Ground coffee averaged $9.33 a pound in September. Two years ago it was $6.47.‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 
BOOMERS TRADE
Andrew James reporting. 64, and counting.
The two prices on the counter before seven
Every morning starts with the same two purchases, a scoop of coffee and a flip of the light switch. Both of them are rising faster than the raise Social Security announced this week.
44%
How much the average pound of ground coffee climbed in two years, to $9.33 in September. The 2027 raise is 3.6%.
The coffee can on my counter used to be the cheapest luxury in the house.
Now I check the price before I put it in the cart. So does every friend of mine who still brews a full pot.
That is your read this afternoon. The morning routine is the one budget line few of us will ever cut. It just got a good deal more expensive.
Somebody is on the receiving end of that price. The coffee comes from a farm, and the farm belongs to someone.
From our partners
Green Coffee Company
Green Coffee Company grows the coffee it sells.
It owns and operates 45 farms in Colombia, more than 10,000 acres and over 10 million coffee trees.
It runs its own wet mills, among the largest in Colombia, and manages the chain from the farm to the cup.
Its coffee is already on the shelf in 3,000+ retail locations across North America.
Revenue went from $1 million in 2021 to $26 million in 2025.
The company is still private. Shares are $1.15, the minimum is $1,000.50 for 870 shares, and no accreditation is required.
Private investments are speculative and illiquid. Returns are not guaranteed. Review the offering circular before investing.
The government’s own price survey shows how fast the cup moved. Ground coffee averaged $6.47 a pound in September 2024.
This September the same pound averaged $9.33 at the grocery store.
$9.33
average price of a pound of ground coffee, September 2026
 
$6.47
the same pound in September 2024
That is a 44% jump in two years. Over the past twelve months alone, coffee rose 7.1%, about twice the 3.6% raise that checks get in January.
The second purchase is the light switch. It is climbing too, more slowly but without a break.
Electricity averaged 19.6 cents a kilowatt-hour in September. Two years ago it was 17.8 cents. Back in 2019, before any of this, it was 13.9 cents.
Over the past year, power rose 4.4%. That also beats the 3.6% raise, and it shows up on a bill every single month.
Where the cohort’s money sits this quarter, and what the morning costs in each aisle.
 
Travel
The trip years, when coffee was something you bought at the airport.
 
Health & Housing
The cohort is here this quarter
The house that has to change, with a kitchen that brews and a meter that runs all day.
 
Longevity
Next in front of the money
More good years, each one starting with the same cup and the same switch.
 
Estate
The good coffee maker gets handed down. The habit usually comes with it.
What the headlines miss is where both prices are set. Neither one is decided in your kitchen.
Coffee gets priced on farms two continents away, after weather, shipping, and tariffs take their cut.
Power gets priced in a contest over electricity itself. Data centers are the new bidders. They pay to be first in line.
Grid operators hold auctions to buy enough capacity for the hottest days. Their newest round shows how tight that market got.
From our partners
Dear Friend,
On December 17th PJM, America’s biggest grid operator, held the auction that keeps the lights on in 13 states.
It came up short. First time in its history.
6,623 megawatts short, and the bill still set a record 16.4 billion dollars.
That number does not stay in the auction. It lands in your house.
“The Buck Stops Here,”
Kelly Maguire
Behind the Markets
Neither price only goes up. That is the honest limit here. Coffee has crashed before after a big harvest. Power prices depend on fuel costs and on what regulators allow.
And the raise is not the whole budget. A household with savings earning a few percent can absorb a pricier cup better than one living on the check alone.
Who is already standing there
Whoever owns the scarce input. The grower with its own farms collects more for every pound when the shelf price climbs. The owner of a plant that can deliver power on demand collects more for every hour the grid runs short. The kitchen is the customer that never skips a morning.
The arithmetic
Coffee: Bureau of Labor Statistics average price, ground coffee, 100% roast, per pound (APU0000717311), via FRED: $9.332 in September 2026, $9.139 in September 2025, $6.470 in September 2024. 9.332 / 6.470 = 1.442, a 44% rise over two years, Boomers Trade’s own arithmetic. Coffee CPI (CUUR0000SEFP01): 299.101 in September 2026 and 279.280 a year earlier, up 7.1%. Electricity: BLS average price per kilowatt-hour (APU000072610): 19.6 cents in September 2026, 17.8 cents in September 2024, 13.9 cents in September 2019; electricity CPI (CUUR0000SEHF01): 309.852 in September 2026 against 296.887 a year earlier, up 4.4%. 2027 Social Security cost-of-living raise of 3.6%, paid from January: Social Security Administration, October 14, 2026. 7.1 / 3.6 = about twice. The coffee can on the author’s counter is an illustration.
 
Next month the October price report comes out. Check two lines before anything else, coffee and electricity. If both are still running ahead of 3.6%, the morning just took a bigger share of next year’s raise.
Andrew
Boomers Trade is written by someone getting older right alongside you, and watching who profits from it.

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