The low autumn sun lights the interior of the Hob Nob cafe, illuminating a table of young regulars, including the flat cap-wearing Nicholas Kolacz.
asserted
sun → light → Kolacz
He's just bought his weekly coffee.
asserted
He → buy → coffee
"After a tip, because I always like to tip, it's $US10," Nicholas says.
asserted
Nicholas → like → tip
"I used to come in here … probably three or four days a week.
asserted
I → use → ?
Now I come in once every Sunday because I don't have the money to spend," he says.
asserted
he → come → money
Nicholas makes $US17.50 per hour as a delivery driver.
asserted
Nicholas → make → driver
He stopped buying beer long ago and looks at every discretionary purchase through the prism of his wage.
asserted
He → stop → wage
"When I do buy things, I look at like, 'oh, how many hours am I working to get this?'"
asserted
I → buy → this
Once, America felt affordable.
asserted
America → feel → ?
I felt it myself at a bagel cafe on New York's Upper West Side.
asserted
I → feel → Side
Twenty years ago, when I lived in Manhattan, my regular breakfast was a bargain: coffee, orange juice and a bagel with lox for $US5.
asserted
breakfast → live → US5
This week, at a no-frills diner, the same breakfast cost me $US31 ($44).
asserted
breakfast → cost → US31
Tariff trauma hits businesses
asserted
trauma → hit → businesses
The owner of the Hob Nob cafe in Lansing, Michigan, Trisha Kosloski, says her expenses have gone through the roof.
asserted
expenses → say → roof
She estimates her delivery costs have increased 50 per cent as shippers pass on fuel costs.
asserted
shippers → estimate → costs
But her biggest expense had nothing to do with petrol, or the US and Israel-led war with Iran.
asserted
expense → have → Iran
The price of coffee beans shot up just after Donald Trump was elected and announced a suite of tariffs on a number of nations where coffee is grown.
asserted
coffee → shoot → nations
We do not grow a lot of coffee in America, as much as we want to pretend that we do," Trisha says.
asserted
Trisha → grow → America
"When we saw those first round of tariffs, that were just like blanket tariffs when he first got into office, all of my coffees went up at least 30 per cent.
asserted
all → see → coffees
"After those tariffs were found unconstitutional, prices really didn't go down a lot."
asserted
prices → find → ?
In July US President Donald Trump announced 50 per cent tariffs on goods from Michigan's neighbour, Canada — which also hit the coffee industry.
asserted
which → announce → industry
"A large amount of the beans roasted in America … are actually roasted in Canada.
asserted
amount → roast → Canada
So we had to pay those tariffs to get them," she says.
asserted
she → have → them
All the extra costs have put pressure on her business.
asserted
costs → put → business
"There is no profit margin," she says.
"
asserted
she → be → ?
We just live on less and less and I have a second job and most of my staff at this point has a second job."
asserted
most → live → job
The hard-hit necessity
Coffee might be a discretionary purchase, but for many Americans there has been no way to avoid the most painful price increase.
uncertain
Coffee → hit → increase
Petrol — or "gas" as it's known the US — is hovering at about $US4.30 per gallon ($6.10 for 3.8 litres), about $US1 more expensive than it averaged in 2025.
asserted
it → know → 2025
That is still cheaper than Australian prices, but Americans aren't used to paying anything like this.
asserted
Americans → use → this
Big cars are standard, and long journeys are unavoidable in sprawling mid-western communities like Lansing, Michigan.
asserted
journeys → sprawl → Lansing
The city is the home of the Michigan State University Spartans college football team, and for many, a lively Saturday morning tailgate begins before dawn.
asserted
tailgate → begin → dawn
The parking lots around Spartan Stadium are filled with gleaming, oversized SUVs and "trucks", like Ford F150s and Chevrolet Silverados.
asserted
lots → fill → F150s
"Gas is the number one thing that used to not be so much," MSU student Samson Sprague says.
"I don't know the last time I filled up my gas tank all the way.
asserted
I → use → tank
You know, it's always $US15, $US10.
asserted
it → know → ?
I never afford to do the whole thing at once anymore.
asserted
I → afford → thing
It's not only students feeling the pain.
asserted
It → feel → pain
It's Parents' Weekend at MSU, where there are two and sometimes three generations of Americans here today.
asserted
It → be → Americans
"My daughter goes to University of Kentucky, so when we drive down to see her, gas is a lot more expensive.
asserted
gas → go → her
It's almost more reasonable to fly to Kentucky than drive to Kentucky right now because of the price of our gas," Michelle Krebill says.
asserted
Krebill → fly → gas
Tara Lukaart is another struggling with the cost of filling up tanks.
asserted
Lukaart → struggle → tanks
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia