Americans drink coffee every morning, yet the country grows very little of the coffee it consumes. Although the United States is the world’s largest coffee consumer, domestic production accounts for only a tiny share of its overall demand. Most of its supply travels thousands of miles, and the risks of depending on distant producers are becoming increasingly visible in prices.
According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, the United States imported $982 million worth of coffee in July 2026 alone. Its main suppliers that month included Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. Since these beans originate abroad, nearly every cup served in an American home or café depends on an international supply chain.
However, this supply network is not without risks. Nasdaq reported that coffee prices rose sharply in April 2026 after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz increased shipping, insurance, and fuel expenses. Robusta coffee inventories also fell to their lowest level in 16 months. As a result, coffee prices are increasingly affected by geopolitical tensions and transportation costs, alongside weather conditions in producing countries.
This dependence raises an important question: why does a country with such extensive agricultural resources rely so heavily on imported coffee? Many cafés promote their products as “local coffee,” but the term often refers to where the beans are roasted rather than where they are grown. The coffee itself is usually harvested thousands of miles away.
The United States does grow some coffee, particularly in Hawaii, where a small commercial industry exists. Nevertheless, domestic production remains insignificant compared with national demand. For most American consumers, locally grown coffee is not a practical substitute for imported beans, and that situation is unlikely to change substantially in the near future.
James Harrell, a fifth-generation peanut farmer from Suffolk, Virginia, never originally intended to enter the coffee market. Instead, he began investigating an alternative use for the crop his family had grown for generations.
Suffolk has a rich history in the peanut industry and was once widely recognized as a major center for peanut processing. The city is also home to large coffee-roasting facilities. Harrell remembers drinking coffee near one of these plants and noticing the smell of roasting beans as peanut harvest season approached. That experience inspired him to ask a simple question: if seeds can be roasted and brewed into a drink, why couldn’t peanuts be used in a similar way?
“I was drinking coffee and smelling the roasting facilities,” Harrell recalls. “I thought, why can’t you turn peanuts into something that resembles coffee?”
He decided to test the idea himself. He roasted peanuts at home, ground them, and attempted to brew the mixture. His first experiment did not succeed. The biggest challenge was the high oil content of peanuts, which is approximately 50% of their weight. Unlike coffee beans, peanuts release enough oil during grinding to create a thick, peanut-butter-like consistency rather than the dry grounds needed for brewing.
Harrell spent three years working to solve this technical problem. Since he could not find commercial machinery capable of removing only part of the oil while leaving the rest intact, he developed a process of his own. The technique uses heat and pressure, and the specific details remain confidential as a trade secret.
The finished product is a dry, grain-like material that can be prepared in a conventional coffee maker. It produces a beverage with a coffee-like appearance, aroma, and brewing process, despite containing no coffee beans at all. Instead, it is made entirely from peanuts.
Harrell does not suggest that Americans should abandon imported coffee altogether. His broader point is that the country could make better use of the agricultural resources it already possesses. According to Nutfruit Magazine, citing USDA Foreign Agricultural Service data, the United States ranks as the world’s fourth-largest peanut producer, following China, India, and Nigeria. American farmers grow peanuts on a large scale, using modern harvesting equipment, but the crop is still processed into a relatively narrow selection of products.
“We’re the first company to get people drinking peanuts,” Harrell says. “We’ve created a category in the peanut industry.”
The product is sold online and has been delivered to customers in all 50 states. The company also offers a caffeinated version, which it describes as the first purpose-built caffeinated alternative of its kind. In addition, the production process creates roasted peanut oil as a secondary product, which the company markets separately.
The concept highlights what American agriculture can accomplish when farmers are encouraged to innovate rather than simply produce traditional commodities. Developing a domestic alternative to an imported product does not always require introducing a new crop or expanding farmland. Sometimes, the opportunity lies in discovering new applications for crops that are already widely available.
Ultimately, the issue is not simply whether the United States can grow its own coffee. It is whether the country can find smarter ways to use its existing agricultural resources and develop alternatives that make its food and beverage supply chains more diverse and resilient.
