“They’ll Pry My Coffee Cup from My Cold Fingers …”

Such is the love of coffee fans for their favorite hot beverage. The statement in the title represents the feelings of many coffee lovers when rising coffee prices bump up against stretched budgets. Jeremiah McWilliams interviewed several people recently and wrote about what he learned in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. McWilliams described the “essential list”, those things people refuse to give up when the price rises and incomes don’t. According to his data, coffee prices have risen to a level 40% higher than a year ago. Other items on this list include internet service, hair coloring, smart phones, and surprisingly, three-ply toilet paper. Consumers will sacrifice some other part of their lives before parting with items on the essential list. Three-ply toilet paper and coffee somehow don’t seem in the same league, but there’s no explaining some people. Some of us - who coincidentally don’t look at ads - probably don’t know that somewhere along the line in the last few years, some paper companies snuck an extra layer in the tissue. If they took it out, would anyone REALLY notice? Back to the coffee, a true essential item. Indeed, one in six survey respondents indicated they had to have their daily cup of gourmet coffee. It’s an increase from the one in seven from previous surveys. This is another indication we’re in the third coffee wave, if one of every six people will not give up at least one cup of GOURMET coffee. Look how far we’ve come. It might be expected that some of these coffee lovers would at least substitute regular coffee for the gourmet when budgets are stressed, but insisting on the gourmet variety means we’ve jumped light years beyond the old coffee culture when Folgers was considered coffee. So you might be wondering what is on the non-essential list that people will give up to pay for their coffee. One man changed car insurance companies, which resulted in enough savings to buy his coffee for a year. Another man was more worried about gas prices, so presumably he’ll be more frugal in his driving. “A self-described coffee snob” summed it up pretty well when he said, “Heavy coffee drinkers will pay the price, and maybe complain about it - over a cup of coffee.” If you find yourself complaining, why not do it while enjoying one of our gourmet coffees direct from the farmer? We don’t think you’ll complain about any of the selections below when it comes to what we love most in gourmet coffees.