Single O leads the charge: Why higher coffee prices are the reset the industry needs
18 March 2025
Media release
As global coffee prices reach record highs, the specialty coffee industry is facing a pivotalm moment. The C-market – the global benchmark for coffee pricing – has surged to $4USD per npound, marking a 103% increase in just 12 months. Specialty coffee, which already commands a premium above the C-market price, is experiencing even steeper price rises. Rather than seeing this as a challenge, Single O believes this is the reset the industry has needed for decades. Now is the time to rethink how specialty coffee is valued, ensuring that producers, roasters, and independent cafes thrive while continuing to deliver world-leading quality.
Higher prices enable roasters to continue investing in quality and ensure that Australia’s independent cafes-renowned for their leadership in specialty coffee can sustain their operations while offering consumers exceptional coffee experiences. It also ensures producers can participate in a more equitable share in the billions of dollars the global coffee industry generates each year.
Single O views this current shift as an opportunity to correct the undervaluation of specialty coffee. Mike Brabant, CEO, Single O says, “For over 20 years, the price of specialty coffee in Australia has been kept artificially low, often comparable to mass-market chains. But the meticulous work that goes into every cup – from the producer’s farm to the roaster’s craft to the final pour at an independent cafe – deserves to be fairly valued.”
Single O believes that for the long-term sustainability of the industry, cup prices nationwide must increase to a minimum of $6. They’ve already led the way raising cup prices at their Surry Hills cafe to $6.50 for a regular and $7.50 for a large. Despite these increases, specialty coffee in Australia remains an excellent value compared to international markets.
While higher prices bring challenges, they also bring opportunities. Producers will receive a more equitable share of the industry’s value, ensuring long-term sustainability and encouraging continued investment in quality. Single O remains committed to paying higher premiums to secure top-tier specialty coffee, allowing consumers to continue enjoying exceptional quality in every cup. This moment is also a turning point for specialty coffee, as increased resources allow producers to better combat climate change, innovate with new varieties, and elevate specialty ncoffee to even greater heights.
Single O’s Head of Coffee, Wendy De Jong, highlights how increased coffee prices can positively impact sustainability efforts. “This moment is not just a pricing shift but a movement toward a more sustainable and equitable industry, especially for producers. Increased revenue allows them to invest in climate resilience – planting more shade trees, experimenting with new varieties, and securing the future of specialty coffee.”
Single O’s No Death to Coffee campaign has been at the heart of its sustainability mission since 2019. This initiative is dedicated to driving awareness of climate change’s impact on coffee’s future, and informs Single O’s commitment to continue innovating, reducing waste, and championing better practices across the industry. By partnering with sustainability innovators like Reground, Single O has been working for years to implement long-term environmental solutions that ensure independent cafes can remain profitable while providing high-quality coffee to consumers.
Single O believes that paying more for a cup of coffee is an investment in the broader coffee ecosystem. It’s about taste, and supporting a sustainable supply chain, ensuring that farmers receive fair compensation, and keeping independent cafes running strong. “That $6 or $7 cup of coffee is worth it,” says De Jong. “It’s an investment in the future of coffee-one where ethical sourcing, sustainable practices, and quality go hand in hand.”
About Single O
Single O was established in 2003 as a café & roaster in the back streets of Surry Hills, by a couple of single origin lovers escaping the corporate world. Back then, it was a sea of stale Italian packet coffee & fresh quality beans were hard to come by. And so by necessity & sheer will, Single O led the charge on showcasing single origin coffees, along with third wave roasting and brewing in Sydney. Since then, Single O has grown to supply likeminded, quality-crazed hospos, from their bases in Australia & Japan (since’14). The OG Surry Hills café digs is still cranking & pushing the brewing envelope, more recently introducing the world’s first batch brew
bar, Freepour Coffee On Tap. Single O recently opened its second Australian cafe in Newstead, Brisbane in September 2023, marking an exciting milestone in the coffee roaster’s history.
In 2018, Single O introduced its climate-change impact awareness program, No Death to Coffee, which spans across a number of initiatives. As part of the program, Single O was the first roaster to bring climate-resilient F1 variety coffees to customers, giving Aussies a world-exclusive taste of the future of coffee and rallying the industry to sign up to the World Coffee Research. Banning hundreds of thousands of single use cups from landfill through a ban on branded single use cups since the brand’s inception in 2003, they also co-founded The Juggler, which has saved over 18 million two-litre plastic milk bottles from the waste stream.
Also part of their mission to go circular, Single O have partnered with Reground to divert over 35,000 kilos of ground coffee landing in landfill, with 66,000 kg of emissions avoided to date.
Single O is now embarking on the journey to achieve net zero status by 2030, in order to go beyond simply offsetting emissions through other parties and focus on reducing the companies own emissions, through upgrading their 92 existing solar panels, reducing environmental impact at an on premise and agricultural level as well as its fleet.
