What is the cost of making coffee at home? Discover the truth!
There are numerous benefits to making coffee at home. The cost of a cup of coffee is one of the least important. For instance, we know that coffee at a coffee shop or cafe costs more, but there are other considerations. Flavor, effort, comfort, and other factors all play a role in determining the worth of a cup of coffee.
That being said, we set out to answer the question, “How much does a cup of coffee cost to make at home?”
I was also curious how quickly, using our savings calculations from making coffee at home, we’d have “paid off” some of our favorite pricey coffee gear.
Our Assumptions and Why Our Analysis Is Correct for You
Certain costs are not included in my analysis: the expense of running an electric grinder and kettle, as well as the cost of driving to a coffee shop for beans or freshly brewed coffee at a high cost per cup. All of these are aspects that a thorough examination could improve. However, our research is intended to provide a helpful answer to the expense of coffee at home per cup.
Below, we outline three alternative scenarios: What do you get if you use less expensive materials? What if you follow our suggestion and purchase our “Fussy Coffee Starter Kit?” Finally, we attempted to estimate the circumstances we are in today: Is our coffee addiction going up or down?
Materials Considered in Our Pricing
If you’re reading our site and analysis, you’re unfamiliar with brewing coffee at home. The most essential items that we, or any home brewer of coffee, will spend money on are:
If you’ve decided to avoid most grocery stores and price-club coffee, this can easily outweigh most prices.
The chopper. Fussy coffee begins with being picky about the beans and purchasing only whole-bean coffee. The disadvantage of whole beans is that they cannot be used to make good coffee. As a result, you’ll need to purchase a grinder to pulverize them into brewable bits.
There are alternatives to a temperature-controlled electric gooseneck kettle, but I’ll never return. However, these can easily cost more than $100.
What We Did With Coffee Cost Calculations?
I left out a few ingredients that some people might consider essential for coffee—specifically, mugs, cups, water, and extras such as sweeteners and creamers. I have captured the most expensive aspects of preparing coffee properly here. However, there are a few additional items that may be included. A cafe offers free half-and-half, which I didn’t add here. However, half-and-half is relatively inexpensive.
It’s Not an Espresso Calculation
Another significant difference is that our recommended coffee kits at Low Key Coffee Snobs do not include espresso. Our favorite grinder could be better for this, and espresso brewing equipment is substantially more expensive. So, while you could make an analysis like this for espresso enthusiasts, this will not fall into that category. I don’t care for espresso nearly enough.
In an espresso scenario, you can easily apply my calculations. Instead of $40 for an AeroPress, you’re probably paying several hundred dollars for an excellent espresso machine.
How to Calculate the Cost of Coffee
One more complicated assumption I inserted into my calculations is that you drink the same amount of coffee whether you buy it at a coffee shop or make it at home. While this theory is sound, we must confess that it does not square with my personal experience. That is, we can now have great coffee at home.
This enters into our calculations since I added in the cost of “expensive” coffee beans, which constitute the majority of what we consume. We purchase a large quantity of beans from local roasters. Some are also available online. And we’re usually content to pay roughly $20 for a 12-ounce bag. Prices fluctuate, but that is the upper limit of what I am willing to pay.
We compared it to the identical coffee a barista at a nearby coffee shop served to account for this. From there, we compute the payback time for our capital costs on a grinder, brewer, kettle, etc. There are numerous ways to perform a calculation like this; we chose one of them.
The Return on Investment Based on Several Coffee Scenarios
This is the meat of the analysis, where we utilized my spreadsheet to calculate the cost of each cup of coffee we make at home and compare it to the price of a coffee shop.
$3.50 in startup costs Local Coffee: You’ll Make Money in Days
When we first started brewing coffee at home, I performed the following:
I used the microwave to heat water.
I used an old kitchen thermometer to check the temperature.
On Amazon, I purchased a low-cost manual grinder (about $20).
I used an AeroPress that I bought for $40.
I began with cheap grocery store coffee beans and a kitchen scale. I’m taking that out of this computation because that coffee didn’t live up to its potential.
Assuming you have that cost structure, your initial investment in coffee will be roughly $70. And if you make coffee in the AeroPress manner we recommend (create your style, but I need approximate grams/brew to do the arithmetic), you’ll have repaid your complex item costs in just 26.3 mixtures. That means you’d be saving money in less than a month.
You’d undoubtedly want some equipment updates by the conclusion of that month, as I did. But even if you don’t, if you do this, you’ll quickly save money.
Assuming you visit a cheap local coffee shop daily and use our recommended kit
Our recommended homebrew system costs around $300. That is, if you need a good kitchen scale, a good kettle, a good grinder, or a good brewer. So, to acquire our recommended kettle, you’ll need to spend around $70. $140 is our grinder recommendation. Our recommended brewing systems (an AeroPress or a Kalita Wave) are around $50. An excellent kitchen scale may be obtained for under $40.
This results in an initial hard-material cost of $300. Assuming an optimistic local brew cost of $3 (you’re okay with batch brew from a friendly store), you’ll need 143 potions to break even. Let’s round that up to six months of coffee every day. Not too shabby. You’ll save money immediately because none of our recommended kits will wear out during that period.
Our Estimated Costs: After Two Months, We are Saving Money
To satisfy our curiosity, we computed the total cost of the coffee set. So, we entered our actual estimate with the disappointing JavaPresse, the excellent Bonavita, the Baratza Encore, and the kitchen scale that I replaced. I budgeted $500 for materials. It’s a deliberately pessimistic figure. Because I also stated that we brew three times every day.
Despite this, we recouped our costs in less than two months, 52 days.
Saving money is not the only reason to make your coffee. However, you will save money.
In all of these cases and more, you’ll find that if you plan to consume homebrewed coffee regularly, the majority of your upfront material costs are soon recouped when compared to a barista-brewed coffee experience. That doesn’t imply you’re perfectly set and can spend all your money on coffee-related items.
Instead, this all points to the realization that if you enjoy good coffee, you can easily rationalize anything. Even if you make a significant expenditure on producing outstanding coffee at home, you will quickly come out financially.