A lot happens between the cup and bean

Comments By John Heuman (An exerpt from the Wall Street Journal)

When comparing raw (green) coffee prices with the finished product of vacuum packed coffee one must take into consideration the cost of additional factors that affect the final cost of the product. There is a shrinkage of 15% to 17% in the roasting process. In addition there is the cost of packaging, labor, overhead and shipping. All of these costs have risen substantially in the past five years. This narrows the differential between the cost of raw and finished product considerably. That is why retail coffee prices and raw coffee cannot decline or rise in direct proportion to one another.

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