The common value of a pound of roasted floor espresso at U.S. grocery shops reached $9.72 in April 2026, marking the best stage on file because the Bureau of Labor Statistics started monitoring the determine in 1980.
As revealed Might 12 by way of the Federal Reserve Financial institution of St. Louis’s FRED database, the $9.72 mark for April edged out the earlier excessive of $9.60 in March, persevering with an increase within the average-price sequence of roughly 39% since January 2025.
The BLS determine covers floor, regular-caffeine roast espresso bought in cans or plastic containers at retail, collected month-to-month throughout 75 city areas as a part of the Shopper Value Index survey. It’s a measure of what U.S. customers are paying for packaged floor espresso on the shelf, not a commodity or futures value.
The newest BLS average-price determine reveals the sequence has jumped 105% since April 2021 and 29% over the previous yr.
By comparability, specialty espresso costs have additionally elevated all through the primary quarter of 2026, though solely incrementally, in line with the newest information from the Specialty Espresso Retail Value Index.
Espresso Outpacing Different Grocery Gadgets
In line with the newest BLS information, espresso costs far outpaced total grocery inflation in April 2026. The BLS espresso index was up 18.5% from April 2025 to April 2026, whereas roasted espresso was up 17.3% and immediate espresso was up 22.8%. Meals-at-home costs, by comparability, have been up 2.9% over the identical interval, whereas the general Shopper Value Index was up 3.8%.
As DCN reported final October, the espresso value run has been pushed by quite a few pressures, together with sustained nominally excessive prices for inexperienced espresso tied to produce constraints and rising international demand, mixed with the Trump administration’s “reciprocal tariffs” enacted in April 2025. Analysts and coffee-producer teams have since warned that espresso manufacturing prices could proceed to extend because of rising fertilizer and power prices tied to the U.S. warfare in Iran.
The Trump tariffs, paid by U.S. importers, have been particularly onerous on the U.S. espresso trade given its near-total reliance on inexperienced espresso imports to fulfill home demand.
The Supreme Courtroom decided earlier this yr that the tariffs weren’t approved and the federal authorities has since launched a portal for refund requests. As of this writing, DCN has not confirmed any refunds to U.S. espresso importers.
Specialty Espresso Retail Costs
The grocery information stands in distinction with latest specialty espresso retail pricing information from the Specialty Espresso Retail Value Index, a companion to the Specialty Espresso Transaction Information created by researchers at Emory College. The index tracks costs charged by a consultant group of North American specialty espresso roasters promoting roasted coffees on-line.
Within the first quarter of 2026, the specialty retail index rose 3.9%, with the typical roasted specialty espresso value reaching $32.75 per pound on the finish of March. The common was $23.73 per pound for the lowest-priced coffees and $41.77 per pound for the highest-priced coffees among the many roasters tracked.
But yr over yr, the typical specialty retail value was up simply 0.8%, with the lowest-priced coffees up 9.3% and the highest-priced coffees down 3.4%.
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Nick Brown
Nick Brown is the editor of Day by day Espresso Information by Roast Journal.
