When people ask what has changed most since I started Urban Calm, coffee prices are high on the list. The cost of green coffee has moved sharply in recent years, and small roasters feel those changes quickly because coffee is one of the largest inputs in every bag we sell.
But the bean price is only the first layer. Coffee is agricultural, international and physical. It has to be grown, harvested, processed, dried, moved, stored, roasted, packed and delivered.
The farm has costs before there is anything to export
Coffee producers carry the cost and risk of land, labour, farm inputs, maintenance and weather long before a buyer places an order. Harvesting ripe cherry is labour intensive, and specialty coffee adds expectations around sorting and post-harvest control.
In Timaná, the coffee Urban Calm buys is fully washed and dried before it leaves Colombia. The women-focused program connected to ASPROTIMANA uses producer-level processing and protected solar drying. Those steps add work, but they are part of the quality we are buying.
Then there is the green-coffee market
Commodity coffee prices move with global supply and demand, weather, inventories, currency and trading activity. Specialty coffee is not identical to the commodity market, but it does not live outside it. When benchmark prices rise sharply, better-quality and traceable coffees usually become more expensive too.
The Food and Agriculture Organization reported a major rise in world coffee prices during 2024, driven in part by adverse weather and supply concerns. The International Coffee Organization continues to publish monthly market indicators that show how volatile the market can be.
For a small roaster, volatility is nearly as difficult as a high price. A stable expensive ingredient can be planned around. A major input that changes quickly makes purchasing and retail pricing much harder.
Freight and importing add another layer
Green coffee has to move from an inland producing region to export infrastructure, cross international borders and reach a Canadian warehouse or roaster. Freight and logistics can change independently from the price of the coffee itself.
One point worth clearing up: under Canada's 2026 Customs Tariff, unroasted non-decaffeinated coffee enters duty-free under the normal MFN tariff. That does not mean importing is cost-free. Freight, brokerage, storage, financing and handling still exist.
Roasting adds cost and reduces sellable weight
Roasting requires equipment, energy, labour, maintenance and quality control. Coffee also loses moisture and mass during roasting, so a kilogram of green coffee does not become a kilogram of roasted coffee.
After roasting come the bag, label, valve, carton, warehousing, payment processing and the cost of moving finished coffee to a retailer or customer. None of those line items is dramatic on its own. Together they matter.
Does expensive coffee automatically mean better coffee?
No. Price can reflect quality, scarcity, traceability and producer economics, but it can also reflect branding, packaging or an inefficient business model. A high price is not a sensory score.
The more useful question is what the price is paying for. Is the origin clear? Is the coffee traceable? Is the process documented? Is it roasted with care? Does the cup taste good to you?
That is how we think about Urban Calm. We are willing to pay for specialty green coffee and a traceable origin because those choices affect the product we want to make. We still have to earn the rest of the price through roasting, freshness, service and a coffee people actually want to drink.
Keep learning
- What Coffee Traceability Actually Means
- Meet ASPROTIMANA
- What Is Specialty Coffee?
- Cheap, Mid-Range or Specialty Coffee?
Sources and further reading
- FAO - adverse climatic conditions and coffee prices
- International Coffee Organization - public market information
- Canada Border Services Agency - 2026 Customs Tariff, Chapter 9
- Fairtrade Foundation - ASPROTIMANA
Explore Urban Calm Specialty Coffee or see the same Colombian coffee foundation in our mushroom coffee.
