Every time I wake up, I look forward to my morning coffee. I am in control of what to add into my coffee and the amounts, based on my unique coffee preferences. But I never did consider just how much it costs for each cup of coffee that I’m brewing at home. I just tended to base it primarily on the price of the coffee beans or grounds, which of course is the main cost contributor when making coffee. When I looked more closely this is what I found.
My Total Cost: 51 cents per 8oz cup of coffee (35 cents for Coffee) + (3 cents for Filter) + (2 cents for Water and Electricity) + (11 cents for Coffeemaker ).
K-cup only: 45 – 65 cents each
Buying Coffee: $1.99 at Starbucks for black coffee.
How many ounces in a cup of coffee?
A cup of coffee is mostly defined as 4 ounces, probably from the time when people drank their coffee in a cup and saucer. Then coffee mugs came to the coffee party later on. I have decided that I’m going to use an 8oz cup size since I always like my coffee served fresh and hot. An 8oz cup of coffee is the right size for me each time I drink coffee.
How many cups of coffee can be made with a pound of coffee?
According to the Specialty Coffee Association of America, a single pound of coffee is enough for 48 6-oz cups of coffee. So in my case, I can make approximately 36 8-oz cups of brewed coffee for a pound of coffee (ground or beans).
On Starbuck’s website, a 1-lb of coffee yields approximately 64 5-oz cups. That’s around 40 8-oz cups of coffee.
It seems the number of cups of brewed coffee we can get from a pound of coffee varies. It depends on how we want our coffee to be, weak or strong. Also, consider the recommended amount of coffee set by the manufacturer of the coffee.
How much does a pound of coffee cost?
Folgers Classic Ground Coffee (30.5oz / 1 lb) priced at $8.95 [best selling ground coffee brand]
Starbucks Caffé Verona (1 lb) priced at $12.95 [one of my favorite coffee]
How much per (8oz) cup of coffee costs?
For $12.95 I can make around 36 8-oz cups of coffee = $0.35 per cup
Pod coffee cost per cup?
Premium brands of K-cups such as Green Mountain, Donut buy cheap topamax 100mg House, Gloria Jeans, Starbucks and many more – are fairly expensive. Although, lower cost K-cup brands are now easier to buy at the store or online.
Buying K-cups online, in Amazon or Ebay, can get you big discounts. The cost per coffee pod is about 45-65 cents. A coffee pod can brew 4-10 ounces of coffee.
What other costs should be included, aside from the price of the beans?
Paper Filter – 3 cents (Melitta Cone Coffee Filters, 600 filters for $19.74 in Amazon)
Coffee Maker – 2 cents for a $30 coffee maker that will last 3 years, and 11 cents for a $200 coffeemaker that will last for 5 years. So an expensive coffeemaker will significantly contribute to the cost per cup of coffee.
Electricity – let’s just estimate this at 1 cent per cup ($18 is the average annual cost of a 10 to 12 Cup Drip Coffeemaker in the US)
Water – let’s also estimate this at 1 cent per cup
Travel Mug – consider the cost when using a travel mug since we also pay for the cups when buying coffee. But I don’t use travel mugs and it won’t significantly add to the cost, so I will leave mine as n/a.
So the total cost (aside from the beans:$0.35 per cup) is 7 cents [$30 coffeemaker] to 16 cents [$200 coffeemaker] per cup of coffee.
Further reading: drpennypincher.hubpages.com
Final Thoughts
If the majority of our coffees are brewed at home, it’s no surprise that we will save money. Especially the savings we can get if we make our own coffee with cream and sugar, over buying espresso based drinks which usually cost $2.45, or even more. just minimizing (can’t eliminate) going to the coffee shops is a good start to save money. Plus, by performing the same analysis with the dining out habits, buying drinks at the bar and other choices we make each day, these little changes will have a significant impact on our finances and help in paying down some debt, saving money for vacations and other desirable uses.
So my curiosity for knowing how much a cup of coffee costs became a valuable lesson on how to save money in the long run. If you’re still searching for a coffeemaker, choose a high performing coffeemaker because it’s really worth having in the long run, regardless of its price.
Post entry: BLOG
Thank you for the information .I’m a coffee drinking teacher I need my java every morning . I knew brewing at home was less expensive . But I never went as far you to calculate the pounds per cup .
Thank you so much… This is exactly what i was searching for with ratios, you literally answered all my quantity questions. Also its great that you threw in cost of the extras as well (electricity, water, filters etc), it opened my eyes to things i hadnt considered, even as important as they are. Again. Thank you
Grace
I was thinking of calculating the cost of a cup of coffee now that my income is limited, but you’ve saved me the trouble. Thanks. The other consideration, which may or may not be important, is the experience of the coffee shop. Like, I can do yoga at home with a DVD and save myself $20/class or go to the class for the community experience. I guess it depends on what you’re looking for.
