Posted on 04/12/2025 8:46:56 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
TJ Semanchin is the co-owner of Wonderstate Coffee, a Wisconsin-based coffee roaster.
Donald Trump's 10% blanket tariffs mean Semanchin's company will have to make some hard decisions.
Wonderstate typically imports 40,000 pounds of coffee in one transaction.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with 51-year-old TJ Semanchin, the co-owner of Wonderstate Coffee. Business Insider has confirmed Semanchin's identity and role at the company. The piece has been edited for length and clarity.
I've been in the coffee business for the last 25 years. Before that, I was living in Latin America studying issues around sustainable development in coffee lands.
After moving to a small rural town in Wisconsin in 2005, my wife and I started what was Kickapoo Coffee at the time — we've since rebranded — with our business partner, Caleb Nichols. We're a small company. We employ 85 people here in Wisconsin.
Today, Donald Trump's tariffs are 10% across the board, and we're in a business climate where there's so much uncertainty. You can't produce coffee in the United States. There's no replacement.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
So is it likely that with the tariffs, we'll be paying what we paid under Biden's inflation?
Of a 10% increase in cost of goods is enough to distrupt their business they are doing it wrong.
Oh, no! What will Pajama Boy do?
/s /s /s
$20-$30 for only 12 ounces + $5 shipping. I see where the adjustment needs to happen...
It’s Business Insider.
They will always take the side against Americans. Always.
They need to put Americans down to raise themselves up.
Then what is the tariff for? Just to discourage imports regardless of whether there’s domestic competition or not?
No idea. Nobody does. Anybody who says they do is lying.
Yeah my Dell 2-in-1 convertible laptop has the same issue, so I just bought a new machine.
Dell 16” 2-in-1 convertible, 1T SSD, 16G RAM - $550 from Best Buy online. I haven’t cleaned out the bloatware yet but it works just fine for this non-gamer.
The problem is these costs tend to become baked in.
When we define spike we have a deal.
I’m cool with coffee going up. It’s cheap already unless you buy at Starbucks.
Gee can’t you just pass on the 10% tariff price increase just like you would normal market price increases due to drought, bad crops etc.? My wife and I drink coffee from a small family owned roaster and would pay 10% more because we love fine coffee.
Probably adds about $0.15 to a cup of coffee.
Pssst! Puerto Rico produces coffee. I buy it all the time.
So What, you are a slave to Nicauragua. You have known it for 25 years and accepted the risk. He is not going to get his 100% margins and will only get 80.
MSN probably can’t find Wisconsin on the map.
Somehow they found a no-name coffee company who probably donated to Harris.
Coffee used to be a huge business in Hawaii but regulations limited what they can sell and market.
He never said he voted for Trump, wonder why? He talks about the one on the water which he may pay or share it with his supplier. He knows futer containers will have the tariff negotiated in.
Never believe MSN lies.
The real solution is to genetically modify the coffee plant to be cold hardy and grow it in America.
Right now, I’m fine paying tariffs or reducing my consumption. But we could science our way out of the problem.
Tariff on coffee? This means war!
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