Price perk: Coffee costs going up

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - The coffee isn't the only thing percolating at the Ohio Coffee Company on Ludlow and Fifth, the prices are too.

"People come in like it was $1.95 last week now it's $2.50," says the shops owner Robert Gray. "What am I supposed to do."

Gray says he's paying as much as $4 more per pound for coffee than he was earlier this year. That might not amount to a whole hill of beans for some people but when you brew as much as Gray does it can add up.

"We're having to eat this loss and the roasters are eating the loss because of the trends in the market right now," Gray says.

In fact, java prices jumped so high that Gray gave up on listing them on his board.

"After 6 months of the prices keep going up I had to put market price because I was literally raising the prices every two or three weeks for a while," Gray says.

Gray blames the boom in bean prices on the economy, and the fact that more people are warming up to the idea of drinking coffee.

"I don't think a lot of guys can produce enough beans for the demand that's out there," Gray says.

So far customers haven't been too steamed about the higher prices, and Gray hopes they realize that he's just trying to grind out a living one cup at a time.

"I understand everybody's strapped these days but when it comes down to it treat yourself nice," Gray says. "If you spend a dollar on a 25 ounce cup of coffee you get what you pay for."

Gray says he's not sure about where the prices will go from here, but he adds that in the few years he's owned the Ohio Coffee Company he's never seen prices go lower.