owns Rockingham Roasters of Bellows Falls.

“It’s just weird timing. It’s an interesting dance,” agrees Trevor Barlow of Proctorsville’s SuperRoasted, referring to timing purchasing of beans with the tariffs. “Such an unknown.”

In August, shortly after the tariffs went into effect, Lynch ordered coffee from his U.S.-based distributor, Royal New York, which he does every six to eight weeks. He said that while the order was slightly more expensive than his previous one, it wasn’t as high as its peak in December 2024. Distributors like Royal New York purchase beans in bulk and far in advance, which may insulate them from the immediate effects of the tariffs for a short period of time.

Gurley, of Rockingham Roasters, says she was able purchase all of her stock for this year in December. But she maxed out her business credit card to do so. “But I’m still ahead,” she says, in part because she has a good credit score, but it “puts pressure on repairs and general maintenance of the business. I have no buffer.”

“I imagine that prices will generally increase,” says Lynch, adding that he’s not expecting that increase for raw beans to be significant enough to raise any of his current prices.

Kim Bryant, owner of the micro-roaster Tall Cat Coffee in Dorset, says her inability to purchase in bulk has hit her hard in terms of tariffs, even though she buys from the same distributor as Lynch. “It’s such a moving target,” she says of the tariffs. “Really, we’re paying it and we can’t afford to raise our prices.”

Even though the price of coffee has dropped since its peak, Lynch says he plans to leave his prices where they are to “provide a buffer” against any future uncertainties.

And there have been plenty of those uncertainties. SuperRoasted’s  Barlow says that Brazil recently experienced a frost in several coffee-producing regions, making a “double whammy” with the 50 percent tariffs on Brazilian imports and a 10 percent baseline coffee tariff. “We haven’t felt the impact yet,” says Barlow, since the frost is affecting next year’s crop.

Tall Cat currently offers a decaffeinated Brazilian coffee, but given how high the tariffs are, “I’m not going to be buying Brazilian coffee,” Bryant says.

Those expected price hikes are affecting choices from all parties.

“I lost a personal relationship with a Brazilian farmer,” says Gurley, a man whom she ordered directly from for years. But when the tariffs were announced, Gurley says, he decided exporting to the U.S. is no longer worth it.

“Now I have to find a replacement for that blend. Sampling coffees is the sexy, cute little fun part of the job, but I don’t have enough time for it,” Gurley says. She says that while the manager at her Bellows Falls cafe does most of the in-person work,  Gurley still must keep a second job outside of the roaster to support herself.

“I haven’t paid myself in six months,” she adds, which is common among local restaurant owners she knows.

“I’m selling more coffee than ever, working more than ever and making less than ever,” says Bryant, who’s started selling at the West River Farmers Market this year in addition to the Dorset market, wholesale and her online store.

Tariffs and rising costs hit more than coffee

Running a small business in Vermont comes with other challenges, too.

“In the winter, it’s not cheap to heat things,” says Barlow, who recently opened his cafe in Proctorsville. Other than tariffs, Barlow says his biggest concerns are the cost of lumber and building and plumbing supplies — all also hit by tariffs — since the building he now occupies needs repairs from flooding in 2023 and subsequent other weather damage.

As far as finances go, most of the microroasters The Telegraph spoke with aren’t concerned that the tariffs will force them to shut down. But, as Gurley says, tariffs and other market conditions have made them consider making difficult decisions about their products.

Gurley raised her per-pound prices last year and, to avoid further price hikes, she’s had to quit selling wholesale. You won’t be seeing Rockingham Roasters’ coffee restocked in stores, including Smitty’s Chester Market. She had also previously hired an assistant to do all her company’s roasting, but to cut costs, she’s going to start doing half of it herself.

That’s helped her avoid raising the prices on all but two of her products. She says her average price of “$15 per pound is reasonable, but still out of reach for many people.” But Gurley is disappointed that she’s had to shrink her business to align with her goal of staying affordable, even as she has noticed more traditionally affordable coffee brands like Folgers and Green Mountain Coffee are seeing their prices rise.

Still, she says, “I’m not changing the product. The product is good,” but she’s still looking for “anything I can do” to reduce prices “without sacrificing quality” or her employees’ living-wage pay.

Barlow notes that SuperRoasted has been using eco-friendly “consumables,” such as paper coffee cups in the cafe. If those prices increase significantly, he might have to “make other choices,” adding that he hasn’t seen any indication in the market that it’s pushing that way anytime soon.

Despite their increased prices, Lynch of Ungrounded Coffee and several other micro-roasters agree that they “haven’t seen too much of a decline in interest” from customers.

“It is a drug,” Bryant notes, “and people are aware” that the price of coffee beans has been high lately.

“You always hear a few comments” about pricing, Barlow says, adding that customers still appreciate the  experience of buying from a local micro-roaster.

In the end, Lynch says, he’ll try to keep any raw product price increases from impacting his customers’ prices. “I have to keep buying coffee no matter what.”

A survey of these micro-roasters’ websites shortly before publication shows widely varying prices from $13 per bag to $24 per bag with $18 per bag as the most common offering But the weights also range from 12 oz. to one pound per bag.  Obviously, these prices reflect not only wholesale coffee prices, but other overhead including rent, utilities and staffing.