Running Head: DATA ANALYSIS FOR COFFEE DATA 1

Data Analysis for Coffee Data

Marlen Sierra

South Texas College

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Data Analysis for Coffee Data

Kids are meeting in coffee shops and basements figuring out what's unsustainable in their

communities. That's the future (Life, 2017). As I start on the Data Analysis Report for Coffee

prices for several of the major coffees consumed in the U.S. I have to say that the reason I chose

to work on this data set is because I love coffee. To make this analysis I chose a data sample size

of 24 months and 5 units of coffee prices. To understand the difference in pricing it is necessary

to look into the diversity of coffee beans. There are two major coffee beans, Arabica and

Robusta; with the purpose of establishing the variance in pricings we need to know the

difference. Robustas Coffee is the least expensive and is used more for instant coffees while the

Arabica Coffees are higher priced. The Arabica Coffee groups includes Colombian Mild,

Brazilian Natural, and Other Mild (ICO, 2018).

(Fig. 1)
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As we can see in our analysis of this two year chart pricings for 2013 and 2014, we can

immediately note the difference of lower pricing that is marked by Robustas Coffees. In Fig. 1,

we see how there is a similar shifting of pricing throughout the whole year of 2013 for all the

coffee groups, but then at the beginning of 2014 we can see how the pricing of four of the groups

has a drastic increase while the Robustas Coffee maintains a stable price within range. We can

also note that in the first eleven months of 2013, there was a slow decrease in pricing from

January to November. Then in December 2013 and January 2014 we can appreciate a slow

increase in pricing (ICO, 2018).

In Fig. 2 we can see that the drastic increase in coffee pricing began in February 2014,

then again in March of the same year. Robustas coffee pricing had a minimal change of a 9.31%

increase, while ICO had a larger increase of 24.43%. The real change comes from the Arabica

group with an increase in pricing coming in at 29.59% for Columbian Mild, while Other Mild

coffees increased by a 30.82% and Brazilian Naturals held an increase of 30.45% (ICO, 2018).

Fig. 2
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In the following graph we note that the maximum values, range from 225.29 from Other

Milds coffee to 106.26 cents per pound from Robusta; meanwhile the minimum values range

comes from 124.65 from Columbian Mild, to 79.71 cents per pound from Robustas Coffee. The

range difference between the two values is seen in Fig. 5 with a high variance of 103.27 to a

lower variance of 26.55. Again, the lower value comes from Robustas Coffee. When we look at

the mode, we see that there are no identical prices in the two year lapse, therefore the mode in

Fig. 6 maintains a zero value. The prices constantly fluctuate from one month to the other (ICO,

2018).

Fig. 3 Fig. 4

Fig. 5 Fig. 6

In conclusion, after analysing the data we can see that there is not much of an important

difference within the Arabica Coffee group. On the other hand, when compared to Robustas

Coffee, the real difference stands out. Another aspect of the coffee pricing is that the increase of

Robustas Coffee is minimum and it fluctuates regularly; while the price increase in the other
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coffees is more significant and there is a higher peak (ICO, 2018). I found this to be an

interesting subject since many years ago the only ones who would drink coffee were the older

generations, but as we start looking into the newer generations, the coffee trend has really kicked

in. As an example we have to mention Starbucks for becoming the “… most popular

coffeehouse in the world” (Saharudin, 2017).

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References
ICO. (2018, August 21). Glossary of Terms Used. Retrieved from International Coffee

Organization: http://www.ico.org/glossary.asp
Life, B. (2017, March 16). Barista's Life Top 117 quotes. Retrieved from Barista Life Blog:

https://www.thebaristalife.com/blogs/blog/barista-lifes-top-117-coffee-quotes
Saharudin, H. (2017, April 6). How Starbucks Became The Most Popular Coffeehouse In The

World. Retrieved from Referral Candy Blog:

https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/starbucks-marketing-strategy/