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In February, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled President Trump’s tariffs unconstitutional. But in the ten months it took for the tariffs to be struck down, Customs and Border Protection collected nearly $166 billion in revenue, including tariffs on items like coffee. In April, the department said it would begin refunding companies, and some green coffee importers have pledged to pass that money down to their customers.
Tariffs imposed in April 2025 on coffee and other goods imported into the U.S. were primarily paid at the point of entry by importers. With tariffs ranging from 10% to 50% on each shipment, many importers passed these costs on to their customers. In coffee, that meant higher costs were passed down from green coffee importers to roasters and then to cafes, which in turn upped the price of things like beans and drinks. Tariffs were one of the reasons retail coffee prices spiked last year.
With importers getting their tariff money back, Zac Cadwalader reports for Sprudge that several specialty green importers have said they will refund their customers or issue credits. Over the past three weeks, Royal Coffee, Atlas Coffee Importers, and Cafe Imports all announced they will pass on the refunds they received to customers.
Whether coffee drinkers will see a dime of refund money remains to be seen. Cadwalader calls figuring out exactly how to do that “a near impossible task.” If you’re a roaster who receives a few thousand dollars back, how do you decide who gets that money? If you’re a cafe, how many lattes do you need to give away?
Some coffee companies are giving it a try: Royal announced that it will temporarily reduce drink prices at its cafe, The Crown, in Oakland, California. The company’s director of education, Chris Kornman, detailed how the company calculated this discount. In April 2025, The Crown raised its prices to compensate for the tariffs, which Kornman estimates brought in $2,500. In an attempt to give customers their money back, the cafe will temporarily reduce its prices by 25 cents per drink for 60 days.
By explaining exactly how they’re doing it, Kornman wrote, Royal hopes to offer other cafes a model for how to calculate a potential drink rebate should they choose to refund their customers.
