These Days, MA Residents Are Shelling Out For Their Daily Coffee Fix

Bay State residents: Let's take you back in time: 20 years to be exact. The year: 2004. My Space was the best social media site before Facebook entered the picture, movies like "Shrek 2" and "Spider-Man 2" were box office hits, and the newly-released Motorola Razr was the hottest piece of modern technology. Now we can advance to the present as higher prices are plaguing us and say it isn't so: Coffee drinkers are also feeling the pinch:

You could also walk into a coffee shop and expect to pay less than $3 for a cup of coffee. According to a report by GOBankingRates, the average cost for a cup of joe in 2004 was just $2.15. At some places, it was even less than that. If you remember Starbucks made headlines as they raised their prices in 2004, pushing a tall house blend from $1.40 to $1.50 (back then that was only 10 cents but now that will cost you double the price)

Now, the national average for a regular cup of coffee is $3.08 as restaurants are making the move due to the recent bout of inflation. But is that stopping those who yearn for their caffeine fix?  I don't think so.

While the average was just over $3 for a regular coffee, that price varied greatly across U.S. Restaurants in the West coast  as they were most likely to charge closer to $4 for a cup of coffee. That is insane if you ask me!

Statistics show Hawaii is the most expensive state to purchase a cup of coffee as the average price was nearly $5 between January and March. California came in 2nd place at $3.88 and if you can believe it, Massachusetts comes in at fifth-place as we average $3.49. The cheapest state to get java is Nebraska, where the average cost was $2.12 per cup. Those were the days!

According to the latest Consumer Price Index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, coffee prices (roasted and instant) showed there was a downward trend, about 2.5% in May over May 2023. But costs at your favorite coffee shop may still feel expensive.

BOTTOM LINE: No matter how you slice it, everything's going UP, UP UP!! How unfortunate as this situation presents itself as an economic problem for ALL coffee drinkers.

(Some information obtained in this article courtesy of 22News-WWLP, the NBC affiliate in Springfield, Massachusetts https://www.wwlp.com/news/massachusetts-one-of-the-most-expensive-states-for-coffee-new-report-finds/?nxsparam=10#:~:text=Nowhere%20was%20coffee%20more%20expensive,the%20fifth-highest%20at%20%243.49.)