U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal toured a longtime Los Osos coffee roaster Friday to hear how federal tariffs are affecting small businesses on the Central Coast. Carbajal visited SLO Roasted Coffee, a family-owned company that has operated locally for more than 40 years.
Because coffee beans are not typically grown in the United States, nearly all of the company’s supply is imported, leaving it especially vulnerable to tariff increases.
Co-owner Julie Galloway said 2025 was a difficult year. She said the business typically buys between 10 and 15 tons of green coffee beans at a time, and the uncertainty surrounding tariff rates made it difficult to know how much cash the company would need months in advance.
“The tariffs increased our prices 40%,” Galloway said. “So it's pretty hard to constantly update your pricing because grocery stores take six months to implement new price increases.”
Galloway said the added costs also led the company to change some of its longtime coffee blends.
While touring the facility, Carbajal said he was surprised by the scale of the financial impact.
“I was shocked again to hear that they were gravely impacted by the 10% and then 40% tariffs that this administration put on coffee,” Carbajal said. “It increased their costs between 50 and $75,000.”
Federal officials have said the tariffs were intended to protect U.S. industries from foreign competition and encourage domestic manufacturing.
But Carbajal said businesses that rely on imported goods, like coffee, have few alternatives—the higher costs can ripple beyond individual businesses and affect workers, consumers and local economies.
Carbajal’s visit comes as the Democratic congressman pushes legislation aimed at limiting a president’s authority to impose tariffs without congressional approval.
