Tim Hortons explains why it raised coffee prices for the first time in three years

Customers across Canada have been shocked to find that the prices of their Tim Hortons coffee have jumped up recently.

The rising prices of, well, everything, lately, are a reality that the majority of Canadians have come to accept in the tumultuous years since the COVID-19 pandemic upended industries across the globe.

It's simply not surprising anymore to find that your go-to snack or dinner ingredients have gotten more expensive overnight (while, all too often, the contents have dwindled).

In spite of this — or, perhaps, because of it — folks find small comforts in those things that seem to stay, perpetually, the same.

For the past three years, the price of a coffee at Tim Hortons has been one such thing, but no more: the quintessentially Canadian cafe chain has increased the prices on its coffee.

It's a move that the chain calls "more than reasonable" in a statement made to blogTO.

"Our approach to pricing in our restaurants does not reflect any single event, but rather is designed to stay roughly in line with inflation over time, while maintaining great value and everyday low prices," the statement reads.

Before you start to worry that the price of your daily Double Double is going to start looking like that at a certain other major cafe chain that shall not be named, the price increase isn't a huge one.

Tim Hortons tells blogTO that they've increased their prices by roughly 1.5 per cent, which puts the increase at an average of 3 cents per cup.

Considering the skyrocketing prices of coffee worldwide, Tim Hortons' price increase actually falls far below actual inflation rates of about 7 per cent in the past three years.

In its statement, Tim Hortons shares that, in the past three years, the price of coffee has more than doubled, taking the price of a pound from US$1.58 to US$3.90 since 2022.

When you put it like that, an extra three cents per cup doesn't look too bad after all. 

And, hey, the chain now has full-blown merch stores in Toronto that can help subsidize the inflation, so that can't hurt either, right?