Coffee and Tea Manufacturing in the United States (NAICS 31192)

An investor's primer. NAICS = North American Industry Classification System, the U.S. government's standard industry taxonomy. This page covers the 5-digit industry 31192, which sits one level above the detailed industry 311920.

1. Overview

NAICS 31192, "Coffee and Tea Manufacturing," is the factory step between the farm and your cup: taking imported green coffee beans and tea leaves and turning them into packaged, shelf-ready products — roasted bags and cans, single-serve pods, instant jars, tea bags, and the syrups and concentrates that flavor other drinks. It does not include coffee shops that brew and serve a drink (those are a separate industry).

For an investor, the appeal is a rare combination: staple-like, habitual demand (about 66% of U.S. adults drink coffee on a given day — a 20-year high, and coffee has passed bottled water as the most-consumed daily beverage) sitting on top of commodity-cyclical margins, because the green bean is an exchange-traded raw material that America imports almost entirely.[1][2] The commodity exposure is real: arabica futures hit multi-decade records above $4.30 per pound twice in 2025, directly compressing roaster margins.[3]

2. What's inside — and why this level equals its one child

At the 5-digit level, NAICS 31192 contains exactly one 6-digit detailed industry:

• 311920 — Coffee and Tea Manufacturing (roasting coffee; instant and freeze-dried coffee; coffee extracts, flavorings, and syrups; blending and bagging tea; herbal tea).

Because there is only one child, 31192 is effectively identical to 311920 — same scope, same companies, same federal statistics. This page is a short summary; for the full analysis — investable universe, unit economics, demand, regulation, consolidation, and outlook — read the 311920 primer. Everything below is a condensed pointer to it.

3. How big it is (this level's rollup figures)

The rollup figures for 31192 are the 311920 figures, because the two are the same industry. All values are from our ingested federal source (stats-31192.md); receipts and concentration are 2022 Economic Census, employment/payroll are 2023 County Business Patterns (CBP):

Undercount caveat — do not read the $14.7 billion as "the U.S. coffee market." It is the manufacturers' value of shipments at the plant gate. It leaves out (a) brewed coffee served by cafés and restaurants (a different industry, and where most coffee is actually consumed), (b) the large volume of packaged and instant coffee imported as finished product that never passes through a U.S. plant, and (c) bottled ready-to-drink coffee and iced tea (counted in beverage manufacturing). Private research firms put the U.S. retail coffee-and-tea market near $50–55 billion — several times the federal manufacturing figure — because they add retail markup, imports, and away-from-home consumption.[6] There is also a real long tail this employer-plant count misses: many nano-roasters are non-employer sole proprietors or are classified under retail, so the true number of businesses roasting coffee in America exceeds the ~1,155 employer establishments. Both numbers are correct; they measure different things. The U.S. is a net importer: more than 99% of U.S. coffee must be imported, with Latin America supplying 80% of unroasted imports in 2023 (Brazil 35%, Colombia 27%).[7][8]

4. Investable universe (where value concentrates)

Because 31192 is a single industry, value concentrates exactly as it does in 311920: a consolidated branded-grocery shelf plus a long tail of small roasters. The deepest public exposure comes through diversified consumer-goods companies rather than pure-plays — J.M. Smucker (Folgers, Café Bustelo) is the most coffee-levered large U.S. name, with its U.S. Retail Coffee segment generating $3.3 billion in fiscal-2026 sales, though segment profit fell 12% as commodity costs, tariffs, and unfavorable mix outweighed pricing.[9] Keurig Dr Pepper (Keurig single-serve, Green Mountain) acquired JDE Peet's on April 1, 2026 for ~$18.3 billion and plans to spin off a pure-play "Global Coffee Co." in late 2026; its U.S. Coffee segment produced $4.0 billion of 2025 net sales with 30.9% adjusted operating margin.[10][11][12] Small public pure-plays (Westrock Coffee, Black Rifle, Farmer Bros., Coffee Holding) are higher-risk and several are unprofitable — Black Rifle's gross margin fell from ~41% to ~35% in 2025 on green-bean inflation and tariffs.[13] Much of the rest of the industry is private or foreign-owned (Nestlé, Massimo Zanetti, Community Coffee, Trilliant, Bigelow Tea). Tickers, scale, and the full table are in the 311920 primer, section 4.

5. How the money works

A commodity-processing and branding business: owners earn the spread between the packaged selling price and the cost of green coffee (or tea) plus roasting, packaging, and distribution. Green coffee is the swing cost — typically the single largest cost line (~35% of net sales for a roaster) and an exchange-traded, imported commodity, so gross margin rises and falls with the bean price and with how fast a manufacturer can pass cost through. Pricing lags cost, so margins compress on the way up. Volume is mature, so most revenue growth comes from price and premium mix (pods, specialty, cold/ready-to-drink), not from more cups — Café Bustelo grew ~19% and cold coffee categories grew ~21% year-over-year in summer 2025.[14][15] See 311920 section 5 for the full unit economics.

