High street coffee cost set to rise 30% due to ‘extreme weather’

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The price of a cappuccino could soar to around £3.57 in another blow to cafes and coffee lovers

The cost of a high street brew is expected to top £3, in what could be the latte straw for Covid-weary coffee lovers.

Experts say a mix of crop failures, supply chain issues and higher transportation costs have sent the global cost of coffee beans skyrocketing.

And that means the price of a cappuccino – the most popular order in the UK – will drop from £2.75 to around £3.57.

The increase will create even more problems for cafes affected by working from home. City stockbroker XTB says rises of up to 30% are “inevitable” after the price of beans hit a 10-year high of $2.48 a pound last month.

Before Covid, our coffee chain market was worth around £4.5bn a year with over 21,000 stores.

But the lockdowns have led chains like Costa and Pret a Manger to cut dozens of branches.

Joshua Raymond of XTB said, “We expect prices to continue to rise due to many factors, including extreme weather conditions.

“Brazil, which produces a third of the world’s coffee, saw its production drop by 20% last year due to drought.