"And they see more and more American consumers willing to spend $8 or $12 for a cup of joe, which would offset their high costs of production."
Good luck!
Good luck!
The only way I'd pay more than, say, $5 a pound (nice round figure, both of us are paying slightly less) is if it was _really fucking good_. I mean, really good. The kind of good that when other people told me how good it is, I'd tell them that I buy the damned coffee, I know how good it is, you don't have to tell me how good it is.
California has dominated the olive oil and wine lists, but it doesn't mean I'm going out and buying $50-100 bottles of wine and $10-20 tiny ass bottles of olive oil. I buy what is good, not what is perfect.
Worst case you decide it's not worth the extra money and can feel smug in your decision to stick with the cheap stuff.
Not tasting like burnt ass is, thankfully, a low bar to clear; it's less the quality of the beans and whatnot, and more your brew method when it's that bad.
We should be encouraging rich people to spend money, not shaming them for it.
Wages.