6. Demand drivers

• Habit. Coffee is a near-daily, largely inelastic staple — a defensive quality.[1]
• Premiumization. Specialty coffee consumption reached ~48% of adults in Fall 2025, up from 37% in 2021; cold/iced coffee accounted for 31% of consumption in June 2025 versus 23% in January, lifting price per cup even when volume is flat.[16]
• At-home vs. away-from-home. This industry mostly supplies the at-home and foodservice-input side, so it partly benefits when consumers trade down from cafés to brewing at home.
• Health and wellness. Herbal and functional teas are the growth engine of an otherwise slow tea category; the U.S. herbal tea market is estimated near $3.1 billion.[17]

7. Regulation

Standard food-safety and labeling rules (FDA — Food and Drug Administration) apply. The live issues are the same as for 311920: the decaffeination-solvent (methylene chloride) petition, which the FDA pushed back on in January 2025, so the solvent remains allowed for now — an unresolved regulatory overhang; California Proposition 65 / acrylamide, now largely shielded by a 2019 finding that coffee poses no significant risk; the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) traceability costs phasing in around December 2026; and above all trade and tariff policy — because the U.S. grows almost no coffee, tariffs land directly on the cost of goods. The 2025–2026 Brazil tariff saga (50% in August 2025 → exemption in November 2025 → a new 25% round in July 2026 that exempted instant coffee) remains a live input-cost risk. As of July 24, 2026, the National Coffee Association confirmed that coffee, including unflavored instant, is exempt from U.S. import tariffs — but this is policy state, not permanent economics. Full detail in 311920 section 7.[18][19][20][21]

8. Consolidation

The at-home branded shelf is a consolidated oligopoly, but the federal statistics for this level look unconcentrated: the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI, a standard concentration gauge) is just 589, and the largest four firms hold 41.6% of shipments, the top eight 54.2%, and the top twenty 71.9%.[4] Those figures understate branded-shelf concentration, because the NAICS bucket also sweeps in many small specialty roasters and private-label plants. The defining structural event is Keurig Dr Pepper's ~$18.3 billion acquisition of JDE Peet's (closed April 1, 2026) and the planned spin-off of a large, clean, publicly traded coffee pure-play — see 311920 section 8.[10][11]

9. Risks

The risk profile is identical to 311920: green-coffee price volatility (the dominant risk — owners are structurally short the bean; USDA attributed recent supply pressure to drought in Brazil and reduced fertilizer use in Colombia); trade-policy whiplash on an import-dependent supply chain; pass-through lag and trade-down to private label; sourcing concentration in Brazil and Vietnam; climate stress on arabica regions; regulatory compliance (decaf solvent, acrylamide, EUDR); and retailer buying power. Full discussion in 311920 section 9.[8]

10. How to invest, and the outlook

Public routes: diversified staples with heavy coffee weight (J.M. Smucker, Keurig Dr Pepper and its coming "Global Coffee Co." spin-off), international majors (Nestlé), and small/higher-risk pure-plays (Westrock Coffee, Black Rifle, Farmer Bros., Coffee Holding); tea via Hain Celestial. Buying coffee futures is a bet on the input, so it moves inversely to roaster margins. Private routes: acquiring regional roasters and private-label manufacturers, or building a roasting business from scratch — a genuinely low-barrier small-business entry, which is why the long tail of owner-operators exists.

Near-term outlook: the swing factor is the green-coffee price. After 2025's record highs, several forecasters expect prices to ease in 2026 as Brazilian and Colombian crops recover — the World Bank projected arabica down ~15% in 2026 — which would relieve margins, but global stocks are low, so the risk is two-sided, and Brazil tariff policy can move costs abruptly.[2] Structurally, premiumization (specialty, single-serve, and cold/ready-to-drink) should keep lifting price-per-cup even as volume stays roughly flat, and the KDP–JDE Peet's spin-off will hand investors a new large pure-play coffee stock. The base case is a mature, defensive-demand industry whose next-year earnings story is less about growth and more about margin recovery as bean prices normalize — provided trade policy cooperates. For the complete how-to-invest and outlook, see 311920 section 10.

---

Sources

Statistics for this level are from our ingested federal source (stats-31192.md): 2022 Economic Census (receipts, firm count, concentration ratios, HHI) and 2023 County Business Patterns (establishments, employment, payroll). Because NAICS 31192 has a single child, these are the same figures reported for 311920; the narrative sources below are drawn from the 311920 primer.

