04-05-2025
Coffee lovers flock to Montreal festival — but will rising java prices sour the buzz?
By
At the Café Collectif coffee festival on Saturday, Edwin Chareton handed me a sip of his cold-fermented coffee he promised would taste like a Bounty candy bar. He was right.
Around us, hundreds of coffee lovers moved between roasters, cupping stations and fermentation discussions, filling the Société des arts technologiques on St-Laurent Blvd.
It's the third edition of the festival, where coffee lovers can come and explore different cups of java from spots across the city, Chareton said. He founded Zab, a Montreal-based roaster, along with Zab Café. He's also part of the organization behind the festival.
'Montreal honestly has a fantastic coffee scene,' he said. 'Same level as any city in the world — for real.'
But amid the excitement in the room, one matter lingered: coffee could soon get more expensive.
The coffee crunch
The price of coffee futures, which are contracts that set prices for later dates, has more than doubled over the past two years, according to data from Trading Economics, particularly surging in the last year.
Bloomberg's Javier Blas attributes the rise to lousy weather in major producer countries like Brazil and Vietnam, years of demand outpacing supply, and a fresh shot of political uncertainty — tariffs included.
While those costs will eventually reach roasters, cafés, and customers, many specialty roasters sign contracts up to a year in advance, Chareton explained. That buffer, however, is beginning to thin.
'Our next contracts are going to be a lot more expensive,' he said, adding price increases 'have already started.'
According to the latest data from Statistics Canada, the average price for roasted or ground coffee rose by about 15 per cent in the past year.
'There's no way around it,' Chareton said. 'It's not about putting more in our pockets. For a while, we'll probably earn less.'
Aside from the impact on consumers, he believes the price correction is overdue.
'Historically, coffee's been priced way too low. Now, it's catching up. And when the base price jumps, everything else jumps even more.'
The upside, he added, is coffee producers may finally benefit.
'Farmers could actually get paid more. And that's overdue, too.'
Coffee prices are surging and your daily cup is about to get much more expensive. @JavierBlas explains why
— Bloomberg Opinion (@opinion) February 3, 2025
Across the room, Simon Massaglia, founder of Micro Espresso, was pouring samples of a range of different coffee, including one using Kenyan beans he calls 'Berries and Cream.' True to the name, it tasted of raspberry, dark berries and a touch of orange blossom.
Massaglia, who grew up in Rome and moved to Montreal in 2017, launched his business during the pandemic. It now has multiple locations across the city. For him and his wife, who run the cafés together, price increases are already a reality.
'A shot of espresso cost me about 30 cents' three years ago, he said. 'Now, it's closer to 70 — and it's still going up.'
Unlike Zab, Micro Espresso buys beans on the spot, so prices can fluctuate more quickly as a result.
'Sometimes it's three- to six-per- cent higher than the week before,' Massaglia said.
Despite the upward prices, he said cafés shouldn't sacrifice quality.
'If you have mediocre coffee because you're trying to fight rising prices, people are not going to come.'
Will customers swallow the price hikes?
Among the crowd, I asked festival-goers how much more they'd be willing to pay.
Itamar Keren, who came to the festival with his friend, said it will depend.
'If a bag I like goes from $50 to $70, I might still pay it,' he said. 'But I want to know what I'm getting: the region, the process, the traceability.'
He added: 'If I'm paying more, maybe I'll try something rare. Something special.'
Jordan Fast, who came to Café Collectif after a friend invited him, has volunteered at coffee-tasting competitions before.
'When I actually tasted the notes in the coffee, it kind of blew my mind,' he said on tasting special coffee. But on rising prices, Fast said he is wary.
'If prices keep going up, I'd probably go to cafés less.'
His friend, Angus McAlpine, by contrast, said he just tagged along on Saturday: 'I'm an uncultured swine with pretensions of grandeur,' he joked. 'Couche-Tard coffee is my go-to.'
But McAlpine was open to spending more within reason.
'If I'm dropping $20 or $30 and it lasts me two months, then I don't really care,' he said.
Fast also said he values the experience of going to a café than just the coffee.
'In the past, coffee houses were basically social institutions, where merchants, writers, even future investment banks got their start,' he said. 'That sense of community, I don't think it exists in the same way anymore.'
McAlpine agreed, adding: 'Maybe that's what cafés could lean into. A new value-proposition. If prices are going up, give people something more. Make it a place where you actually connect.'
