Cuppa Joe Mama!

If you thought oil futures speculation was fun, check out the newest commodity hedge game:  coffee.

Grocery shoppers have seen whopping increases this year in the price of a can of ordinary coffee, whether it's a generic store brand or better-known ones such as Folgers and Maxwell House. Since spring, coffee has been selling at $7 to $8 a can in many parts of the country, or about twice the price of a gallon of gas.

The retail price of coffee in July was up 20.7 percent over the same month last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks changes in grocery store prices. Big coffee marketers have trimmed prices a bit for consumers in recent weeks, but the price of contracts for future delivery of coffee continues to rise unabated.

What gives?

Coffee-industry veterans blame financial speculators. They say they're taking advantage of global supply hiccups to drive up coffee prices by adding volatility to the trading of contracts for future delivery of coffee. It's not as debilitating to family income as high crude oil prices, but the phenomenon is the same.

"It's definitely not purely supply and demand; it's way too volatile," said Shawn Hamilton, the vice president of operations and a veteran coffee buyer for Java City in Sacramento, Calif., a national wholesaler of coffee and a midsize regional coffee roaster.

Any port in a storm, even coffee.  A 20% hike from this time last year?  I don't drink Java myself, but I'm thinking that level of price jacking has to come from our friends the speculators.  We'll see how this plays out, but if you thought America hated Wall Street's Big Casino games before, you have no idea.

This could get really ugly.