NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Starbucks drinks, long considered symbols of Americans' penchant to overspend, are about to get even pricier.
The coffee giant said late Wednesday that it will raise the price of "labor-intensive and larger-sized" beverages because of soaring prices of green arabica coffee beans.
Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) said green coffee prices are close to a 13-year high, and costs for its other raw ingredients, including dairy, sugar and cocoa, have been volatile.
As CNNMoney reported earlier this month, coffee futures have climbed more than 40% since June.
"[This has] completely altered the economic and financial picture of many players in the coffee industry," Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz said in a written statement. "We have thus far chosen to absorb the price increases ourselves and not pass them on to our customers. But the extreme nature of the cost increases has made it untenable for us to continue to do so."
The prices of many drinks, including "certain espresso beverages," will stay steady, and the company's flagship tall brewed coffee will remain at $1.50 "in most markets," Starbucks said.
But if your favorite caffeine bomb is a Venti Coffee Caramel Frappuccino, prepare to pay up: Starbucks is targeting its price hikes at drinks that are larger and more time consuming to make. It also warned that it may soon raise the price of its packaged coffee sold in grocery stores.
Starbucks doesn't plan to let the price shocks cut into its bottom line. The company backed its fiscal 2011 earnings outlook of $1.36 to $1.41 a share. 
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 12,454.83 | -74.92 | -0.60% |
| Nasdaq | 2,837.53 | -1.85 | -0.07% |
| S&P 500 | 1,317.82 | -2.86 | -0.22% |
| Treasuries | 1.74 | -0.01 | -0.80% |
| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 7.15 | 0.01 | 0.14% |
| Sprint Nextel Corp | 2.62 | 0.09 | 3.56% |
| Cisco Systems Inc | 16.33 | -0.06 | -0.37% |
| Chesapeake Energy Co... | 15.81 | 0.23 | 1.48% |
| Ford Motor Co | 10.60 | 0.01 | 0.09% |
|
The Senate hearing will focus JPMorgan's recent $2 billion trading loss, which Dimon announced earlier this month. More |
The offer for mail handlers is part of the Postal Service's plan to cut 150,000 jobs by 2015. More |
In the whirlwind of its IPO fallout, there has been a sort of glee in watching the company stumble. What's driving the Facebook-schadenfreude and what can the social network do about it? More |
One in six children in the United States is obese. These small businesses have found creative -- and lucrative -- ways to fight the childhood obesity epidemic. More |
In Harper County, Kansas, oil companies are offering farmers up to $1,250 an acre for the mineral rights that allow them to drill for oil on their property. More |
.
