The Battle Between Cost and Quality in the Coffee Industry

The battle between cost and quality is an eternal struggle for most businesses; however, you see it so acutely in the coffee business because it is present daily and often hourly. We see it play out so clearly on the micro level at coffee shops.

The stress on the barista’s faces as they decide if they serve you the over-extracted espresso or throw it away and make a new one. The worry lines on the shop manager’s forehead as he notices the brewed coffee has been sitting on the counter for three hours, and a regular walks in to order some. Does he serve the customer a coffee he knows has gone cold and lacks the nuance of flavor, or does he try to reduce his losses on the pot and risk losing a regular customer?

The fact is that coffee is an agricultural product, and thus, it has a built-in expiration date from the moment it is harvested. The clock begins ticking once the coffee is harvested, processed and dry-milled. Green (unroasted) coffee has one year before it is considered a “past crop, ” which severely reduces its value on the market. Once that coffee is roasted, it has been transformed and receives a new expiration date that the roaster decides. This date can be between 3 months and two years, depending on the packaging and the roaster’s threshold for quality.

Once that roasted coffee bag is opened, its shelf life has been reduced again to about twenty-four hours (if you’re a coffee shop), and once it is brewed, it’s reduced again to one hour. If the coffee has been made as an espresso, its shelf life is about two to five minutes. Theoretically, when a coffee shop brews a pot of coffee, they should only keep it for one to two hours before discarding what has not sold.

If you have a slow location, then you may try to stretch this rule, as costs can add up over time if you are dumping gallons of coffee every day. There are ways to mitigate this loss, like brewing less or even brewing individual cups to order if your location is empty. I understand the business owners’ predicament; however, selling less-than-fresh, poor-quality product is a short gain that may end up costing customers in the long term. I was a barista first, so my perspective will always be as a champion of the coffee. Most baristas feel this way. They prefer to serve excellent products and provide the best drinks they are capable of creating.

It is often a management or ownership decision to allow subpar coffees to be served. These are the daily minute battles; however, it also plays on a larger scale as green coffee costs rise and the tension between staying in business, raising prices and paying more becomes very taught. Roasters are currently amid this conundrum as they try to keep prices low for their customers while maintaining consistent quality.

Coffee can be cheap, it can be good, and it can be fair; however, it cannot be all three. If a coffee is good and cheap, you know it was not traded fairly. If a coffee is cheap and fair, it is likely not good. If coffee is good and fair, then you know it will not be cheap.

This is the constant tension in the coffee world between quality and cost. It all comes down to what you value as a consumer or what the roaster or retailer values as a brand and craft person. I’m always going to remake the shot, brew a fresh pot and buy green as fresh as possible as fairly as possible. The better higher quality standards we maintain the more value is added to the supply chain which benefits everyone.