I've been thinking about coffee (drip coffee, not espresso drinks) a great deal lately and about how much we love it in comparison to how much we pay for it. Many folks make drip coffee at home and others like to grab a cup on their way to work or as a mid-afternoon break. And as you've likely noticed, the price varies from cafe to cafe, from bean to bean, from city to city. So I began to wonder: where do you draw the line between an acceptable price for drip coffee and an over-the-top expenditure?
I started thinking about this while traveling this past week. The house where we were staying had an older model N'espresso machine, but no regular drip coffee maker. My family and I are pretty big coffee drinkers, so we went through numerous pods each day to brew small cups of coffee that would tide us over for a little while until we felt like a warm-up (in which case we'd reach for another pod).
Now I have a N'espresso machine at home, but we use it sparingly — often when people come over for dinner or on a lazy Sunday. We rely on the workhorse drip coffee maker the majority of the time. So I got to thinking: if you relied on numerous pods a day, your at-home coffee tab would really start to add up (mine cost about $.60 each, a much better price than heading to the coffee shop, but still a small investment if you use them often).
On the coffee shop side of things, The Huffington Post just ran an interesting slideshow on the prices of coffee and how much people are willing to stomach spending for their drip cup of joe. The conclusion? A normal cup of coffee should cost no more than $3, with 21% of folks interviewed saying that it should cost no more than $2. I have to say that I'd agree. For me, $2 is my threshold. When asked "how much is too much for a regular coffee?", the average answer from the people surveyed was $3.52.
When I think about the differences between making coffee at home and buying it out, the price is always my deciding factor. I can set our machine at night and have coffee the next morning, so I can't blame the time factor. And personally, if I'm going to splurge on a $3-$4 coffee, I don't want it to be a drip coffee. I want it to be a strong soy latte that feels more like a treat than an everyday necessity.
I'd love to know what you think: what's your coffee threshold? How much are you wiling to spend for a simple cup of joe?
Read the Article: Coffee Survey Results: Your Caffeine Consumption, by the Numbers by The Huffington Post
Related: Make or Buy? Roasted Coffee Beans
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Truthfully, knowing how much a simple cup of coffee actually costs, paying for one at a coffee shop turns my stomach. The beans themselves are pretty inexpensive, so what you end up paying for is labor, a paper cup and any overhead for the shop. I've worked in numerous coffee shops and am fully aware of the cost involved, and quite frankly, I don't spend a lot of money on buying coffee. I can't understand how people spend $3-$4 per latte, often numerous times a day when making a cup at home costs pennies on the dollar. We drink quite a bit of coffee and always use a drip coffeemaker. When a single cup is needed, we have a small french press that suits that just fine. About the only cup of coffee I purchase away from home is cold-press.
And those single-cup pod coffeemakers are the worst nightmare of all; the environmental waste created from those machines is abhorrent. The coffee always tastes sub-par, and the dollar amount per cup is utterly ridiculous. Yet they've grabbed hold of our 'gotta have it right now' society and are everywhere.
I found out very recently that my threshold is $3. I used to get an Iced Coffee everyday (EVERYDAY) from a local coffee chain by my house and happily paid $2.60. I moved and had to switch to a different location of that same chain where they charge $3.20 for the exact same coffee and decided that was way too much.
I now cold brew my own iced coffee concentrate on the weekends and keep it at work to make every morning. Super delicious AND loving the savings.
Forget these K-Cup machines. Use a Bialetti espresso pot. It's cheap, super-simple, and makes great coffee.
Funny--I was recently at a deli and a woman walked out and left her tea sitting on the counter rather then shell out two bucks for it. I had to agree--two bucks for deli Lipton? I'll pay $3 a cup to sit down and drink a cup of coffee, but I'm NOT happy to pay more than $2 for a simple cup of joe to go. This isn't too hard because I don't like Starbucks coffee, so I never went through the mental gymnastics of convincing myself to pay so much (I have witnessed this process many times in friends). I make my own, or I hit the deli and pay between 75 cents to $1.25 on average.
I'm a java junkie. I brew my own, but I have a French Press, a drip machine, a Chemex and also a small stove-top espresso maker, and I really use all of them! Initial investment I know, and I do pay a pretty penny for quality beans. In Portland, there are fantastic local roasters, so I feel good about supporting local business.
One thing I'd really never thought about before reading this piece... with the new "pod" machines, are the little plastic cups that hold the coffee/tea biodegradable? Financial cost aside, if you can't compost them, it seems like over time the amount of garbage those produce would be worth thinking about.
Does anyone know if they are recycled or break down?
I generally agree with you but that woman was very silly for objecting about the tea. It's not the cost of the tea--that's the price of the cup and the ability to get one NOW rather than wait until you can make it yourself. Convenience is expensive.
