Price of a cup of coffee causes pain to hip pocket
Bleary eyed and desperate for a caffeine hit this morning? Be careful which cafe threshold you stumble across - or your wallet might take a pounding.
You could end up paying as much as $5 for a standard 250ml cappuccino, which you could find elsewhere for $1.50 less.
One Queensland chain, the Shingle Inn, charges 50c more for a cafe latte pulled in Brisbane than it does for the same coffee dished in Sydney.
Its cappuccino prices are 30c higher in Brisbane than in Sydney.
The good news, according to Milton-based coffee wholesaler Gilkatho's managing director Wayne Fowler, is that Brisbane is no longer the most expensive city for a cup of coffee - the honour for that title rests with Perth.
Mr Fowler has conducted the Gilkatho Cappuccino Price Index for almost a decade, tracking an industry now worth more than $10 billion.
His report surveys coffee prices across Australia in more than 900 cafes. The average cappuccino in Brisbane cost $3.48 (dine-in) during the March quarter, compared to Perth's $3.74.
Coffee bean prices have dipped from their record highs recently but only a small percentage of the cappuccino or latte's purchase price is for coffee beans, with the rest going on overheads.
"A $28.80 1kg bag of coffee will produce 120 shots, which works out at 24c per shot of coffee," Mr Fowler said. "On a $3.50 coffee the coffee content is 24c, the rest is attributable to rent, labour, milk and incidentals like cups."
Campos Coffee's John Ronchi agreed staff were the biggest expense for cafes.
"Labour, labour, labour - it's the same across all hospitality. You pay peanuts and get monkeys. The same applies to coffee."
A good barista could expect more than $25 per hour and he'd heard of Sydney cafes prepared to pay a finders' fee of $1500 to secure coffee-making talent.
The owner of Jeremy's Bistro in Albert St, Brisbane City, Jeremy Van Balen, said the $5 pricing for cappuccino and latte at his CBD venue reflected its status as a restaurant, not a coffee shop.
"We don't want to attract coffee customers.
"We used to be a cafe, now we're a restaurant."
COFFEE PRICING GUIDE
MERLO BRISBANE, City
* Cappuccino $3.95 or takeaway $3.40
* Latte 3.95 or t/a $3.40
COFFEE CLUB, Milton
* Cappuccino $4.00 or t/a $3.50
* Latte $4.30 250ml or t/a $3.50
GLORIA JEANS, South Brisbane
* Cappuccino $3.75 or t/a $3.75
* Latte $3.75 or t/a $3.75
AROMAS, Brisbane Airport International & Domestic
* Cappuccino $3.90 or t/a $3.90
* Latte $3.90 or t/a $3.90
AROMAS, Milton
* Cappuccino $3.80 or t/a $3.80
* Latte $3.80 or t/a $3.80
STARBUCKS, QueensPlaza Brisbane
* Cappuccino $3.50 or t/a $3.50
* Latte $3.50 or t/a $3.50
JEREMY’S BISTRO, Brisbane City
* Cappuccino $5.00 or T/A $4.50
* Latte $5.00 or t/a $4.50
CAMPOS, Fortitude Valley
* Cappuccino $3.30 or t/a $3.50
* Latte $3.30 or t/a $3.50
ZARRAFFA’S, City
* Cappuccino $3.50 or t/a $3.50
* Latte $3.50 or t/a $3.50
STELLAROSSA, City
* Cappuccino $3.50 or t/a 3.50
* Latte $3.00 or t/a $3.50
HUDSONS, Brisbane International Airport
* Cappuccino $3.60 or t/a $3.60
* Latte $3.60 or t/a $3.60
DANDELION & DRIFTWOOD, Hendra
* Cappuccino $4.00 or t/a $4.00
* Latte $4.00 or t/a $4.00
COFFEE & CHOCOLATE, Brisbane City
* Cappuccino $4.30 or t/a $4.30
* Latte $4.30, t/a $4.30
SHINGLE INN, Brisbane City
* Cappuccino $3.90, (No 8oz t/a available)
* Latte $4.10 (No 8oz t/a available)
McDONALD'S, Brisbane City
* Cappuccino $2.95 285ml,$2.95 t/a 285ml
* Latte $2.95 295ml or t/a
Source: Courier Mail, 28 July 2012
