Bozeman Coffee Shops Officially Cross the Mendoza Line
By Java Beanstock
BOZEMAN, MT — In baseball, the "Mendoza Line" marks a .200 batting average, the bare minimum for staying in the majors. In Bozeman, a new Mendoza Line has emerged: four dollars for a cup of drip coffee. And according to a Poser analysis conducted entirely inside a Geo Tracker, nearly every café in town has blown past it.
What began as a quiet creep has turned into a full-blown caffeine crisis. In 2019, drip coffee hovered between $2.50 and $3.25. By fall 2025, baristas are routinely calling out totals of $4.25, $4.50, even $5.10 for a 12-ounce cup served in a compostable vessel that dissolves before you finish it.
"It's a psychological threshold," said local economist and part-time ski tech Evan Grimshaw. "Once drip goes over four bucks, you're not buying coffee anymore — you're buying into a lifestyle brand with soft jazz and 35-minute laptop sessions."
A coalition of students, contractors, and disillusioned writers has started tracking prices across town in a shared spreadsheet. Shops under $4 are tagged green and labeled "Still Human." Anything higher is flagged red: "Douchy."
Developers are reportedly watching closely. "Every time drip ticks up, luxury rents follow," said Grimshaw. "It's Bozeman's unofficial inflation index."
Until then, locals face a choice: bring a thermos like a medieval peasant, or keep paying $4.75 for burnt drip served by someone in a beanie who insists it's "shade-grown single-origin."