Love my Bialetti! We have two--a little guy and a big guy. I make my coffee to take to work in my thermalated travel mug in the big guy and my work at home husband makes a couple doses in the little guy throughout the day. I accidentally ruined the big guy last week by turning the burner on under it and failing to make sure there was water in it. The handle and the lid knob melted off. Tragedy! We had to resort to using the drip coffee maker until the new Bialetti arrived. The coffee didn't taste nearly as good from it. I'm drinking my first Bialetti coffee from the new pot right now and it is magical!
(We also have a french press but I'm not allowed to use it because I've burned myself badly on it twice. We use it in the summer for iced coffee.)
So, I don't usually buy cofffee out in the normal course of my week but I will shell out $4 a cup for the pour over coffee at a fancy place in my neighborhood. That's more like getting a high-end cocktail or something than just a cup of coffee. It's totally worth the money as a treat.
Most of the pods are not recyclable or compostable, some are recyclable but it depends on your cities recycling facilities.
I think my threshold is higher, but only because I buy coffee out so rarely. If I'm on the go, I'm making my own coffee (french press at home or my french press to-go mug). If I'm buying from a coffee shop, I'm there to sit back & enjoy, or maybe to get some work done; either way, I don't mind paying >$3.00 for a cup of joe.
We just had a new coffee shop move in down the street from us, and they charge $3.25-4.50 for a cup of pour-over coffee. This may sound extravagant, but it's good! Plus, I'm not only supporting a local business but they support a local coffee roaster, and if it's only once or twice a month I see it as money well spent.
I agree with AndyG, these K-Cup machines are not worth it. I work at a small kitchen appliance store and the amount of waste that these machines produce - I'd rather spend 3-4 dollars once or twice day on a coffee.
But the most logical solution would be a Bodum, Bialetti, or something of that effect.
@Unegan, in an NYC deli, with another one across the street and two up the block, two bucks for Lipton loses you a customer to 3 other delis selling it for half that.
I'd pay up at truckstop in Wyoming, though.
I think it could be a city thing, too. Here in LA, there's an interest in specialized ways of brewing coffee that I haven't seen as much in espresso-focused cities like Seattle. At places like Intelligentsia, La Mill, Handsome, etc. where pourover cups of coffee are brewed to order rather than made in a big dripper -- yes, I'm happy to pay more for these usually spectacular cups of coffee. So my threshold is about $5, but since I usually brew at home in my Chemex, I don't get too bent out of shape by this very occasional splurge.
If I was going to sit and enjoy it in a nice environment, I would pay about $3. A plain coffee to go shouldn't cost more than $1.50. I think it's very "cool" to hate the Keurig but it works great for me. I use a reusable cup/filter and I just scoop ground coffee that I buy at the supermarket into it. I use the Keurig machine so that I can have just one cup of coffee instead of dumping half the pot like I used to. For a home where only one person drinks coffee, it's perfect.
I drank Starbux at one time but it is too bitter, too expensive and the lines are far too long all day. I now get coffee for $1.10 (any size) at Mickey D. Works for me but I'm spoiled now and anything over $2 is too much.
depends not only on the coffee quality but the environment. I drink generally straight coffee (usually no lattes or cappuccinos). If I just need a quick coffee fix and am busy doing something, I'll make some or grab a cheap cup (~$1.50).
If I want to sit and read a book or my computer while enjoying the coffee shop environment I have no problem spending a bit more (~$3).
And then there is times when I knowingly splurge. Just last week I found a new shop that roasts the beans in the back, and produced one of the best cups of coffee I had ever had, at $4 a cup it definitely should have been. Granted I talked to the owner for about 30 minutes, for a few dollars every once in a while it's definitely worth it.
There is an old proverb that says, if you sell anything made with water, you will never go bankrupt. just shows how much profit you can make from selling water based products like soda and coffee.
When I'm out, I don't mind spending $3 or $4 if it's good stuff. It really depends on what
I'm getting and where I am. If it's a nice cafe, those lights don't stay on for free and I'm happy to support having a nice cafe to enjoy my time in.
I love using a Bialetti at home for espresso or a French press for brewed coffee. Both are inexpensive devices that make truly excellent coffees with minimal outlay for consumables. It really comes down to how much you want to get into spending on the coffee itself and at that it's a fraction per cup for some fine, fine beans that you would have a hard time finding in most coffee shops.
And sure, I'd like to get a nice Wega or La Marzocco machine for home. It's a significant investment. And somewhere I'm sure the math works out that this beautiful tank of a machine would pay for itself over time. But I also know when I'm paying $4 at a cafe, I'm also paying to be out at a cafe in a social environment among people. That's worth a premium to me.
