How has the cost of coffee changed throughout history? Unfortunately, there are no surviving records which tell us how much coffee was sold for in ancient Yemen, which leaves us to speculate. In the “Penny Universities” of 17th century London, a cup of coffee cost a mere penny (worth AU $0.84 today). That doesn’t sound bad at all!
By 1900, coffee was still not a popular beverage in Australia: it was far outweighed by tea. However, the Americans had developed a large cafe culture and commonly sold a cup of coffee for a nickel (5 c, which equates to AU $2.85 today).
Moving forward in history, one Australian newspaper from 1954 reported that a cup of coffee cost 1 shilling ($2.21 today). Prices rose rapidly following a devastating frost in Brazil in 1975, which wiped out much of the crop from that country — which is a large player in the international coffee market. Today in Australia, we pay an average of $6 for a latte. But even that pales in comparison to the most expensive cups of coffee in the world — which comes from Yemen and costs over $16 for a single cup! That raises the question — how much are you willing to pay for a good coffee?
