What's driving up the price of specialty coffee in Calgary? The weak loonie is one factor

Adjust your budgets, Calgarians — local coffee roasters are cautioning that the price of your favourite bag or cup of coffee could increase in the coming months, for reasons beyond their control.

It's been a difficult couple of years for roasters as the world's largest coffee producing regions face growing threats of climate change, resulting in the price hitting record highs on global markets.

"The coffee commodity has skyrocketed over 100 per cent in the last year alone, along with the shipping issues and demand growing globally. The coffee itself is very limited in terms of what there is to buy," said Russ Prefontaine, co-owner of Fratello Coffee Roasters.

This week, the market price for Arabica beans, which make up around 70 per cent of the coffee market, hit $3.89 US per pound. This time last year, it was around $1.90 per pound.

Prefontaine said the weak Canadian dollar — currently hovering around 69 cents US — is making a difficult situation worse.

"All green coffee is purchased in U.S. funds. So as our Canadian dollar continues to weaken, it'll just cost us more per pound."

He explained that small coffee roasters like Fratello pay producers extra for specialty beans, depending on the region they're sourcing from and the quality of coffee being purchased. For example, Fratello recently purchased beans from Guatemala and paid an additional $1.47 on top of the $3.89 benchmark price.

That total of $5.36 US amounted to nearly $8 Cdn for a pound of coffee beans.

"The pricing is just so high right now. It's at levels we've never seen or had to deal with," said Prefontaine.

As a result, Prefontaine said they've had to pass on price increases to customers, and he expects other roasters will be doing the same.

At Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters, co-founder Phil Robertson said price increases are inevitable, given how much they're paying for raw beans. Instead of paying market prices, they draft fixed price contracts with producers and also pay well above benchmark prices to ensure the company maintains quality, pays fair wages and remains competitive.

"If you don't see price corrections now, you're going to see it in the next six months. Just everyone needs to prepare," said Robertson.

He said high market prices come at a bad time. They're heading into the peak coffee season — when they buy a bulk of their beans from producers.

Robertson wants Calgarians to understand the pressures roasters are facing behind the scenes, and know they aren't trying to price gouge customers.

"For us, it's been like survival. And it will continue to be like that for us and a number of smaller coffee roasters — it will be survival."

The impact of tariffs

There's also anxiety surrounding U.S. tariffs and Canada's counter-tariffs, given how fast the situation is changing.

On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that U.S. President Donald Trump would hold off on levying tariffs for at least 30 days.

If they do materialize in a month's time, Canada's 25 per cent counter-tariffs would apply to coffee manufactured south of the border. Given roasters like Fratello and Phil & Sebastian import coffee from other regions and roast them locally, both owners say they should be in the clear from the levies.

But Robertson said the impact still isn't completely clear, since they use U.S.-based importers and the beans they purchase pass through the United States. He said he's relieved to have more time to figure it out and prepare.

His company does sell coffee south of the border, though, so he's expecting impacts there. And he said he worries a trade war could weaken the Canadian dollar further.

On a longer-term basis, Prefontaine with Fratello said he's hoping the conditions make for a big harvest season in 2026 so prices eventually settle.