For home or work, I really don't like the single-cup pods. As mentioned before, the environmental impact is terrible. And I have yet to taste anything from them that I loved.
I think anything over two bucks is too much. I brew my own coffee at home, and don't mind spending a dollar for a cup out. I cannot fathom why anyone would spend $3-$4 for a regular cup of coffee.
But hey, it's a free country. If that's what you want, go for it.
You can buy reusable N'esspresso and K-cup coffee pods (and probably tons of other kinds). You just scoop in your ground coffee into their reusable pods, and get your coffee right away. Then you take out the pod, dump out the grounds, maybe rinse it out a bit with water, and bingo-bango, you're in business for another cup. Easy and more environmentally friendly! Just google it.
For me, making coffee at home costs around $0.38 a cup. (~$12.00 for a pound of coffee, 1/2 an ounce per cup)
A latte or espresso at home costs around $0.50 ($0.25 for the milk, $0.25 for the coffee)
A cup of tea costs around $0.23 (~$15 a pound, 1/4 of an ounce per cup)
When I go to a coffee shop, I will pay $2.00 for a cup of coffee.
I think it completely depends on who is making it. I've paid $3 for an amazing pour over cup of coffee. Honestly, I've not not at home, I'll pay what it takes to get a good cup of coffee.
I'm more of a latte drinker, but anything over $3 for drip coffee would be too much for me. The other thing is, I don't see how it's such a great time saver in the morning to stop at a coffee shop instead of setting your pot to brew while you're getting ready in the morning. I guess it depends on your commute and how strict work is about getting there on time.
It depends on the circumstances. When at home or work, I'll balk at paying anything more than $2 for a cup of coffee, or for a regular ole' cup with breakfast or brunch at a restaurant. If it's a specialty brew as a treat or whilst traveling, I can do a bit more. If rushed and under-caffeinated, I can truthfully say I've not even batted an eye at a $5 latte.
$2 for a medium size cup-o-joe-on-the-go is my limit (though $1.50 is more my style), though most places around here (san antonio) don't cross that threshold. though, probably because most places around here can't make a decent cup.
at home, i am the only coffee drinker, and only like drinking coffee fresh brewed, so i've foregone large carafe systems that make a lot at once. i have owned a keurig system (christmas present), and loved it. by the responses here, they are largely unpopular because of the waste they make using the disposable cups. i avoided those like the plague, and used reusable filters or individual paper filters (composted) and used my own coffee. it was fast and easy. the cups i got from it were some of the best i've made at home, but i gave it up after several years because it was fairly tedious, took up space and i really couldn't control how much coffee i wanted to brew.
i now use a pour over method similar to the one in the picture, though i use a paper filter and simple funnel, and get a great cup of coffee. i never cared for the siltiness of mesh systems, like the french press. it's hard to estimate what it costs per cup, but if i had to guess... probably $0.30 a cup, as calculated by a rounded number of cups a day + usual price per bag of coffee, etc.
2.50 is the most I'll pay, though I usually make my own--drip filter, french press, and my new favorite toy the Aeropress are all more economically sensible.
There's a fancy coffee shop near me in Philly (Elixir Coffee) that charges close to $5 for a cup of fancy drip coffee, which I find to be insane. The taste difference between their coffee and the $2-with-fifty-cent-refills coffee at some smaller coffee shops near me is negligible. Definitely not worth it.
Fancy lattes are a different story, but I still come down on the side of never paying more than $4 for a coffee beverage (unless it's got liquor in it, of course)
$2.
$2. I make fun of my husband when he gets $3+ cups of coffee from a hip and overpriced shop. I make pretty excellent coffee using a single cup dripper and I have a to go mug. I don't find much reason to stop for a cup out more than once a month or so. And I cannot fathom how those k cups got as popular as they did. They seem so expensive and wasteful for very mediocre coffee.
$2.00 is what I would call a "comfortable" price to pay for a medium cup of regular coffee. When you get into cappuccinos and lattes, I'm a little more flexible with my price thresholds--although they can get pretty pricey sometimes. The best way to control the price and quality of your coffee is to buy your own coffee beans online from a reputable online coffee store.
Here's a nice recap of what one drinker pays per year for very good, sustainable coffee. Also has a nice comparison to k-cup costs and her costs in years past: http://www.coffeehabitat.com/2013/01/my-year-in-beans-2012-2/
Day to day, $1.50 is my max, fancy drinks often run higher, but they're a treat if I'm out with a friend or at the airport.
My roommate has a Tassimo, and you can't get reusable discs as far as I know. I buy lattes discs sometimes to have on a lazy sunday, I find the plain coffee gross. I have a one-cup black and decker, but mostly I drink tea at home.