We’ve been tracking grocery prices in Chicago. Our latest findings: Coffee and ground beef are up.

For the past nine months, the Sun-Times has been tracking grocery prices for 35 items at four major Chicago retailers — and the prices keep getting higher.

Our latest price check this month found a number of items increased, causing our total shopping basket to be higher at most of the stores.

The total for our basket at Jewel-Osco was $276.65, up by $3.30 from July — and up $14.20 since we started tracking prices in December. At Mariano’s our total was $270.15, an increase of $3.20 compared to July’s basket total.

The bump was smaller at Target. Our total basket price was $218.25, rising $1.50 from July.

We’ve also been tracking Walmart Supercenter’s prices, but couldn’t make a true comparison because the Walmart in Belmont Cragin that we check monthly didn’t have every item on our list.

The item that jumped the most? Coffee.

Folgers ground coffee went up by $1 at Mariano’s to $8.99, and $2.50 at Jewel, where it’s also now retailing for $8.99.

Coffee prices have been increasing for a while. The Labor Department said Tuesday that coffee costs are nearly 15% more than a year earlier, mostly because of troubled harvests overseas. Steep tariffs on goods from Brazil could push costs higher in the coming months. Nearly all U.S. coffee is imported.

This month, the price of 85% lean ground beef rose by 50 cents a pound at Jewel, to a retail price of $7.49, and 30 cents a pound at Target, to $7.99. Ground beef prices continue to climb due to drought, small herd sizes and high feed costs.

Romaine lettuce, baby-cut carrots and yellow onions went up at two of the four stores. Wholesale prices for “fresh and dry vegetables” spiked 38.9% in July, according a Thursday report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

At Jewel, Chicago’s largest grocery chain, out of the 35 items, four went up in price and 30 stayed flat while one declined, which was Stouffer’s 12-ounce frozen mac & cheese that dropped by 20 cents.