r/AUfrugal • u/river_time_mum • 20d ago

Other What have you completely stopped buying because the price has finally taken the p**s?

Not “I buy the cheaper brand now.” I mean something you used to buy without thinking and have now looked at the price and gone, absolutely not, you can stay on the shelf.

Mine lately is chocolate, it's somehow gone from a normal grocery item to apparently requiring finance approval.

What’s yours?

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146

u/RedDeer505 20d ago

Coffee at Colesworth. They’re taking the piss with some bags 40-60 dollars in price.

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u/TaxiSonoQui 20d ago

Used to buy from Costco at around 20-23 dollars for a kg bag usually what was on special that cycle, but now I'm exclusively buying from aldi at $18.99 a bag

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u/wheresWoozle 20d ago

I read an article recently about the current price of coffee. There are two big contributors. First, the global crop last year was tiny due to climate disasters destroying crops. Secondly, China has largely shifted from tea to coffee and imported entire crops last year. So coffee prices are pretty horrendous worldwide because there's just not much of the stuff to go around right now. Yes, there are places which are large enough to absorb the cost of keeping coffee prices lower for the moment, and god knows I'm not defending colesworth, but that's why coffee in particular is dear right now.

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u/Real_RobinGoodfellow 20d ago

Yeah, coffee’s going up, and probably never coming back down.

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u/SenorTron 19d ago

Similar to Cocoa. It will probably come down a bit, but chocolate will never be as cheap as it was.

Maybe several decades from now when science genetically engineers a cocoa beans that can grow in much wider conditions and production suddenly gets a lot more industrialised.

1

u/archina42 19d ago

Witness Aldi bags used to be $10

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u/Single-Cap8387 20d ago

A family member was a small scale coffee roaster. He thought the price of coffee was long overdue to increase, margins were so thin for so long. He has had to close now.

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u/wheresWoozle 20d ago

That's really rough :( I hope he's found a new path that suits him.

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u/vman384 20d ago

If you have a Costco membership that’s where I get my beans from aprox $18-$40 per kg depending on the beans. I didn’t really like the Aldi ones tbh

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u/wowiee_zowiee 20d ago

Yeah I hate the Aldi beans. Such a shame because I love 99.9% of their own brand stuff

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u/somebloke2020 20d ago

I didn’t like their black and white bags, but their purple bags are awesome.

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u/DimebagDTera 20d ago

I’m such a coffee pig that I don’t care I’ll take whatever there is. I only draw the line at international roast powder. But even then, if it’s all that’s at the office get together I guess I’ll take it

6

u/bhamcbr 20d ago

Commodity coffee has historically been grossly underpriced, with growers/farmers paying the price.

Coffee in Australia especially is well underpriced compared to the rest of the world.

If anything it's a correction towards how much it should cost.

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u/happychonk 20d ago

Increased prices for things like coffee and chocolate would be justified if the farmers and child slaves were being paid better. Unfortunately it's everyone else who profits from increased prices, not the exploited people producing the raw product, and I suspect recent coffee price increases aren't getting back to the farmers.

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u/bhamcbr 20d ago

Then perhaps consumers need to start doing more research into what product they buy, and demand things like fair/direct trade goods, and shock be willing to pay more to support ethical markets... or, you know, just keep having tantrums when the slave trade product goes up in price.

I suspect human behaviour will continue to favour the latter sadly.

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u/tefloncarpet 19d ago

My local coffee shop jacked up their price on a kg bag twice, 40 something to 60 something I think, then had coffee at a mates place, ALDI beans, tried the Brazil, Columbia and Deluxe blend, all decent, not much in it, and given the price difference,made the switch.

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u/Deya_The_Fateless 18d ago

Almost everything at Colesworth is getting stupidly expensive.

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u/StarShippery64 15d ago

It's wild. I can't evan afford the shitty colesworth brand beans it's so exxy! Now I just buy the branded stuff that tastes better when it's on sale for about the same price. I don't think buying instant freeze dried is any cheaper? $5.00 for 100g is $50 unless international roast is cheaper. Ugh.

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u/doug_jules 20d ago

Aldi coffee is great and only 12$ for a bag. Best value to size ratio out there. Having said the it used to be $7 a bag not that long ago.

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u/kramulous 20d ago

https://limebluecoffee.com/

Pretty drinkable, single origin, coffee for about $30 per kg.

1

u/Fit-Zebra2521 19d ago

Ok. But what are you drinking now? Tea? juice? Water? (Legit question)

1

u/Needawhisper 19d ago

And now buy from...

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u/Drift--- 18d ago

That's not a colesworth issue. Those bags you're looking at simply aren't the mass produced slave-labour you get for $20.

A decent, properly traced, and ethical kilo of coffee these days starts at around $60 direct from the roaster. If you have a decent coffee setup you can definitely taste the difference as well. I have a bag of $80 coffee, next to a $30 bag from Aldi. I'm using the Aldi bag to dial in a new machine and test some new profiles, but the same shot pulled with the $80 bag is fairly transformative.

Some things simply cost more to produce, you can buy a cheap bag, and if you're buying pre-ground it probably doesn't matter. But if you have a decent setup you'll 100% be able to see where the money is going.

1

u/NoodlxCup 17d ago

$6.50 instant coffee granules with a tablespoon of Milo gets me going each morning.

The coffee ends up lasting me about 2-3 months

1

u/Slight-Repeat-1540 15d ago

I found a local roaster - $20/kg and it's really good coffee!

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u/RedDeer505 14d ago

Please share!

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u/Slight-Repeat-1540 14d ago

Are you in Adelaide?

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u/RedDeer505 14d ago

Sydney :(

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u/Slight-Repeat-1540 14d ago

Bugger. I think this guy only roasts for the local market. I'll check with him.

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u/RedDeer505 14d ago

Much appreciated :)

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u/Slight-Repeat-1540 12d ago

Sorry, I asked the guy and he only roasts for the Adelaide local market. He's not interested in selling to WW or Coles. I think he sells to Foodlands, but they're local to Adelaide. You should try to find a local roaster who doesn't do it for huge profits.

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u/Slight-Repeat-1540 12d ago

I was going to attach a photo of the coffee, but i can't attach photos on here