1. PR Newswire (National Coffee Association), "More Americans drink coffee each day than any other beverage; bottled water back in second place," 2025. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/more-americans-drink-coffee-each-day-than-any-other-beverage-bottled-water-back-in-second-place-302428696.html
2. World Bank Blogs, "Beverage prices soften but risks are brewing," 2025. https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/beverage-prices-soften-but-risks-are-brewing
3. Barchart / MarketScreener, "Arabica Coffee Price Sets Record High on Supply Concerns," 2025. https://uk.marketscreener.com/quote/index/S-P-GSCI-COFFEE-INDEX-46869134/news/Arabica-Coffee-Price-Sets-Record-High-on-Supply-Concerns-48561029/
4. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, Concentration Ratios / Selected Statistics (NAICS 311920): receipts $14,715,412 thousand; 1,030 firms; CR4 41.6%, CR8 54.2%, CR20 71.9%, CR50 85.7%; HHI 589. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census.html
5. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (NAICS 311920): 1,155 establishments; 23,998 employees; annual payroll $1,389,184 thousand. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp.html
6. IBISWorld, "NAICS Code 311920 – Coffee and Tea Manufacturing" (market-size, import/export estimates). https://www.ibisworld.com/classifications/naics/311920/coffee-and-tea-manufacturing/
7. National Coffee Association, trade policy and member alerts (>99% imported). https://www.ncausa.org/advocacy/coffee-and-trade
8. USDA Economic Research Service, "Latin America supplied 80% of U.S. unroasted coffee imports in 2023" (Brazil 35%, Colombia 27%; supply pressure from drought and fertilizer). https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/110079
9. J.M. Smucker fiscal-2026 Form 10-K (U.S. Retail Coffee segment $3.305B sales, 21.2% margin; sales +18%, profit −12%). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/91419/000009141926000050/sjm-20260430.htm
10. Keurig Dr Pepper, "Keurig Dr Pepper to Acquire JDE Peet's and Subsequently Separate into Two Independent Companies," Aug 25, 2025. https://news.keurigdrpepper.com/2025-08-25-Keurig-Dr-Pepper-to-Acquire-JDE-Peets-and-Subsequently-Separate-into-Two-Independent-Companies-a-Leading-Refreshment-Beverage-Player-and-a-Global-Coffee-Champion
11. Keurig Dr Pepper SEC filings (JDE Peet's acquisition closed Apr 1, 2026; ~$18.3B; late-2026 spin-off). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1418135/000141813526000036/kdp-20260330.htm
12. Keurig Dr Pepper, 2025 results filed with the SEC (U.S. Coffee segment $4.0B net sales, 30.9% adjusted operating margin). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1418135/000141813526000011/ex991-keurigdrpepperreport.htm
13. BRC Inc. (Black Rifle Coffee) 2025 Form 10-K (gross margin ~35% vs ~41%). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1891101/000189110126000022/brcc-20251231.htm
14. WholesaleX, "The gross margin for a boutique wholesale coffee roaster" (green ~35% of net sales; roaster margins). https://getwholesalex.com/blog/gross-margin-boutique-wholesale-coffee-roaster/
15. Daily Coffee News (National Coffee Association data), "Cold Coffee Ruled This Summer," 2025 (cold categories +21%; Café Bustelo +19%). https://dailycoffeenews.com/2025/09/09/cold-coffee-ruled-this-summer-new-nca-market-report-finds/
16. National Coffee Association, Fall 2025 survey (specialty 48%; cold/iced 31% June vs 23% January). https://www.ncausa.org/Newsroom/Grounds-for-celebration-Americans-remain-committed-to-coffee
17. GlobeNewswire and SkyQuest, herbal tea market (~$3.1B U.S.), 2025. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/04/25/3068525/28124/en/
18. FoodNavigator-USA and Bloomberg Law on the methylene chloride decaf petition and FDA's January 2025 response; California OEHHA on Prop 65 and coffee acrylamide. https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Article/2024/03/11/Activists-petition-to-remove-methylene-chloride-from-European-coffee-bean-processing-amid-carcinogen-concerns/; https://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/crnr/fsorcoffee060719.pdf
19. Daily Coffee News, "Trump Order Eliminates All Tariffs on Brazilian Coffee," Nov 21, 2025. https://dailycoffeenews.com/2025/11/21/trump-order-eliminates-all-tariffs-on-brazilian-coffee/
20. Reuters via Yahoo Finance, "Brazil instant coffee sector exempt from new US tariffs," and CoffeeTalk / NCA lobbying (tariff exemption confirmed July 24, 2026), July 2026. https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/brazil-instant-coffee-sector-exempt-134632724.html; https://coffeetalk.com/daily-dose/top-news/07-2026/110433/
21. European Commission, EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) for coffee (large-operator start ~Dec 2026; ~€0.10–€0.50/kg compliance cost). https://green-forum.ec.europa.eu/nature-and-biodiversity/deforestation-regulation-implementation_en