Good coffee for under $5?
Coffee has gone up everywhere over the last couple of years, to the point where a decent cup of coffee in Perth seems to average about $5.50 to $6.
Are there any holdouts left where you can get a good cup for under $5?
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With average inflation, prices should double every 20 years. Coffees were $5 20-years-ago and probably rightly considered expensive and a lucrative business. If they’d kept up with inflation they’d be $10 by now. If they’d kept up with housing they’d be $25+.
Wut? Coffee was around $3.20 in the Melbourne CBD when I worked in the Rialto around 2008-2009. I don’t know where you were going for $5 coffees in 2003, but you were getting ripped off.
edit: Oh, in Perth. Sorry, my calibration is off, I’m thinking east coast prices. Carry on.
Brisbane here. I was thinking large lattes. And they were 4.50 when I started my coffee drinking career nearly 20 years ago. Maybe I’m rounding prices from a few years later but I think my point still stands that they haven’t kept up with inflation.
Coffee is one thing, but the real crime is bags of chips >$5. At least a good cup had some effort put into it.
While that is irritating, but I simply don't buy them at $5. That's on us. If we didn't buy chips at that price, they'd drop the price again. They're a luxury good that I can completely go without them and not really miss them.
Coffee is different - thousands of places have independently raised prices. I believe their increases are actually necessary. Cafe workers are getting paid more, and if it turns out my extra 50c a day is mostly going to them, I'll actually be fine with that.
You could argue (rightly) that my coffee is also a luxury, but if I dropped it from my day, it would make a difference to me.
Ladle+ Press in Brookfield Place, Perth (Ground floor of the BHP Building) put their prices up last week. If you bring your own cup, they're sitting at about $5 for a coffee.
It's tough because that's about the price you'll pay even in NSW. I don't mind paying it if I know they're using good coffee and the barista is good.
Although it's also the reason I invested in a good setup for home. I get coffee out less now, but try to pick the spots I know I'll get a good one.
There was https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-14/coffee-shortage-drives-up-cost-of-even-the-cheapest-cup (top result of Google query after:2023-1-1 coffee beans shortage)
Got no way to verify the ground realities.
Looked similar to chilli shortage reported by SriRacha https://www.google.com/search?q=after%3A2023-1-1+chilli+shortage+sriracha
For all we know, could be another price jacking and/or shrinkflation