From tariffs and trade turbulence, to executive changes at the top of some of the world’s biggest coffee companies, 2025 reshaped the entire international coffee value chain.
There is an incredible variety of reasons as to why 2025 will live long in the memory of the world coffee community. From geopolitical tension playing havoc with the world’s coffee supply chains, to leadership appointments within the industry’s biggest companies, there are few areas that have been untouched during the past 12 months.
At origin, enduring harvest struggles in established top tier producers like Brazil and Vietnam showed some signs of slowing down, but global coffee prices have continued to rise. Also, the rise of coffee auctions from Panama to Ethiopia, and everywhere in between, have presented new opportunities for producers around the world.
The spread of the Asian coffee market to the western world gathered new pace, with brands like Luckin Coffee, theVenti, and Cotti Coffee exploding out of their local markets and into new, high-potential regions like the US and Middle East.
The consolidation of coffee also reached new heights with a string of mergers and acquisitions, led by Keurig Dr Pepper’s (KDP) US$18 billion deal to acquire JDE Peet’s, with the titans to form two brand new businesses from the merger.
January
The new year kicked off with rapidly growing Chinese coffee chain Luckin Coffee launching its first stores in Hong Kong and Malaysia.
After signing an agreement to open its first Malaysian outlets one month prior, the brand soft-launched two outlets in Kuala Lumpur in partnership with Hextar Industries Bhd just weeks after opening five stores in one day in Hong Kong.
Some of the world’s more established coffee companies were also making significant international moves to open the year, with Nescafé launching its espresso in the United States (US) following the product’s success in China and Australia.
The brand hailed it as the first-ever liquid espresso concentrate in the US, the biggest home coffee market in the world.
February
Toby’s Estate in Sydney was named the best café in the world in the inaugural World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops list and was one of nine Australian venues to be featured on the list.
Onyx Coffee LAB in the US was named second, with Gota Coffee Experts (Austria), Proud Mary Coffee (Australia), and Tim Wendelboe (Norway) making up the top five.
Arabica prices made history in February, surging to record highs, pushing past US$4 per pound for the first time ever, with this significant milestone just one of many over the course of the year.
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol announced a simplification of the brand’s menu and cutting of 1100 corporate roles as the start of its ‘Back to Starbucks’ initiative.
March
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on coffee consumption were laid bare with the release of a new report focused on the United Kingdom (UK).
Commissioned by UK and Ireland coffee roaster Matthew Algie, almost half of Gen Z and Millennial consumers reported a change in coffee habits since the pandemic, with most reporting an increase in appreciation for high-quality coffee alongside boosted consumption.
Internationally, a seven per cent rise in the value of the McDonald’s brand to US$40.5 billion saw it overtake Starbucks as the most valuable restaurant brand in the world for the first time since 2016, while Luckin Coffee claimed the title of the 2024’s fastest growing brand, according to Brand Finance.
April
The threat of newly implemented reciprocal tariffs from the US on the international coffee industry were placed on a short-term hold at the start of April, with President Donald Trump announcing via Truth Social that all countries except China would have a 90-day pause on the tax policy.
Chinese goods, however, were immediately subject to a 125 per cent tariff, despite the US importing more than US$23 million worth of coffee, coffee husks, and substitutes from the Asian nation in 2023.
Italian espresso machine manufacturer Cimbali won a lawsuit in which four Chinese companies were sanctioned by the Shanghai Court of First Instance for “unfair competition”, where they were manufacturing machines that closely resembled the Slayer Espresso model.
May
Robusta coffee was finally put on par with Arabica in May, at least from the standpoint that Canephora varietals finally had their own flavour wheel.
Developed by a team of researchers led by Dr Fabiana Carvalho, a team of 49 professional coffee graders from Brazil and Switzerland were recruited to evaluate 67 samples in three cupping sessions. A total of 103 descriptors were represented in the new three-tiered wheel.
With about 44 per cent of the world’s coffee now Robusta or Conilon, the report states the development of the new wheel is an important milestone for the entire coffee industry.
There was good news out of Brazil, with Conab announcing an increased coffee harvest forecast to 55.7 million bags, a 2.7 per cent rise from 2024, largely thanks to a significant boost in Robusta production.
Meanwhile, Nestlé invested a further US$75 million into the expansion of its Tri An plant in Vietnam, taking its total investment over 30 years in the region to about US$904 million.
June
Global coffee prices were taking headlines once again in June, but this time for falling figures. The ICE Coffee C Futures contract on 17 June fell more than 2.62 per cent to US$3.35 per pound, the lowest price listed in more than five months.
The falling of prices happened to coincide with the publication of the world’s largest ever study into coffee leaf rust (CLR) disease.
The World Coffee Research study was published in Frontiers in Plant Science and involved 29 sites in 18 countries using 31 Arabica coffee varieties.
