How Should Specialty Coffee Shops Set Fair Prices?

High prices in specialty coffee do not automatically signal quality, and cafes that rely on them can lose customer trust. The article argues that shops should price drinks reasonably and let professional service carry the value message. It also points to a real gap between independent cafes and chain brands, since independents can explain origin, roast and brew choices in person rather than through a menu board alone.

Concrete examples show what goes wrong. One shop in a small county town sold a Sidamo Huakui pour-over at three prices, from 30 to 62 yuan, and the most expensive cup tasted thin. A Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Blue Label Geisha reached 158 yuan per cup, while an americano cost 40 yuan. Sharing coffee knowledge with customers is presented as the practical counterweight to that kind of pricing.

In the specialty coffee industry, high prices seem to have become synonymous with quality, but can price really represent everything? Starting from real cases, this article explores how coffee shops can price reasonably and how they can use professional service to help customers perceive the value of specialty coffee. The article analyzes the current pricing chaos in specialty coffee, points out the differentiated advantages of independent coffee shops over chain brands, and emphasizes that the service experience is the key to winning customer trust. Whether you are a coffee professional or an enthusiast, you can gain practical insights into coffee shop management and product pricing.

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In the field of specialty coffee, there is an unwritten rule: it seems that only by marking a high price can the superiority of the coffee beans and the excellence of the brew be demonstrated. For a long time, the label the public has attached to coffee has always been inseparable from the word "expensive," especially for specialty coffee. Whether in the early years when coffee was not yet widespread in China, or now when coffee has become part of daily life, high-priced coffee is still regarded as a matter of course.

Take my personal experience as an example. I have tasted a Huakui pour-over coffee from Sidamo, Ethiopia, at three price points: 30 yuan, 48 yuan, and 62 yuan. Whenever I think back to the 62-yuan cup, I always feel I was taken for a fool. Perhaps you would think this was the pricing of a coffee shop in a big city, but in fact it came from a coffee shop in a small county town, and that cup of coffee tasted as weak as plain water.

Why did I pay? Because at the time I had promised to treat a friend to pour-over coffee and let her choose for herself, and that 62-yuan Huakui was already the cheapest option on the pour-over menu. The most expensive was the once-available Hacienda La Esmeralda Blue Label Geisha, priced at 158 yuan per cup! (At the time, that price could buy 100 grams on the market.) Other coffees were priced no more affordably either. An Americano was 40 yuan a cup, and it still used a blend of Brazilian and Colombian beans. From these prices, it is not hard to see that this shop was clearly pricing at random.

Because many ordinary consumers lack understanding of specialty coffee, and the word "specialty" is often associated with "light luxury" and "limited edition," when people cannot distinguish product quality, they often use price as the standard of judgment, which has encouraged the trend of arbitrary pricing in specialty coffee.

Perhaps some will say that different shops have different costs, so price fluctuations are normal. But sometimes pricing also needs to know where to stop. When customers walk into an independent coffee shop, they expect a service experience that chain stores cannot provide. If a high price does not bring more sincere and professional service in return, it will be difficult to win customers' trust and repeat visits.

Some professionals or enthusiasts judge whether a bean is specialty by whether it comes from a single origin, what its SCA score is, whether its flavor is rich and refined, and whether it is freshly roasted in-house or roasted in small batches; others decide based on green bean variety, quality, roast level, and final flavor performance; still others firmly believe that price determines everything—expensive does not necessarily mean good, but cheap definitely is not specialty.

However, for ordinary consumers, coffee flavor and bean quality are like blind spots of knowledge, and these concepts are vague and elusive. What they can truly feel about whether something is specialty lies in service. Since the pricing is on the high side, it should be matched with meticulous and professional service.

Unfortunately, many coffee shops cannot even meet these basic requirements. When discussing pricing in independent coffee shops, people always say they cannot offer prices as low as Luckin and simply cannot compete. But the fact that independent coffee shops are still needed precisely proves that there are some things Luckin cannot do: more professional and attentive service and a better consumption experience, for which it is worth spending a little more.

This kind of service is not about constantly "interrogating" customers about their needs, but about producing every product with a professional attitude and, when possible, observing customers' subtle actions more closely to see whether problems can be solved in advance and customers' favorability toward the coffee shop can be improved.

Specialty coffee is reflected in quality and service. These will affect pricing, but that does not mean it must be expensive. Every coffee shop has different operating costs and positioning. There are many high-quality coffee beans, and there are also many specialty-grade coffees that can reach an SCA score of 80 or above, and most beans are not expensive.

To make the specialty coffee industry grow and make more people demand it, we must start with differences that the public can simply and clearly perceive, and service is exactly the key. Affordable prices do not mean quality and service are lacking, and high prices do not mean quality and service are necessarily good. If a high price is set but only the service of a chain takeaway shop is provided, or even worse, how can consumers have a good impression of specialty coffee?

Image and text are unrelated. Source: Internet.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.