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Ingredient prices

Coffee price per pound

Ground roast coffee, US city average. The highest-margin thing most restaurants sell, and increasingly the most volatile input on this list.

Also known as ground roast coffee or roasted coffee.

September 2026 · US city average

$9.32

per lb

1 month
−1.5%
3 months
−4.2%
12 months
+10.7%

2024-01 to 2026-07

9.725.96Jan '24Jul '26

What the last 12 months did to a plate

Representative portions and volumes — substitute your own. The point isn't the exact figure, it's that a +10.7% move on one ingredient turns into a specific annual number on a specific dish, and that number is usually larger than it feels.

DishUsesCost todayChange per platePer year at 820/wk
Drip coffee (12 oz)0.5 oz$0.29+$0.03+$1,203.25
Espresso shot18 g$0.37+$0.04+$1,183.29
Double espresso drink36 g$0.73+$0.07+$1,146.31
Cold brew (per serving)1.8 oz$1.05+$0.10+$739.56

Volumes differ per row — each is a plausible weekly count for that dish. Computed from the BLS series above; your supplier price will differ by region, volume and grade.

What moves this price

  • Arabica and robusta crops. Brazilian and Vietnamese harvests dominate; frost and drought in either produce sharp, durable moves.
  • Shipping and currency. Coffee is imported, so freight rates and exchange rates land directly on landed cost.
  • Speciality vs. commodity. Speciality-grade pricing decouples from the commodity market — if you buy speciality, this index tracks direction rather than your actual cost.

Buying notes

  • Even after a large price rise, drip coffee is one of the best margins on any menu — a half ounce of grounds against a $4 cup. That's exactly why it gets ignored, and why the leak compounds.
  • Dose is the cost lever, and it's a quality decision too. Moving an espresso dose from 20 g to 18 g is a 10% cost reduction that a regular may well taste. Decide deliberately rather than letting it drift.
  • Waste on brewed coffee is usually larger than the dose question. Coffee brewed on a timer and poured away at shift change is measurable, and a waste log for two weeks will size it.

This is the national average. Yours is the one that matters.

Marji reads your actual supplier invoices, so you see what you paid — and which of your dishes crossed their margin target because of it. The national number is only useful for telling a market move apart from a vendor move.

Track my real costs free →See it in the index

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