Italians Panic As Cost Of Coffee Spikes – CoffeeTalk

Andrea Consilvio, an Italian coffee bar owner, has been concerned about the rising prices of espresso due to global fluctuations in coffee bean prices. Nearly three-quarters of Italians drink coffee at least once a day, and most consider their daily coffee ritual to be sacrosanct. However, they also expect their coffee to be cheap, available for little more than pocket change at any bar counter. This has led to simmering anxiety among Italians, who worry that higher costs could push up retail prices and unsettle a part of the food and beverage economy that feels distinctively Italian.

The Italian Espresso National Institute, which safeguards the quality of Italian espresso, said that higher coffee prices had “rightfully alarmed” consumers. The whole supply chain is in a crisis, and Italy once designated espresso a necessity by law. Just before World War I, the Italian government allowed municipalities to set price controls for basic needs, including bread, but also coffee served at the bar counter. These price controls protected neighborhood bars for a long time, and Starbucks did not open its first Italian outpost until 2018, 47 years after the company’s founding.

Even after the controls were lifted, prices remained low, with few bar owners willing to test whether higher prices would push customers towards the nearest competitor, usually no more than a block or two away. Dr. Jonathan Morris, a coffee historian at the University of Hertfordshire in England, said that the make-up of the traditional Italian espresso, a brew of darkly roasted arabica and robusta beans, helped keep prices low. As arabica bean prices rose, some Italian producers increased the proportion of cheaper robusta beans in the coffee blends, but that formula was no longer as effective when robusta prices also surged.

An espresso in Italy averaged €1.16 (S$1.74) as of the latest analysis in 2025 by Assoutenti, a non-profit consumer rights organization. The national average in January was up about 11.5% from two years earlier, the analysis found, though Italy still sells some of the cheapest espressos in Western Europe. Coffee bean prices have come down somewhat from their peak earlier in 2025, but they remain higher than before the surge. Experts fear extreme weather will continue to shrink global supply and keep prices high. US tariffs on coffee-producing countries, like Brazil, could drive prices up further.

The traditional Italian coffee bar relies on coffee sales for about 30% of its revenue, and some owners have found it is more profitable to also sell food, for breakfast, lunch, or an aperitivo dinner known as “apericena,” rather than just coffee

Executives from Lavazza and Illy, the Italian coffee producer based in Trieste, have warned for more than a year that higher coffee bean prices are most likely here to stay, presenting challenges to everyone from farmers outside Italy to large companies to mom-and-pop coffee shops to consumers. At Gran Caffe Gambrinus, a cafe in Naples opened in 1860, an espresso at the counter now costs €1.80, up from €1.50.

In Sant’Eustachio il Caffe near the Pantheon, every outdoor table was full and a line of customers snaked out the door.

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