Agreed, paywalls are a win-win because it has the potential to remove the chains of clickbait and pulp. Except that "a cup of coffee" is a US-centric term which doesn't apply everywhere in the world. Not everyone in the world (or even the US) can afford to spend those few USD a month on a news outlet. And if they, they can only afford to buy so many cups of coffee. So a lot of people who can't afford won't resort to it. Except, perhaps, in their native languages.

(Comment written on the cost-free, advertisement-free website Hacker News.)