Coffee Costs Soar, Worst Yet To Come

Coffee prices are on a roller-coaster ride more jittery than a chihuahua after a double espresso.

Wholesale prices have been teetering around a 20-year high. The price importers pay coffee growers has approximately doubled, with the potential for worse news looming on the horizon.

South America, which dominates the international market for a commodity that is only slightly less volatile, pricewise, than oil, is looking down the muzzle of its winter season. Since Brazil alone produces about one-quarter of the world’s coffee harvest, the threat of damaging frosts has sent speculators scrambling.

But even if killing frosts don’t materialize, issues ranging from seriously depleted international stockpiles of unroasted coffee to labor unrest in some producing nations - coupled with no significant harvests due until at least autumn - promise to keep coffee prices fixed higher.

Some people will quit coffee altogether. Analysts estimated that when America last faced soaring coffee prices, the nation’s consumption dropped by approximately 10 percent. Maybe now’s the time to trim back, shifting some of your sipping to softer beverages (replacing a few cups a day with pure water will refresh and cleanse your system) and lessen the potentially stressing effects too much coffee can invoke.

But what if you refuse to quit the soothing surge that comes with your first cup of the day? Well, there are some ways to make more economical use of an increasingly pricey pleasure:

Skip the percolator. At home we use a Krups cone-style automatic drip coffeemaker, but when we stay with my mom there’s a reliable Farberware electric perker on the counter. Decent coffee can be had from it, but we pile in nearly twice the grind to get an equivalently strong cuppa Joe.

Try a finer grind. Bearing in mind that we dote on powerful brew, I’ve found that using Turkish (finest) grind coffee brewed through a cone-shaped filter allows you to further reduce the amount needed.

Experiment and adjust to your taste.

A couple of notes on this technique. First, use filter papers; I’ve found that gold mesh sometimes isn’t fine enough to trap the powdery sediment. Second, be aware that going Turkish can increase the chances of more bitter flavor. You may want to pour the brewed coffee back over the grounds (not actually through the machine’s water well) to draw the last traces of flavor - but you’ll need a stop-and-pour style machine or a very deft hand to do this.

Trot out that thermal carafe. Not only does that help conserve whatever’s left of the morning brew, saving you a few scoops come coffee break time, but you may find that gently reheating already-warm java produces much better flavor and aroma than micro-zapping a mugful of stone-cold coffee (especially if you had first let the stuff simmer to shellac in an overheated pot). Or chill any leftovers to serve later, as iced coffee.

Shift from varietals to blends. Now, most everyone swears by their particular favorite, be it Jamaican Blue Mountain or Colombian, but during times of lean it helps to be flexible. Many companies blend several coffees in order to save money, as well as create a signature flavor. Which is why shifting from pure Hawaiian Kona (around $25 per pound retail) to a Kona blend, made with compatibly flavorful beans that enhance Kona’s distinctive silkiness, means coffee at half the price.

Another approach: hunt up some ground roasted chicory. Cafe Du Monde, the estimable New Orleans destination for java and beignets, has built its fortune largely on its distinctive chicory coffee. If your shop doesn’t carry it, check health food stores. A three-parts coffee to one-part chicory proportion is a good place to start.

Consider flavored coffees. Personally, I loathe most of those silly, overly perfumed concoctions like Doublemint Hazelnut and Vanilla Prune, but they can be better buys - simply because many producers mask mediocre beans with plenty of artificial flavorings. If you fancy them, drink up.