How much should speciality coffee cost per kg?
If a bag of whole beans from an independent roaster works out at around £51/kg, you are paying what half the coffees on Bean Index cost or less. Below £36/kg is unusually cheap for speciality coffee; above £73/kg is the dearest tenth; the table further down shows which kinds of coffee cost more. The figures come from the shops of 111 UK roasters and are recalculated every day.
What does a kilo of speciality coffee cost?
A quarter of the coffees cost less than £43/kg and a quarter more than £60/kg; the middle half sits in between. The chart shows prices bunched around the median, with a thin tail of expensive lots to the right.
Why compare per kg and not per bag?
Because bags differ. Among 1,502 coffees with a stated weight, the most common sizes are 250 g (63%), 200 g (16%), 500 g (5%) and 225 g (4%). 91% come in a bag of 200 to 350 g; only 32 are sold mainly as a kilo bag.
A bag of 250 g at £12 and a bag of 200 g at £10 look alike on the page, but work out at £48 and £50 per kilo.
We therefore compare only the price of the standard bag, converted to a kilo. Kilo bags are often cheaper per kilo and sample bags dearer; mixing them in would skew the comparison. Coffees without a standard bag still show their price per kg, but stay out of the medians. Every price on Bean Index says when we last saw it in the roaster's shop.
What does a cup of speciality coffee cost?
Price per kg times grams per cup, divided by a thousand. We use 15 g for a large mug of filter or cafetière coffee and 18 g for a double espresso, the base of a flat white or latte. From the cheapest to the dearest tenth of coffees, a filter cup costs £0.54 to £1.10 in beans and a double espresso £0.65 to £1.32.
How many cups are in a 250 g bag? About 16 filter cups at 15 g or 13 double espressos at 18 g – a few fewer if you count the beans used while dialling in a grinder.
| Group | Median | Filter (15 g) | Espresso (18 g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | £51/kg | £0.76 | £0.91 |
| Washed | £54/kg | £0.81 | £0.97 |
| Natural | £52/kg | £0.78 | £0.94 |
| Anaerobic | £68/kg | £1.03 | £1.23 |
| Gesha (Geisha) | £100/kg | £1.50 | £1.80 |
| Blends | £44/kg | £0.66 | £0.79 |
What makes one coffee cost more than another?
Three things show up clearly in the data: single origin or blend, the process, and the variety. Blends cost a median of £44/kg against £54/kg for single origins. Anaerobic fermentation means more work and risk on the farm and usually small lots: £68/kg against £54/kg for washed coffees. Geisha carries the clearest premium, a median of £100/kg, 85% above all single origins. Decaf costs a median of £50/kg, against £51/kg for all coffees.
| Group | Coffees | Median | Spread (p10–p90) |
|---|---|---|---|
| All coffees | 1,370 | £51/kg | £36–73/kg |
| Single origins | 999 | £54/kg | £38–77/kg |
| Blends | 305 | £44/kg | £32–57/kg |
| Washed | 530 | £54/kg | £40–74/kg |
| Natural | 390 | £52/kg | £40–80/kg |
| Honey | 70 | £55/kg | £36–76/kg |
| Anaerobic | 94 | £68/kg | £50–117/kg |
| Infused | 38 | £88/kg | £57–121/kg |
| Geisha (Gesha) | 25 | £100/kg | £56–151/kg |
| Decaf | 144 | £50/kg | £38–62/kg |
| Espresso roasts | 181 | £48/kg | £34–66/kg |
Why Geisha costs so much more is explained in why Geisha costs more; how the processes differ in the cup, in natural vs washed: how they taste. If you mainly drink espresso, affordable espresso beans looks at the cheaper end of espresso roasts. Price is only one of six things worth checking: see how to choose coffee beans.
Among the ten most common origins, Ethiopia has the highest median at £59/kg and Brazil the lowest at £45/kg. Differences between countries also reflect which roasters buy which coffees; they say nothing about the quality of a country's coffee.
| Origin | Range p10–p90 | Median | n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colombia | £39–104/kg | £55/kg | 233 |
| Brazil | £36–63/kg | £45/kg | 116 |
| Ethiopia | £40–80/kg | £59/kg | 117 |
| Kenya | £42–68/kg | £58/kg | 75 |
| Guatemala | £40–74/kg | £55/kg | 68 |
| Peru | £42–74/kg | £58/kg | 55 |
| Costa Rica | £38–73/kg | £54/kg | 41 |
| Rwanda | £38–68/kg | £51/kg | 38 |
| Honduras | £38–70/kg | £53/kg | 38 |
| Mexico | £41–66/kg | £52/kg | 32 |
Why has coffee become more expensive?
Because green coffee did. The International Coffee Organization's composite price, a benchmark across all traded green coffee, averaged 176.41 US cents per pound in January 2024 and 354.32 cents in February 2025, the highest monthly average on its record.
By September 2026 it had eased to 262.18 cents as a record Brazilian crop reached the market – lower, but still far above where it stood before the rise.
The ICE Coffee "C" futures contract in New York, the world benchmark for arabica, moved the same way. Speciality green coffee is often bought at prices agreed directly with a farm or importer, but those prices follow the market too. Roasters often buy green coffee months ahead, so shelf prices tend to react with a delay. A monthly speciality coffee price index on Bean Index will track how the median moves once the first issue is out.
Is there VAT on coffee beans in the UK?
No. HMRC lists coffee, roasted coffee substitutes and their extracts as zero-rated food (VAT Notice 701/14, section 3.7.2), so beans and ground coffee you buy to brew at home carry no VAT. A hot coffee in a café is different: hot drinks are standard-rated. The prices on Bean Index are the final prices roasters show their customers, excluding delivery.
How do you read the price position on Bean Index?
Under every coffee we show where its price per kg sits among similar coffees: decaf with decaf, blends with blends for the same brew method, Geisha with Geisha, then origin and process, down to all single origins. A group counts from five coffees from three roasters. Below the median does not mean better, and above it does not mean worse; it only tells you where a coffee sits among comparable ones. To see coffees below their group median first, sort the catalogue by "Below group median first".
Coffees below the median of their group
Moon Roast CoffeeAlresford, UK
Decaf - Colombia Popayán (Roasted on 22nd September)
Colombia, Cauca, 1,500–2,070 m
Washed, Castillo, Caturra
Floral & tea, Chocolate, Nut & caramel
Omni roast
Price per kg £26.22/kg
£5.90 for 225 g, excl. delivery, checked
48% below median for Decaf
To roasterMacBeansAberdeen, UK
Old Brown Java
Indonesia, Java, 1,200 m
Washed
Dried fruit & spice, Chocolate, Nut & caramel
Price per kg £32.00/kg
£8.00 for 250 g, excl. delivery, checked
47% below median for Washed from Indonesia
To roasterBlack Mountain RoastMichaelchurch Escley, UK
Gesha – Medium Roast – Colombian Coffee Beans & Ground Coffee
Colombia, Tolima, 1,500–2,000 m
Washed, Gesha
Floral & tea, Chocolate, Stone fruit
Price per kg £54.00/kg
£13.50 for 250 g, excl. delivery, checked
46% below median for Gesha (Geisha)
To roasterBlack Mountain RoastMichaelchurch Escley, UK
Gesha – FINCA EL REFUGIO Lavado - Grown in the Colombian Andes at 2050m - Medium Roast – Colombian Gesha Coffee Beans & Ground Coffee
Colombia, 2,050 m
Washed, Gesha
Floral & tea, Nut & caramel, Stone fruit
Price per kg £54.00/kg
£13.50 for 250 g, excl. delivery, checked
46% below median for Gesha (Geisha)
To roasterWogan CoffeeBristol, UK
Colombia Excelso Medellín
Colombia, Antioquia
Process unknown, Castillo, Caturra
Nut & caramel
Omni roast
Price per kg £30.80/kg
£7.70 for 250 g, excl. delivery, checked
46% below median for Colombia
To roasterThe Milk Shed Coffee RoastersBrighton, UK
Union San Pedro - Mexico, Washed
Mexico, Oaxaca, 1,450–1,900 m
Washed, Gesha
Chocolate, Nut & caramel, Stone fruit
Price per kg £55.00/kg
£13.75 for 250 g, excl. delivery, checked
45% below median for Gesha (Geisha)
To roasterWhat we don't know
- Delivery. Each roaster charges its own delivery and many deliver free above a basket value; on a single bag, delivery can be a large part of the total. Where the roaster states it, its page on Bean Index shows it under "Delivery & freshness".
- Kilo bag discounts. We store one bag size per coffee, so we cannot say how much cheaper the kilo bag of a given coffee is.
- What reaches the farm. The price per kg does not tell you what the producer was paid; only roasters who publish their green coffee prices answer that.
- The whole market. Bean Index covers 111 UK speciality roasters, not supermarket coffee. How supermarket shelf prices compare is in supermarket vs speciality coffee.
Sources & method
- Prices: from the roasters' shops, excl. delivery; price per kg from the standard bag of 200 to 350 g, available coffees only, n = 1,370, checked 19 Oct 2026. Coffees without a price are not included.
- Statistics: median and tenths (quantiles), rounded to whole pounds; a group needs five coffees from three roasters. Details: price per kg and price position.
- Price per cup: price per kg times 15 g (filter) or 18 g (espresso), divided by a thousand. Cups per bag: bag weight divided by the dose, rounded down.
- Green coffee prices: International Coffee Organization, Coffee Market Report January 2024, February 2025 and September 2026 (ICO Composite Indicator Price, monthly averages); ICE Futures U.S., Coffee "C" futures. Read on 19 Oct 2026.
- VAT: HMRC, Food products and VAT (VAT Notice 701/14), sections 2.1 and 3.7.2, page updated 8 June 2026, read on 19 Oct 2026.
This guide is also available in German: Was kostet Spezialitätenkaffee? Preis pro Kilo und pro Tasse im Vergleich (Bohnenatlas)