Soaring coffee prices are forcing roasters, retailers and consumers to adapt

As a stream of roasted coffee beans drops into a barrel, it fills an Oakville, Ont., roastery with a smell practically strong enough to caffeinate you.

The roasted beans, now a rich, deep brown, were once small and green, bagged in large burlap sacks and shipped to Canadian ports from the coffee-producing countries of Ethiopia, Colombia and Brazil.