Imported beans will continue to be roasted and the coffee will continue to flow despite new tariffs implemented by the Trump administration, Sherif Marzouk, co-owner of Chantilly, Virginia-based Loud’n Roasted Coffee Roasters said.
“I don’t choose to live my life in fear, rather I choose to just take it one day at a time,” Marzouk said. He and his wife founded their family-run coffee roasting business six years ago, and now have locations in Chantilly and Ashburn.
Based on the country-by-country tariffs set in place by the Trump administration, a look at the small, independent roaster’s single origin offerings on its website means the business will have to pay 10% more for coffees from Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Ethiopia and Tanzania. Coffee imported from Indonesia will be subject to a 32% tariff.
“When it comes to cups, a 10% tariff on coffee that’s coming (into the country) is almost nothing compared to the 100% increase for coffee that we’ve seen just this past year,” Marzouk said.
Brazil, which supplies more than a third of the world’s coffee, endured droughts and record rainfall, which drove up the cost to U.S. customers.
While increased costs for a single cup of coffee may be tolerable to customers, “when you talk 10% on coffee that you are turning around the wholesaling, ouch,” Marzouk said.
As a small business owner, “We order about 13-to-15-hundred pounds a month, we’re not a massive roaster that’s turning over 13-to-15-hundred pounds a week,” he said. With the company’s newly-opened Ashburn location, “We hope to have even more throughput.”
Are the tariffs being felt yet?
If he picked up the phone and placed a new order today, he wouldn’t feel the effects of the tariffs yet.
“If there is a container that’s sea-bound, coming to the U.S., then once it lands, then it becomes tariffed,” Marzouk said.
Yet, he is doing the math on how the tariffs will affect his business, and ultimately, his customers.
“For a cup of coffee, you have your paper or plastic cost, you have your milk cost, and you have your coffee cost,” said Marzouk. “In one pound of coffee you can get 25, 18-gram shots of espresso — four latte-based drinks or Americanos.”
Marzouk rejects the idea of resorting to shrinkflation — selling smaller bags of coffee to avoid raising prices.
“If I’m going to make a price increase or price change, I clearly communicate that,” Marzouk said. “I don’t want to give you less than what you anticipate — that’s something I certainly don’t want to do to the heartbeat of the business.”
Marzouk said he hopes the tariffs are rescinded quickly, “and we can continue with business as usual. I’m optimistic.”
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