Agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo believes that the rising global coffee prices, driven by poor weather in Vietnam and Brazil and new US tariffs on Brazilian coffee, are reshaping trade dynamics.
While American consumers brace for costlier brews, South Africa, which imports nearly 24 000 tonnes of coffee annually (mostly from Brazil and Vietnam), may stand to benefit, according to Sihlobo.
Brazil, already the world’s top coffee producer, could increase exports to South Africa if it offers better quality and prices.
“I know our domestic tea and coffee producers won’t like me saying this,” says Sihlobo. “But hey, we have a decent demand for coffee (just like we do with other “substantive beverages” like whiskies, where we spend over US$300 million on imports annually).”
In light of this, The South African website compared coffee prices across 10 of South Africa’s most popular coffee chains.
The comparison highlights just how much consumers are paying for their caffeine fix.
For the comparison, we looked at the price of a “tall” Americano, Caffe Latte and Cappuccino.
Listed in alphabetical company order
| Company | Americano | Caffe Latte | Cappuccino |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bean Tree Cafe | R55.50 | R49.50 | R45 |
| Bootlegger | R37 | R42 | R43 |
| McCafé | R27.50 | R33.60 | R32.30 |
| Mugg & Bean | R39 | R45 | R40 |
| Seattle Coffee Company | R30 | R33.50 | R33.50 |
| Starbucks | R38 | R45 | R45 |
| Vida e Caffè | R39 | R46 | R43 |
| W Cafe | R34 | R41 | R41 |
| Wild Bean Cafe | R29.88 | R47.88 | R45.88 |
| Wimpy | R36.90 | R44.90 | R42.90 |
NOTE: The prices above were taken from the individual coffee shop and cafe’s website or online research and were accurate at the time of publishing.
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