No varieties in the study were found to be immune to CLR – which is present in almost all coffee-growing regions in the world – but some showed significant levels of resistance. Varieties with pure Arabica backgrounds generally showed higher susceptibility.
Chinese café group Cotti Coffee also had its sights fixed on coffee origin, signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Rwandan Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources to boost the country’s export market to China.
July
President Trump’s tariffs continued to lead news cycles around the world, with key origin Indonesia reported to be hit with a blanket tariff rate of 32 per cent and Brazil slugged with a total 50 per cent tariff.
A 40 per cent ‘national emergency’ tariff was placed on top of the 10 per cent reciprocal tariff for imported goods from the world’s largest coffee producer, with the White House citing restrictions over social media content and the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro over allegations he attempted to overturn the results of the country’s 2022 elections as key reasons for the added tax.
Lavazza Chairman Giuseppe Lavazza called for the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) policy to be delayed a further year in July, citing a lack of preparation in the coffee industry could cause significant supply chain issues if implemented.
He said he believed the proposed regulations could be more damaging to the coffee market than the ongoing US tariffs, with origins like Ethiopia likely to struggle to comply due to clarity around land ownership.
The inaugural Faysel Abdosh Signature Auction in Ethiopia saw records tumble for the most expensive coffee ever sold from the nation. Hosted by Testi Specialty Coffee and M-Cultivo, a Sidama Keramo Super Natural lot was purchased by Black Gold Coffee for a record US$1604 per kilogram.
August
Coffee auctions continued to dominate coffee headlines going into August, with the Best of Panama auction smashing the world-record price of a single lot of coffee.
A 20-kilogram lot of Washed Geisha grown by Hacienda La Esmeralda was sold for a staggering US$604,080 – or US$30,204 per kilogram – to Dubai’s Julith Coffee Roasters.
The lot, which was harvested on 7 April 2025, scored 98 points out of 100 on the specialty scale and was subject to 549 bids at the auction.
Money kept moving in August, with one of the largest acquisitions in coffee history also announced. News broke of Keurig Dr Pepper’s reported US$18 billion deal to merge with JDE Peet’s.
The all-cash transaction came with plans to separate the companies into two independent, publicly traded businesses, Beverage Co in North America’s refreshment market, and Global Coffee Co, a pure-play coffee company.
September
The management teams of some of the world’s largest coffee businesses added some new faces through the month of September, with Lavazza and Nestlé both introducing new faces to the executive teams, while Keurig Dr Pepper named a new United States (US) Coffee President following news of the JDE Peet’s acquisition.
Philipp Navratil was named new CEO of Nestlé, replacing Laurent Freixe. After starting his career with the international giant in 2001 he had previously managed teams in Mexico and Honduras prior to being placed in Nestlé’s Coffee Strategic Business Unit in 2020.
Lavazza’s organisational restructure added Carlo Colpo as Lavazza Group’s Chief Marketing Officer and Pietro Mazzà as Chief Innovation, Sustainability, and Industrial Relations Officer, while Paola Francesca Sharpa was appointed the Group’s new Chief Digital Transformation Officer.
Finally, Keurig Dr Pepper appointed Olivier Lemire as President of KDP US after his long stint with KDP Canada, including four years as President.
October
Host Milano was the talk of the coffee world in October, with new and exciting technological innovations from global powerhouse brands including Franke, Cimbali, and Mahlkönig underpinned by a string of incredible events in Milan.
A total of 2050 exhibitors from 52 countries were featured at the exhibition.
More than 800 events featuring over 3000 contributors were also held, which were headlined by Australia’s Jack Simpson was named the World Barista Champion.
Outside the Fiera Milano, TIME recognised World Coffee Research’s Innovea Network as one of the world’s top inventions in 2025, which has since grown to include nations that produce about 40 per cent of the world’s coffee working to breed better coffee for the future.
November
After months of discussion around a potential sale of Starbucks’ Chinese operations, the iconic brand revealed it sold a majority stake in the business to Hong Kong private investment firm Boyu Capital in a reported US$4 billion deal, with the total value of the business reaching more than US$14 billion as a result.
Longstanding Peet’s Coffee President and CEO Eric Lauterbach also announced his departure from the business, with Stuart Heflin named as his replacement.
US President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to remove all tariffs on Brazilian agricultural products, meaning coffee – which had at one point been subject to an added 50 per cent import tax – was now cheaper to import into the country.
The 10 per cent reciprocal tariffs plus the 40 per cent ‘national emergency’ tariff had been in place since July.
December
The EUDR was delayed by a further year following a decision by the European Parliament. The regulations have also been simplified to reduce due diligence pressures on businesses further along the coffee chain.
Costa Coffee expanded its agreement with Emirates Leisure Retail (ELR) to extend their partnership to 2040, with the pair having opened 160 Costa locations in the Middle East together in the past 26 years.
This article was first published in the January/February 2026 edition of Global Coffee Report. Read more here.
