From the ever-changing threat of tariffs, to big companies continuing to swallow small ones, to major overhauls in how specialty coffee is evaluated, 2025 was anything but predictable. There were also major climate stories, another banner year for coffee unionizing, and coffee was—mostly—good for us. And just to keep things light: Gen Z are apparently scared of baristas, and there was a tussle over which coffee brand gets to own the concept of death.
We’re here to wrap up everything that happened this year in the coffee world: It’s the Fresh Cup 2025 Coffee News Year in Review.
The Year in Coffee
The only place to start is with the word that overshadowed the industry for nearly the entirety of 2025: tariffs.
Almost as soon as he took office in January, President Donald Trump threatened to place tariffs on most U.S. trading partners, a threat he followed through with in April. In August he targeted Brazil with 50% tariffs. That one decision impacted nearly a third of U.S. coffee imports, leading to a shift in global coffee trade as Brazilian exporters looked for new markets.
Coffee prices already neared record levels in 2024, and tariffs made that even worse in 2025. The C price reached a record high in February, and continued to rise and fall over the next few months. That record was broken just months later in October.
High commodity prices, combined with tariffs and inflation, led to higher prices at the grocery store and at coffee shops. It wasn’t just in the U.S., either: Retail prices in South Korea and Brazil rose too, while disputes over prices between big roasters and European supermarkets resulted in bare shelves in the coffee aisle. Rising prices also led to a rise in coffee theft—including several hijackings—while some roasters began adding cheaper beans or even non-coffee items to their blends to cut costs.
In November, the Trump administration rolled back (most of) the tariffs on coffee after months of lobbying and pressure from industry groups. However, that doesn’t mean coffee prices are coming down any time soon. Experts and executives noted that prices are sticky: once raised, they’re unlikely to come down.
Trump’s impact on coffee wasn’t confined to tariffs. In February, the administration announced sweeping federal layoffs and cuts to programs that supported both foreign aid and domestic grants to the Hawaiian coffee sector. Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement targeted Kona coffee farms. The threat of raids put the island’s harvest at risk as coffee pickers, many of whom are from Mexico and Honduras, thought twice about going to work and potentially being detained.
Other countries had mixed fortunes when it came to their coffee production. Reports of a better-than-anticipated harvest in Brazil briefly lowered the C price in September, although the country’s exports fell due to the impact of tariffs. Uganda overtook Ethiopia as Africa’s top coffee exporter, while labor shortages in Costa Rica impacted the coffee harvest due to new migration laws in neighboring Nicaragua. For some countries, however, a tiny amount of coffee was all they needed. In August, the Best of Panama auction set a new record as a 20kg lot of gesha coffee sold for more than $600,000.
While coffee farming is still a male-dominated sector, several programs worked to level the playing field. In Uganda, entrepreneur Meridah Nandudu encouraged more women to get involved in the business side of coffee production by paying extra for coffee cherries from female farmers. As part of its work to support the next generation, the Brazilian cooperative Expocacer runs a project that incentivizes women to become involved in managing their family farms. And author and photographer Lucia Bawot launched SANA to provide mental health services for women coffee farmers in Colombia.
The year was also defined by big changes from the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). In April, the SCA announced it would be taking over the Q Grader certification exam from the Coffee Quality Institute, leaving the coffee community divided. Some worried about increased costs, while others mourned the loss of a shared language around coffee quality. Still others saw the changes as a positive step towards making coffee education more equitable.
The move was part of the SCA’s attempt to drive wider adoption of its updated cupping standard, the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA), within the specialty coffee industry. Throughout 2025, the SCA would announce partnerships with various regional coffee associations to use the CVA instead of old cupping standards.
The Year in Coffee Retail Trends
Starbucks is always in the news, and 2025 was another turbulent year for the mega chain. CEO Brian Niccol continued with his “Back to Starbucks” reinvention plan, intended to pull the brand out of its multi-year slump and declining sales. Having focused on automation for years, the coffee giant paused a series of tech roll outs to focus on hiring more staff.
However, to cut costs, Starbucks also closed stores and twice laid off corporate workers while capping raises, yet still offered executives multi-million-dollar bonus incentives. In July, we learned that Niccol earns 6,666 times more than the average Starbucks worker, the second-largest pay gap between workers and CEOs of the 500 biggest publicly listed US companies..
Starbucks has tried other things to make stores more appealing—comfortable seating, a pared-down menu, writing names on cups—but none of these things have paid off just yet. In Starbucks’ last quarterly earnings report for 2025, data showed a modest recovery in global sales, but U.S. sales remained flat. Data also showed that customers still aren’t lingering like they used to.
Coffee consumption is constantly evolving. Twice a year, the National Coffee Association puts out its National Coffee Data Trends report to track new trends and changes in how people consume coffee. There was nothing too surprising in the reports released in 2025, but there were notable data points.
In the April report, we found out that specialty coffee consumption has grown 84% since 2011, and in September we learned that cold coffee is becoming more popular. Another data point was a rising focus on convenience, with drive-thru and app-ordering both becoming more popular. However, there are some throwbacks too: both instant coffee and flavored creamers are having a renaissance due to their popularity among Gen Z coffee drinkers.
Another big source of news in 2025 were coffee acquisitions and sales. In April, FairWave, a private equity-backed specialty coffee holding company, continued its expansion across the U.S. by acquiring the prominent North Carolina-based Black & White Coffee Roasters. That same month, iconic Italian moka pot manufacturer Bialetti was sold to a Hong Kong-based private equity firm. And in August, San Francisco-based specialty chain Philz Coffee was also purchased by a private equity firm. While the terms of the sale enriched investors and executives, it also cancelled certain stock owned by current and former employees, leaving their investments “effectively worthless.”
Toward the end of the year, big players got involved in the wheeling and dealing. In September, Keurig Dr Pepper announced they would be buying JDE Peet’s for $18 billion to form the second-largest coffee company in the world (only second to Nestlé). The next month, Coca-Cola put the U.K.-based chain Costa Coffee up for sale—at a significant loss from its purchase six years ago. And in December, news broke that Nestlé was considering selling Blue Bottle Coffee—possibly to the Chinese chain Luckin Coffee.
Coffee and the Climate Crisis
In 2025, coffee continued to feel the effects of the climate crisis. Just like last year and the one before that, coffee-producing regions around the world suffered from extreme weather. Major storms hit Vietnam 13 times in 2025, disrupting coffee production already weakened by a lengthy drought. Indonesia suffered from deadly floods in November, harming coffee farms already impacted by climate change. The floods compounded supply issues in the country, like rising domestic demand, meaning that Indonesia, the world’s fourth-largest producer, may soon need to import more coffee than it can currently export.
In the face of climate change, some producers are changing how they grow coffee. Brazilian farmers are beginning to irrigate their farms due to unpredictable rainfall patterns. Others are switching from growing arabica to growing its hardier cousin, robusta, which is better suited to thrive in hotter conditions.
Deforestation remained a persistent issue in coffee, even as the European Union’s landmark deforestation legislation faced pushback, weakening, and was eventually delayed in 2025. A report in October from the non-profit Coffee Watch showed how destructive deforestation has been in Brazil and linked clearing of forests to lower rainfall in coffee-growing regions.
Finding ways to mitigate the impact of climate change is imperative, and 2025 was a big year for regenerative agriculture. The approach focuses on agroforestry, soil restoration, and sustainable farming practices. In May, a report from the non-profit Technoserve found that investing in regenerative agriculture could increase farmer income while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Projects in India and Ethiopia showed how, with coffee farms supplying seeds for reforestation projects, and those projects increasing farmer incomes. However, research in September found that protecting forests was much more effective than simply planting trees.
The Year in Coffee Unionizing
Once again, the coffee labor landscape in 2025 was shaped largely by the continued push for a first contract at Starbucks, a fight that has persisted since the company’s first store unionized in 2021.
Contract negotiations broke down in January over what Starbucks Workers United called “almost laughable” pay and economic proposals from the Starbucks side. SBWU said that the breakdown coincided with Brian Niccol being hired as CEO the previous year; the company blamed the breakdowns on the union for walking away from negotiations multiple times.
In March, SBWU held the first of several strike actions at stores in six U.S. cities, which Starbucks described as “undermin[ing] the ongoing mediation process.” More walkouts took place throughout the year, leading up to the start of a strike that began in November to coincide with Red Cup Day, Starbucks’ busiest day of the year. That strike hasn’t ended yet—instead, it has expanded to include thousands of baristas in hundreds of cities. Starbucks insists the strikes have not meaningfully disrupted business.
Beyond Starbucks, 2025 saw many coffee unions at large or private-equity backed specialty coffee chains. In May, workers at seven Boston-area Blank Street Coffee locations filed to unionize, following in the footsteps of action their New York colleagues took three years earlier.
In 2024, workers at five Blue Bottle Coffee locations in Boston voted to unionize, and in 2025, their West Coast colleagues followed. Four stores in the Bay Area of California won their union elections in August. The union has been in negotiations over a contract since the Boston workers won their vote in 2024; over the Thanksgiving weekend, unionized workers went on strike to protest the lack of progress and in protest over what they said were retaliatory firings against union members.
Anodyne Coffee in Milwaukee, which was purchased by private equity-backed FairWave in 2023, filed a petition to form a union in April. Workers requested voluntary recognition from FairWave, and after that was rejected, won their election in June, only for FairWave to challenge the results. In October, the National Labor Relations Board sided with the workers and rejected the challenge.
There were union wins at well-known spots like Equator Coffee in Los Angeles and Verve Coffee Roasters in Santa Cruz. Workers at a handful of Verve locations moved to unionize after news broke in September that the roaster violated a local law that requires employers to pay for certain workers’ health benefits. Those same workers then moved to unionize, citing wages that are not high enough to support living in one of the country’s least affordable areas.
Was Coffee Good For You in 2025?
Over the course of the year, we bring you the good and the bad of coffee health studies, with one simple goal: to figure out if coffee is actually good for you or not. We’ve been doing this for a few years now, and just like last year, the answer is: mostly?
The year started with the Food and Drug Administration announcing that coffee drinks containing fewer than five calories can officially be labeled as “healthy.” Drinking 3-4 cups of coffee per day could help slow down premature aging in those suffering from mental health conditions like schizophrenia. Coffee may lower your risk of developing various diseases, including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, can reduce pain associated with endometriosis, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, can improve your mood.
Researchers continued to study the link between coffee and aging. This year, they found that coffee can reduce the risk of frailty and of developing osteoporosis, curb cognitive decline, and protect against dementia. And, assuming you take your coffee black, coffee can even help you live longer—especially if you drink it in the morning, and drink more tea and water as well.
It wasn’t all good news (it never is). Many of us use caffeine to stay awake while driving, but a study published in November found that excessive caffeine consumption might be risky on the road. Coffee might also impact the effectiveness of antibiotics, and, if you like a late-night latte, could make you more impulsive.
While coffee health studies are by their very nature inconclusive (because they often rely on self-reported data and drinking habits), in October, a review of decades worth of research found that, in general, moderate coffee consumption is good for you.
On the Lighter Side
The Coffee News Club focuses mainly on the big issues affecting coffee, but we also make sure to bring you some unconventional or off the wall stories whenever they pop up.
One thing we like to track is marketing campaigns in disguise. For example, both Peet’s and Chameleon Cold Brew advertised “job postings” that sought influencers to travel and promote their brands. Maxwell House briefly rebranded as Maxwell Apartment to, we think, poke fun at the housing crisis? Oh, and sell coffee too, of course.
In May, visitors to Venice, Italy, could enjoy a delicious espresso made with water from the city’s famous lagoons. Yes, it sounds gross, but the water was purified before brewing, part of an art exhibit meant to draw attention to the issue of clean water in the age of climate change. Starbucks, meanwhile, discovered—and supersized—the cortado.
Gen Z might be changing how we drink coffee, but they’re also apparently scared of baristas. A survey from multinational home appliance manufacturer Philips in August found that 47% of respondents won’t even enter a coffee shop for fear of having an awkward encounter with the person behind the counter. Instead, most order drinks on their phone or order delivery.
In October, there was some controversy over which coffee brand gets to own the concept of death. Death Wish Coffee sued the canned water company Liquid Death, which Death Wish claimed was angling to launch a line of coffee products with names like “Deathuccino.” Liquid Death said it had no current plans to get into the coffee space, and noted that “we don’t believe any one company can legally own the word DEATH regardless of how it’s used.”
Oh, and coffee raves are now a thing. We reported on this phenomenon back in March, when they were mostly contained to Europe, but since then, the concept of a caffeine-fueled morning dance party has spread far and wide.
Phew, that was a lot of news! Thanks for reading about everything happening in the world of coffee, either through this overview or by being a reader of Coffee News Club. What will the coffee trends of 2026 be? We’ll be sure to cover them in our weekly newsletter—if you’re not a subscriber, join now to make sure you don’t miss a thing.
