Coffee roasting has a built-in pricing trap: the product loses weight in production. Green beans shed 15–20% of their mass in the roaster: moisture out, weight gone, cost unchanged. Roasters who price on green weight are quietly underpricing every bag by the shrinkage.
The cost of a 12 oz bag
- Green beans (15 oz green → 12 oz roasted): about $3.30
- Bag + one-way valve: about $0.65
- Label: about $0.30
$4.25 all-in: $17 retail is a 75% margin before roast labor. The green line is the point: costing at roasted yield means the 12 oz bag carries the full 15 oz of green it consumed. Measure your own loss per roast profile (dark roasts lose more) and put the real number in the recipe.
Freshness sets the production rhythm
Roasted coffee peaks in weeks, which makes overproduction a quality problem, not just a cash one. Roast to the sales curve, watch turnover, and let subscriptions and wholesale standing orders smooth the demand you roast against.
The formula for coffee
- Green at roasted yield + bag + valve + label + roast time at a shop rate + margin
- Specialty single-origins carry $18–24 at 12 oz; blends run $14–18. The lot story supports the premium
- Grind and size variations: the 5 lb bag isn't five 1 lb bags (bag costs differ); cost each size
- [Lot tracking](/blog/lot-tracking-for-makers) isn't just quality: 'this month's Huila' is marketing your price can lean on
Coffee pricing mistakes to avoid
- Green-weight math: the roaster took its 18% before you sold a gram
- One bag cost across sizes: the 5 lb bag has different packaging economics
- Stale-adjacent discounting as a habit: roast planning beats markdown rescue
- Ignoring the roast-time line: the machine and the roaster's attention are costs
Green in, roasted out, margins by the ounce: Keepsel for coffee roasters costs every bag from its recipe, and from the Maker plan tracks green coffee by lot. Check a bag price in the free pricing calculator.