Green and roasted: the price gap
Weight loss, roast loss, and margin.
The arithmetic
Green coffee loses 12 to 18 per cent of its weight in roasting. A kilo of green becomes roughly 850 grams of roasted beans.
Add labour, gas, packing, and a roaster's margin, and a roasted bag at twice the green price is not gouging — it is normal.
Roasting is 15 per cent physics and 85 per cent labour.
When to buy green
Only if you roast. Green coffee keeps for a year or more in a dry place, which makes it the better format for a gift you are not sure when they will open.
Otherwise the price gap is the service you are buying.
Disclosure: this article contains no affiliate links. Prices and dates checked in October 2026. Our methodology.