But the economy would crash if 1,000 Starbuck stores closed down……
My spouse and I drink an average of four 8-oz. cups of coffee per day. I computed my costs using 2-pound bags of ground coffee (Seattle’s Best Coffee) from a discount store, a Keurig coffeemaker I’ve had for more than 10 years, and reuseable ECO K-cup coffee filters. I got 24 cents per cup. I figure I am saving (very roughly) $350 a year over economy-size K-cups (60-count, Seattle’s Best Coffee from the same discount store), and more like $800 per year against 12-count boxes of K-Cups. Compared with spending $2-$4 daily at Starbucks, I would be saving a ton of money — over $1,000 a year. It’s actually a little better than that if you consider that I spent $119 for the coffee maker ($11.90 per year, divided by 1,400 cups per year = $0.0082 or eight-tenths of a cent.) but used your two-cent daily coffeemaker cost figure.
And the kicker is that I didn’t start doing this to save money but to keep from sending all those non-recyclable K-cups to the dump. Plus, my spouse and I use the spent coffee grounds in our garden.
See any flaws in my equation?
Here’s my math:
Cost of coffeemaker ($119 over 10 yrs./360=2.7 cents) round to: 3 cents
Water and electricity: 2 cents
2 lbs ground coffee (Seattle’s Best, from Sam’s Club) @ $14
per bag divided by 72 8 oz. cups (yield per bag) = 19 cents
TOTAL 24¢ per cup
Year (1,440 cups, 4 per day) of coffee @ 24¢ per = $345.60
Year’s worth of ECONOMY K-Cups .58 per cup x 1,440 = $835.20
Year’s worth of 10-12-count K-Cups $1.30 per cup x 1,440 = $1,872
ANNUAL SAVINGS? $349.60 (vs. economy-size K-cup) to $1,526.4 vs. expensive K-cups
K Cups are the most affordable method at my place. I am the only one who drinks coffee and may only have 1 or maybe 2 cups per day. If I was to use a drip coffee I would have to toss out unused coffee or would be drinking more. The K Cup is convenient and fast. In about a minute after I say to myself I want a coffee I am taking my first sip.
Ray, that’s exactly what I’m thinking about doing. I have a Keurig machine and am moving to the reusable filters to save money. Your calculation on cost matches what I had calculated before reading your post. Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you for justifying my Nespresso! It’s so worth it and the pods are recyclable. I always mention that with enthusiasm, or not to be judged. Whatever! Win for Nespresso.
Great article. I’ve been trying to cut back on my daily Dunkin runs as the monthly cost was outrageous. I never really made my own coffee until now so it was great to read and get a solid answer. I am always looking for ideas to write about saving money on my blog but sometimes I have to do a little research of my own! ^_^
Thanks for running this calculation! I noticed that while you amortized the cost of the coffeemaker for filters — you didn’t include the amortization cost of the K-cup coffee maker for the ‘pods’ — that is, the cost of each K-cup cost is the same as the cost you calculated for the pods themselves. In any case, it’s easy to add the 11-30 cents (I think K-cup coffee makers are much more expensive than plain coffee makers — $80 vs $20; and they are more fragile).
I like your approach here. I don’t know why I haven’t thought about it earlier being an Accountant by nature. I have just added some things to my wife’s and I’s cost analysis. To begin with it I have added consumables i.e. cream and sugar. We also drink out of a closer to 12 Oz cup. We also pay about 12 cents per cup on water because I will not put anything into my 2 year old Farberware drip coffeemaker but delivered bottled water. We use Starbuck’so I am just guesstimating that it will cost us 45 cents per cup. (I just began this analysis today when I happened on this website) All said and done I am probably going to fix my cost for brewing and enjoying a 12 Oz cup at 60 cents. I was going to amortize the use of my coffeemaker but figured it’s already 2 years old. I will wait for that for if, heaven forbids, the time arrives that I have to replace my machine of which I can’t buy a new Farberware drip machine as they no longer make them. Anyway, thanks to the Author of the article for the inspiration.
John A, You do not need to make a full pot!
We use the Hamilton Beach 2-way Flew Brew. One side is carafe, up to 12 cup (64 oz). The other side will use K cups or a small permanent filer to do a single cup up to 20 oz travel mug. It is not as fast as a Kurig.
My wife and I were discussing the cost of pods versus loose/ground coffee because she felt I was spending too much money using the pods. I Googled the question and came across your blog. Thanks for doing the analysis. I have been buying pods online in bulk for .35 a pod (free shipping). The brand of coffee is Maude’s which is pretty good. They, like others offer a variety of strengths. Since I was just comparing pods versus loose/ground (.35 your analysis), I was able to convince my wife that the cost is the same, plus I have the convenience of the pod (no messy grounds to contend with; and no grounds going down the drain when rinsing the filter (even after dumping most of the grounds in the trash).
Looking at others comments and analysis gave me a much greater insight into how to reduce the cost of a cup of coffee should I want to reduce my costs further.