As an avid coffee drinker, lover of coffee, and roaster of beans, I have watched my fair share of coffee videos. Some of my favorites are from the UK, so, this week(s) homage is to how they refer to what Americans call math.
This will be a blog in two parts. This week we will focus on the financial cost of coffee. Specialty grade coffee is more expensive, but there are trade offs that many people don’t think about. Here is your chance to delve into some of the calculations that prompted my decision to start Galaxy Girl Coffee.
Next week will focus on the math behind the health aspects of drinking better coffee. This is another contributing factor into why I started GGC and is why I make our espresso drinks the way that I do.
For a long time there has been this idea that to get a really good cup of coffee you have to go to a coffee shop and have them make it for you. Nothing you can make at home will taste as good. To come close to that quality takes a ton of time, effort, and fancy expensive equipment. I’m here to help you rethink this fallacy.
With more roasters offering specialty grade coffee, it is getting easier to find a coffee that you can enjoy at home that tastes great. While the upfront cost is higher with specialty coffee beans, it will save you money in the long run. Let’s break it down for you.
Here at Galaxy Girl Coffee, our average 1 lb bag of whole beans will run you about $25.60. This puts the price per gram at about $0.06. I use grams because I measure all of my coffee dosing in grams. If I’m making an Aeropress (brewer is $39.95 MSRP) coffee, I’ll use 11 grams of coffee, which means my 7 oz cup will cost me $0.66. If I then add an oz of oat milk at $0.16 per oz, my whole cup of coffee is $0.82. You will need some way to heat up water, but there are temperature control water kettles that are available for less than $60, and stove top kettles are even less expensive.
While buying a cup of coffee at a shop is a nice splurge, there is no place where you can get an 8 oz cup of coffee for less than a dollar. We also tend to get espresso drinks when we treat ourselves, with the price starting at an average of $4.30 for a 12 oz latte. This is due to the expense of the equipment and the experience of the barista.
If you decide to buy less expensive coffee that is not specialty grade, chances are you will add more milk, flavors, and sugar to your cup of coffee that will affect your overall cost. These numbers are harder to calculate, as everyone tends to fix their coffee just a little bit differently, but I’ll try and give a ballpark figure.
The cost of a grocery store coffee is usually around $0.02-0.04/gram. If we calculate that out would put the same cup of coffee as above costing between $0.22-0.44. Where the price increase comes from is the cost of the additives. K-cups usually run about $0.31-0.90, but usually serves a bigger cup of coffee, and we won’t delve into the environmental ramifications of k-cups.
Coffee creamers tend to cost about $0.14/oz, with milk costing about $0.03/oz for store brand, and $0.06/local dairy milk. The serving size of the coffee creamers is 1 tablespoon, which is about half an ounce. This does make the cost per serving of coffee creamers $0.07, but who actually measures out their coffee creamer when they add it to their morning cup of coffee? Adding sugar or other sweeteners only add less than a penny, unless you are looking at the cost of flavoring syrups, which will cost about $0.25 per ½ oz serving.
The true downside of drinking subpar coffee at home is that if you are unsatisfied with the coffee you make at home, you are more likely to treat yourself to a ‘good’ cup of coffee while out and about. If it is easy, and less expensive to treat ourselves to a great cup of coffee at home, not only will we be enjoying better coffee, we’ll be saving money too.
As a coffee roaster and coffee shop owner, I do understand the desire to get that special cup of coffee that only your local barista can make. There is also the benefit of enjoying the third spaces of those coffee shops, but that is whole other blog post.