Mike Hartkop, the owner of Solar Roast Coffee, says it's been frustrating not knowing what will happen. "It's just such a knee-jerk reaction. I mean one day the tariffs are on, one day the tariffs are off," said Hartkop. "We really need to know what the costs are going to be now, what the costs are going to be in three months' time." Hartkop said these tariffs will definitely have an impact on his business because of the products he gets from Mexico and Canada. "Primarily our coffee is imported from Mexico and Central and South America. And decaffeinated coffee is a process called Swiss water, which is a process for Canada. So decaf coffee, when it's organic, is processed either by the Canadians with a Canadian process or by the Mexicans with the mountain water process. So it's a really big deal," said Hartkop. Just two weeks ago he had to raise prices for some of his items. "Through the last few months, coffee's skyrocketed. And this is pre-tariffs. Coffee has almost doubled in cost. Pre tariffs. And now it's they're going to go up again," said Hartkop. Hartkop also mentioned that insurance will go up to cover the product that's being shipped. "A pound of pound of organic green coffee last year would have cost anywhere between $2.50 and $4 to $4.50 pound last year. And this year that same pound is costing anywhere between $4.15 to $8 a pound, raw," said Hartkop. Hartkop said he's thankful that his customers have been understanding.
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