Inflation is hitting New Yorkers where it really hurts — in their morning cup of Joe.
Coffee cart prices are creeping up as vendors scramble to keep up with ever-increasing supply costs – leaving caffeine-starved commuters and tourists groaning about another pinch on their wallets.
The iconic carts omnipresent on the sidewalks of Midtown Manhattan are still one of the last bastions of affordable java in the Big Apple, but many spots have upped prices by 50 cents in recent months, with a small cup going for $1.50 and a large up to $2.50, vendors and coffee drinkers told The Post.
Cart jockeys around Rockefeller Center and Times Square blame inflation and tariff threats — and warn it could turn into a full-blown coffee cart crisis.
“Everything’s more expensive,” fumed 20-year java seller Aziz Changezi, who sells coffee and breakfast in Manhattan’s Diamond District. His ol’ reliable 3-pound tub of Kirkland Colombian coffee used to fuel local workers has surged in price from under $10 in 2020 to more than $22 in 2026, he said.
A $1.50 small coffee in 2023 at Changezi’s stand on 47th Street now runs customers $1.75. Large coffees are priced at $2.50, up from $2.
Changezi, originally from Mongolia before starting his Big Apple business in 2004, said he’s only increased his coffee prices by just a dollar in the two decades he’s been roasting.
Though he maintains his prices are still affordable compared to chain coffee shops, the caffeine sticker shock on one of the city’s last affordable hallmarks may soon have some New Yorkers ditching the tradition of grabbing a cup on the walk to the office or construction site.
“I may have to make coffee myself in the morning at home,” said 61-year-old divorce attorney Dror Bikel, who works and lives in Manhattan.
“I thought under this mayor, the price is supposed to go down, but it seems like it’s going in the other direction.”
“Everything is going up: It’s just not coffee, it’s just the prices of everything,” said Long Island resident George Sierra, who works in Manhattan. “I try to just drink one cup [of coffee] a day, and I do it at home.”
“It’s ridiculous,” Lou, a worker at nearby Saks Fifth Avenue, said of the growing coffee prices.
“Not anymore,” he said when asked how frequently he buys coffee at Midtown carts. “I’ll do it at home: It’s cheaper than even the carts, the stores, the bodegas.”
And the brewing trouble in Midtown is being felt across the nation, according to federal data.
A pound of 100% ground roast coffee in the US, which once cost $4.10 in January 2020, has since jumped to more than $9 as of January 2026, per the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It’s a price increase of 33% since 2025, and 124% since 2020.
“Reciprocal” tariffs imposed by the Trump administration in 2025 — which affected major global coffee producers and were later rolled back — initially hiked the price of raw coffee beans last year, Reuters reported, though a 10% tariff on Colombian coffee remains.
Supply chain shortages caused by a longstanding drought affecting parts of South America have only fueled the spike in prices.
Coffee cart operator Olivia Vargas said her cart’s prices increased last March in response to both inflation and proposed tariffs on the Costco-brand Colombian roast she brews outside the JPMorgan Chase Tower.
“The coffee that we use is Colombian, they import it from Colombia and we have to pay more [to offset the] duties,” said Vargas, who came to the US from Mexico 20 years ago.
A cup of Joe at Vargas’ Park Avenue stand now costs $2 for a small, up from $1.50 at the start of last year – and sales have taken a dramatic hit since, she said.
“My salary had to decrease a little, because there weren’t enough sales,” Vargas said. “My family is impacted a lot … before, I would buy food to last us two days. Now, just one.”
John Satar, who has been running John’s Breakfast food cart on Sixth Avenue for two decades, hasn’t raised his prices just yet – but said it’s only a matter of time as he’s paying double what he used to for his beans.
“I’m trying not to [raise prices], because people are in bad shape,” he said, fearing losing out on local construction workers that rely on his cheap brews — which range from $1.50 for a small and $2.50 for a large.
Satar, 37, who is originally from Afghanistan and now lives on Long Island, said he would raise the price of his small coffees to $2, if and when he pulls the trigger.
“People can barely afford a small coffee these days,” he sighed. “Nothing is the same like it used to be.”