Hot coffee and cold brew prices on U.S. coffee shop menus are rising rapidly, according to new private point-of-sale data spanning tens of thousands of cafes.
The restaurant and cafe digital solutions company Toast found that the prices for regular hot coffee rose year-over-year in August in 41 U.S. states, reaching a national median price of $3.52. The August 2025 national median price for a cold brew reached $5.47.
Coffee Inflation
The Toast report follows recent news that prices for packaged coffee at U.S. retail stores recorded the fastest monthly jump in nearly three decades, according to the U.S. Consumer Price Index. That report showed that packaged whole bean/ground and instant coffee cost consumers nearly 21% more in August 2025 compared to a year earlier.
The coffee price inflation in cafes and grocery stores follows more than a year of historically high commodity coffee prices — both for arabica and robusta — that have caused many roasting companies to pass increased green coffee costs down to consumers. Price pressures have been compounded by President Trump’s tariffs on goods from most of the world’s coffee-producing countries, including a 50% tariff on imports from Brazil.
Despite the Trump administration’s stated goal to boost U.S. manufacturing through tariffs — which are fees paid by U.S. companies to import goods — coffee production is not scalable to meet demand in the U.S.
Spreading on Toast
Toast says it serves roughly 148,000 restaurant locations across the United States, giving it a broad window into list prices and ordering patterns at independent cafes and multi-unit operators.
The coffee analysis focuses on median menu prices by state and in select cities for two products — regular hot coffee (drip or pourover) and cold brew — with comparisons between August 2024 and August 2025, plus some seasonality trends.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the Toast August 2025 report:
National median price points (August 2025)
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Regular hot coffee: $3.52
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Regular cold brew: $5.47
State leaders
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Most expensive state: Hawaii ($5.23 hot and $6.74 cold brew)
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Lowest-price states for hot coffee: West Virginia and Mississippi (“just under $3”)
City leaders (regular hot)
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Highest medians: Los Angeles ($4.99); San Francisco ($4.92)
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Largest year-over-year jump: Seattle +12.4%. Toast POS
Cold brew: a few price dips
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While the national median is up, Toast flagged city-level declines in Miami (−0.4%) and San Antonio (−8.6%), which Toast suggests may reflect smaller serving sizes or limited cup options rather than broad-based discounting.
Hot vs. Cold
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Cold brew orders more than doubled from winter to summer, peaking in July 2025 at 35% over the yearly average.
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Regular coffee stays steadier, with peaks in December and March.
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