Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.Janlyn Red has no illusions of completely kicking the pricey habit, but she's trying her darndest to find a cheaper fix.
She's cut back on trips to specialty coffee counters and downsized the drink she does buy. The young mom even bought one of those newfangled single-cup brewers to make her first caffeine blast of the day at home, for less.
“I'm trying, but it's been hard!” Red said as she succumbed to an afternoon latte at a Crane Coffee Cafe & Bar.
With coffee prices outpacing even gasoline hikes this past year, many Midlanders like Red are changing their coffee-guzzling ways — or at least giving it a shot.
A one-pound can of ground coffee sold for $5.10 in April, up 40 percent from $3.64 the year before. By comparison, the Labor Department says, a gallon of regular gasoline cost $3.83 on average on Tuesday, up 37 percent from a year earlier.
And while fuel prices are expected to stabilize, coffee increases could go on for some time because prices that coffee companies pay for unroasted beans continue to climb, fast. Coffee futures were trading for $2.61 per pound Tuesday, roughly double a year earlier.
This week, J.M. Smucker Co., the maker of grocery store stalwart Folgers and of packaged varieties of Dunkin' Donuts coffee, said it was raising prices of most of its U.S. coffee products by 11 percent, its fourth increase in a year.
Starbucks Corp. likewise announced a price surge on packaged coffee in its U.S. retail stores by an average of 17 percent. That follows a 4 percent increase in 2009, an increase just two months ago for the packaged brand it sells in grocery stores and an increase late last year for some of its more “labor intensive” drinks.
Kraft Foods Inc., Peet's Coffee and Tea Inc. and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. recently upped their coffee prices, too.
So did some local places.
“I held off as long as I could,” said Lori Foerster, owner of nine Omaha area Crane Coffee shops.
The March increase of about 5 percent was her first in about two years, she said. And people noticed.
Customer visits dropped the last few months. Some regular weekday customers have cut back on days, Foerster said, and others still come daily but order cheaper brewed coffee on more days.
“We're down, but not enough that I'm concerned,” she said.
Publicity over hikes at international biggies like Starbucks actually helped the Crane chain, Foerster said, because local customers gained a better grasp of the industry's woes. She has tried to offset losses by adding sandwiches at shops that previously offered none.
Foerster also stresses the perky factor: Foerster tells baristas that customers will keep coming back if they are treated well and get that emotional pickup from a personable server.
Coffee providers in general remain positive because of faithful followers like Bryan Jennewein, who actually has a separate line item in his budget for coffee.
The senior product manager with Radium 6 typically spends $186 a month — but allots $300 — and would forfeit another luxury before his precious java.
“Part of it is the caffeine, part of it is the experience. It's the act of starting my day. It's part of the routine that makes me feel comfortable with what I do.”
That routine includes two iced coffees. Jennewein grabs one in the morning at a Scooter's Coffeehouse near his midtown home and later orders a second while working via his laptop at a sit-down Scooter's farther west.
Often after his gym workout, Jennewein relaxes with his other favorite: a sugar-free dark chocolate low-fat skinny mocha with two shots of protein and one shot of peanut butter.
“I will sacrifice a lot of things before I give up my foo-foo coffee,” said the social media computer specialist.
Unlike many other items, coffee usually emerges from a recession relatively unscathed, economists say. That's because when money is tight, people won't give it up completely. Many just buy cheaper brands.
Even during the depths of the recession in 2008, Americans consumed 21.7 million 60-kilogram bags of coffee, up from 21 million the year before, according to the International Coffee Organization. That's nearly 2.9 billion pounds of coffee.
The nearly 90-store, Nebraska-born Scooter's Coffeehouse chain is opening four more stores in Omaha, two in Lincoln and one in Missouri. “Business is strong,” said spokesman Jay Baker.
He said Scooter's is considering a price increase but doesn't believe clients will be deterred.
“We're talking about increases of a nickel, a dime, a drink. It's not that it is insignificant, but it's small. And coffee is something that Americans love. We believe it really does drive this country.”
Last year, strong supplies from Ethiopia, the Ivory Coast and other countries helped coffee crops overall increase by 8 percent, the coffee organization said. But this year, some countries have smaller crops because of inclement weather, which increases prices.
Foerster said fewer beans as a result are making their way to the U.S., leading not only to less variety but higher prices that people like Kirsten McGargill (not to mention her husband) can't justify.
McGargill, once a $20 to $30 a week addict, remains picky, and won't drink certain fast-food restaurant brews. But now she views specialty coffee drinks as a treat, and takes advantage of special promotions, like Happy Frappuccino Hour at Starbucks.
For the most part, McGargill serves up a less expensive buzz in the single-cup machine she got last fall.
“It was getting out of control,” said the membership manager at Oak Hills Country Club. “It got to the point that, ‘This is ridiculous. You can get free coffee at work and flavor it up with different creamers.' ”
John Blackburn of Omaha says gas stations provide a welcome alternative as well.
He'd sooner go to the QT for a cappuccino than pay $4 or $5 for a specialty drink prepared by a barista. “If I can't get it for a dollar, I won't drink it.”
A glance in the Shell station at 72nd and Q Streets shows an amusing and growing assortment. Jamaican Me Crazy is described as an island blend of Kahlua caramel and nuts. Seattle French Roast is a rich, dark, full-bodied brew with slightly smoky flavor.
A few customers have complained about the recent 30-cent-a-cup increase, said assistant manager Rachele Goodman. But it's nothing compared with the grousing over gasoline prices. “Now gas, that's the No. 1 talk — everybody has something to say about that.”
Coffee is part of a bigger story about rising prices for household staples as diverse as food, clothing, diapers and batteries.
It's all part of what led Red to reassess her caffeine habit. Her goal is to limit visits to coffee shops to a few times a week.
But on a recent late-morning outing with her daughter, Red found herself at Crane, ordering a latte for her and a smoothie for 7-year-old Daelyn.
“It's harder than you think,” she said with a smile.
This report includes material from the Associated Press.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1224, cindy.gonzalez@owh.com
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