It costs more these days. But yeah, so does everything. What makes coffee a perfect product to explore the world's rising costs, though, is its ubiquity. You can get it absolutely anywhere in the world—but not only that, dozens upon dozens of countries grow, produce and export it, so no one factor in one nation or on one continent explains why your latte costs more.

So how does the coffee industry work? Why and how is it changing? And what can that tell us about ... everything else?

GUEST: Gavin Fridell, author of Coffee, Canada Research Chair in International Development Studies, St. Mary's University 

We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:

Through email at [email protected] 

Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky