There's something curious about our relationship with coffee: we demand it perfect, fast, hot, and to our liking... but at the slightest attempt to raise the price, all the alarm bells go off.

Cafés: the exception to inflation

If electricity prices go up, we understand. If the price of groceries increases, we complain, but we accept it. However, when a coffee at a bar increases by just 10 cents, the average customer experiences it as a personal grievance. It becomes a topic of conversation, a recurring complaint, and even a reason to change coffee shops. It's as if coffee has been frozen in economic limbo: everything goes up, except for it.

The office machine, anchored in the 90s

The same thing is happening with vending machines. Many still display prices practically identical to those of 1995. While the costs of production, distribution, and raw materials have risen for almost three decades, a one-euro coin is still enough to buy a coffee with sugar and a plastic cup. It's an everyday anachronism that normalizes the idea that coffee "costs the same as usual."

More options, same resistance

The sector, meanwhile, has evolved. Today we find specialty coffee shops, baristas who talk about roasting and origin, alternatives for people with intolerances or more conscious lifestyles. The variety is endless, and each choice entails additional costs: training, equipment, and differentiated raw materials. And yet, consumer reluctance to pay a fair price acts as a brake on continued growth in supply.

The invisible costs behind the cup

What's rarely perceived is the complete chain behind each sip. Coffee is an agricultural product that depends on specific regions, many of them in developing countries. Raw material prices have risen significantly in recent years, partly due to market speculation, but also due to the direct impact of climate change: crops ruined by drought, pests that spread in the heat, or the loss of suitable areas for cultivation.

Added to this is international transportation—increasingly expensive freight rates—the energy required for roasting and distribution, and the effort to modernize the offering. Today, a barista doesn't just serve coffee: they explain varieties, offer plant-based milks, and ensure traceability. This specialization entails training, quality equipment, and, of course, higher operating costs.

The brake of consumer resistance

Paradoxically, the more the sector evolves, the more it is constrained by consumer reluctance to pay a little more. We want specialty coffees, alternatives for intolerances, sustainability in the supply chain... but we refuse to accept that this is reflected in the final price. This tension ultimately hinders innovation and forces many businesses to maintain minimal margins, at the cost of staff insecurity or reduced quality.

An everyday luxury that we continue to underestimate

Coffee is one of those small, everyday luxuries we take for granted. We treat it as a basic commodity that should be kept "off the market," immune to price increases, when in reality, it's a product vulnerable to global fluctuations, climate pressure, and the human effort of those who produce and serve it.

Perhaps it's time to change the question. Not so much: Why is coffee rising? But rather: How can it be that it still costs almost the same as it did in 1995?