I recently "met" a local sustainable coffee writer and she has an excellent article on the cost of a cup of coffee. I have always approached coffee from basically two perspectives: where is it from and how fresh it is. In actuality, both are essentially the same basic question - how's it taste? This guideline has rarely steered me wrong (particularly since I can get coffee at the peak of freshness... oh and hey, so can you!) I've been fortunate enough that I don't concern myself with price as much as I do with the taste of it. But I recognize that there are many who do not (or can not) approach coffee with such a disregard for cost, and that's where my "professional side" kicks in (who knew I even had a professional side?!?).As a marketing expert in my other life, I recognize that the price of coffee, while affected by variable and fixed costs obviously, is also driven by your perceptions of the product. What I mean by that is there is a point at which coffee becomes too cheap. If I offered you a pound of coffee for $4, yeah, some would jump on it, but many would look at me like I had a third head wondering, what the h kind of dirt coffee am I trying to push for four bucks a pound?! (interesting side note, I would lose money at $4/lb, so don't even bother to ask) But there is also a point at which coffee becomes too expensive. Even I wince when I shell out what amounts to about $65-70 for a pound of coffee. At that price, it BETTER be damn good and damn fresh coffee... (don't worry it almost alway is).
So, the optimal price for my coffee is somewhere between $4 and $70. There are a lot of statistical tools for figuring out that sweet spot, but I won't bore you with that...
The real question posed is: Why, then, is the cheap, unsustainable coffee still so much in demand? Wouldn't the price alone make people question the quality of the coffee? Well, yes and no. I doubt many folks are buying Folgers or Eight O'Clock coffee because they think it has outstanding freshness or unsurpassed flavor. But the Folgers and Eight O'Clock brands do have value to some people, and the convenience factor is huge (note that by convenience I'm not referring coffee shops... still just talking about the pound of roasted coffee). They are located everywhere you look and that, people will pay for. Plus the power of brands should not be underestimated - people are loyal to brands for a reason and those perceptions (right or wrong) will drive a lot of demand. I could spend hours writing about branding at this point, but don't worry I won't.
As I've always said, a fresh pound of RR coffee will ruin your tastebuds for your regular brand no matter what the price... Again, its a quality that people pay for.
Big Dave!
Photo credit to shine_dorydevlin Thank you!
