Don’t talk to the American people until they’ve had their coffee.

This nation of 342 million people consumes 400 million cups of joe every day, and it’s easy enough to feed your habit at home if you don’t want to venture to the roughly 40,000 coffee shops and cafes in the United States.

But the price of a pound of the beloved commodity has reached an all-time high, surging above $3.60 per pound by the end of January.

Local coffee professionals said reasons for the spike include weather conditions and increased global demand, and they are bracing as best they can for the impact it will have on their businesses.

Annabelle Ellers, whose family owns Catalpa Coffee in Greenfield as well as the six Shelburne Falls Coffee Roasters locations, said the market has never seen anything like this.

“We haven’t passed on any costs to customers at this point,” she said on Tuesday. “We’re feeling the squeeze and we’re kind of taking it day by day.”

Ellers said her family sources coffee from all over the world and prices have increased in every coffee-producing country. The same is true for chocolate, she said.

“There’s so many different things that go into determining international commodities prices,” Ellers said.

Beth Spong, CEO of Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Co. in Orange, said climate change affects weather patterns around the world.

“If it gets too hot too soon, that affects the health and well-being of coffee plants,” she said. The tiny things known as “coffee beans” are actually the seeds of the fruit produced by the Coffea plant. They are green when harvested in their raw state and turn dark when roasted. Harvesting season varies by region.

Spong said she and other employees recently returned from Guatemala, where coffee farmers are constantly battling with climate change. She said there also is a simple but significant supply-and-demand problem.

She explained Brazil, the world’s largest producer of coffee, particularly arabica, experienced a major drought in 2024, as did Vietnam, the largest producer of robusta beans. Arabica coffee is brighter, fruitier and more caffeinated than robusta.

“So even though Dean’s Beans doesn’t buy coffee from Vietnam or Brazil, the fact there’s less coffee available worldwide has an effect on the price of coffee,” Spong said. “So, everybody is feeling the impact of the higher coffee prices, including us. We have a commitment as part of our mission to … have our work be good for the planet, good for the coffee farmers, good for our employees and consumers.

“We’re doing a pricing review ... doing an analysis of other coffee companies, because we want to make sure that we can stay viable as a company while being affordable for regular people who love coffee,” she continued. “So there’s a lot of analysis going on over here.”

Spong said Dean’s Beans will have to raise prices in the next month or two, the first time in more than two years. She also mentioned the tariffs President Donald Trump has threatened would likely have a negative impact on coffee prices, but the specifics remain to be seen.

“This is uncharted territory we’re in right now,” she said.

Fogbuster Coffee Works by Pierce Bros. in Greenfield has had to raise prices twice in the past six months. CEO Paco Agrafojo said the cost of buying raw coffee beans has virtually doubled in the past year.

Driving back from a trade show in Buffalo, New York, he and co-owner Sean Pierce said costs this week are the highest in history and have increased by 25% just in 2025.

Trump has paused the increased tariffs he threatened against Colombia, a major coffee producer, but Agrafojo and Pierce said those taxes going into effect would be devastating. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection collects tariffs from importers at any of the 328 ports of entry across the country and deposits the money into the General Fund of the United States. But American consumers would likely bear the brunt of the cost, as big U.S. importers are likely to pass on to consumers the tariffs they pay to the customs department.

Pierce and Agrafojo said any price increases from their company are just a way of paying for coffee they have already bought at a high price.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.