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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.

October 2026 · US city average

$9.33

per lb

1 month
+0.4%
3 months
−1.3%
12 months
+2.1%

2024-01 to 2026-09

9.725.96Jan '24Sep '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 +2.1% 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+$0.01+$257.17
Espresso shot18 g$0.37+$0.01+$252.91
Double espresso drink36 g$0.73+$0.02+$245.00
Cold brew (per serving)1.8 oz$1.05+$0.02+$158.07

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

  • Use coffee shop menu engineering to compare drink sizes and milk options after reconciling their sales and ingredient costs.
  • 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.

Review a supplier invoice and the affected recipe in Marji to check your own plate cost. Quantities, units, usable yields and ingredient costs need review before a margin can guide a price decision. Ongoing costing starts with a free 14-day trial, with no card required; continued costing access requires a paid plan.

Start a 14-day costing trial →See it in the index

When a price change means a new menu price, a free QR menu lets you update it without reprinting.

To cost a recipe with your own purchase price and usable yield, compare free recipe costing apps and their plan limits. The guide includes a calculation you can check before entering your full menu.

Recent ingredient cost and pricing guides

Put market changes in context, check a dish with your own costs, and decide how to explain a menu price change.

Related terms