Local Coffee Roaster Hit by Tariffs

If you, like two-thirds of American adults, drink coffee every day, you may enjoy a brew produced by Tuolumne County’s Mother Lode Coffee Roasting Company. The company roasts and delivers ground and whole-bean coffee to stores and to individuals by subscription in the foothills, Central Valley, Sacramento, and beyond. Its coffee is roasted in small batches and bagged by hand.

Founded in 1993, the Sonora company was purchased in 2012 by Drew Riehl. “We’re a small roaster, but in the scheme of things, I feel like we’re a decent size. We ship coffee to individual customers all over the country,” he says. The company’s four employees include him and his son.

Mr. Riehl attended culinary arts school at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island and graduated in 1987 with a degree in Science-Culinary Arts. At the age of 21, he moved to Jamestown, where he worked at the original Smoke Café.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, approximately 80 percent of America’s coffee beans originate from Latin America, with Brazil (35%) and Colombia (27%) accounting for the majority of imports. Mother Lode Coffee gets their beans from an Oakland distributor. According to Mr. Riehl, “The distributor sources beans from around the world. I trust that they source ethically and will sell me quality coffee.”

Since the coffee he buys “is coming from various countries, it’s affected by recently adjusted tariffs differently.” Mr. Riehl was able to buy over 1,300 pounds of Brazilian coffee before the implementation of tariffs, but is realistic about future purchases that will include tariffs. Despite a recent court ruling overturning the Trump tariffs, he assumes his costs will remain high due to the legal and political issues surrounding former President Jair Bolsonaro.

When he bought the company, Mr. Riehl reduced prices which had stayed stable for almost ten years. It was very easy to run the business, he says. But his costs began to go up during the first Trump administration, and he was forced to raise prices. “I feel that’s when inflation in our economy really started—those first Trump tariffs. I think the American consumer is choosing to scale back purchases of higher-priced products that they’ve been using for years.”

In a July 30 Executive Order, the President imposed an additional 40 percent to the existing 10 percent tariff on most goods coming from Brazil. His justification is largely the “political persecution” of the former Brazilian president, even though the United States had a trade surplus of $6.8 billion with Brazil in 2024.

Like many other imports, tariffs are impacting Mother Lode Coffee. Mr. Riehl says that major coffee brands have reduced package size to maintain pricing, known as “shrinkflation.” “We’re one of the few companies that still produces a one-pound package rather than a 12-ounce bag. I don’t gain a new customer when that customer decides to buy simply according to price.”

Mr. Riehl remains proud of his family business. “As a trained chef, I love roasting coffee. I still appreciate the gratification that comes from someone enjoying something that I made for them to consume.”