There's no shame in asking this question! Since you're purchasing roasted coffee from us at Klatch Coffee, there's no reason for you to keep track of what the C-Market looks like, or even is. Our friends at Sprudge did a great article here breaking down what the C-Market is with more detail and technical terminology, but to simplify things, the C-market is the global market price, or the starting base price, for unroasted Arabica coffee. It gives coffee producers and buyers around the globe a starting point on how much their coffee is worth.
What exactly is this "record-breaking pricing?"
This chart from Markets Business Insider does a great job of illustrating what the C-Market's price hike has looked like over the past twelve months:
As an example, the C-Market price on February 14, 2024 was $1.87, and on February 14, 2025, the price hit $4.20. There are a number of reasons this price fluctuates, including weather in coffee-producing countries, logistics, demand, and global economic conditions.
And how exactly are tariffs affecting coffee?
Tariffs of up to 46% have been implemented on major coffee producing countries such as Brazil and Colombia. These coffees exist in our offerings, not just as single origin selections, but also as components in all of our blends.
Brazil has taken the highest hit, with a 46% tariff, and Colombia and Mexico are second highest with 25% tariffs. Other countries we source or have sourced from, such as Burundi, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Kenya, Nicaragua, Panama, Rwanda, and Tanzania, don't have such high tariffs, but have been subjected to the baseline 10% reciprocal tariff.
Aside from coffee, we, like most coffee roasters, source our packaging from overseas as well. As some of you may know, we recently had a small hiccup while waiting for a restock of our signature Pearl Reserve packaging because the tariffs went into effect while they were in production in Hong Kong. We have some in-hands again now, but we're also looking into sourcing new suppliers within the U.S. to avoid this limbo of uncertainty.
This is less of a concern for us as we're primarily focused on green coffee, but it is another line of thought to share in lieu of our goal of being fully transparent.
Why can't you source green coffee from the U.S. only then?
To put it simply, coffee can't grow everywhere. Coffee grows best in temperatures between 60–70°F, and is extremely sensitive to both frost and extreme heat. It's best grown in elevations of 2,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level, and it requires between 40 to 100 inches of rainfall per year.
Because it's so nitpicky in terms of where it can grow and thrive, there are very few states within the U.S. that could realistically actually grow coffee. Hawaii is one, of course, but Kona coffee is expensive and extremely limited in amount. Based solely on environmental conditions, it could be possible to grow along the southern coast of California and in Puerto Rico with a few years of research, planning, building, and implementation. That is, however, only in theory, and an actual execution could take even longer than just a few years. For other states, they simply do not have the right terrain or weather to produce coffee.
