Coffee’s great. It offers a kick-start to your morning, a source of vitality during your day and stamina for those inevitable end-of-semester all-nighters. But many of us don’t realize just how much coffee we consume or how much money we’re spending to get our caffeine freak on.
According to a study done by the National Coffee Association, about 55 percent of Americans drink coffee daily, 66 percent weekly and 80 percent yearly. On average, American coffee drinkers usually consume about 3.1 cups of coffee per day. Of those people, 18 percent consume specialty coffees, including espressos and lattes.
Depending on where you get your coffee, that can be a lot of money or a ton of money.
An 11.3-ounce container of Folgers can make up to 90 six-ounce cups of coffee. Since the average American coffee drinker consumes about 1,132 cups of coffee per year, and an 11.3-ounce container runs at about $5, it costs approximately $65 per year just for the average American coffee drinker to maintain their regular coffee consumption habits at home.
For many of us, though, the bare minimum doesn’t quite cut it.
At the beginning of this semester, shortly after taking up an escalated coffee drinking regimen, I realized that my daily Starbucks routine was starting to wear on my wallet and that it would be fiscally advantageous to invest in a coffee maker. So I trucked on down to Sears and found a pretty decent coffee maker on sale (what, the economy is bad?) and then went to
H-E-B and bought a 52-ounce container of Folgers for about $20. I also tossed in some creamer and sugar. In total, my start-up costs were about $70, not to mention the continuing cost of coffee and various accoutrement as I fuel my fix. And my coffee spending doesn’t stop at my home cafe. For whatever reason — whether I’m on the go, in the mood for a tasty treat or using coffee as a social medium — I usually run up a “specialty” coffee bill of about $15 (four beverages) per week. All in all, when this 36-week school year is all said and done, I will have spent approximately $650 on coffee and coffee products alone and, as it always goes, I’m not the only college student hemorrhaging benjamins for a little swish in my step and some trend in my bend — I just can’t be!
Just look at all the coffee places around campus — there are three Starbucks, one Seattle’s Best (plus several Seattle’s Best Coffee Stands), a Prufrock’s, Café Medici ... the list goes on. It’s an open invitation to consume, and at two bucks or so, a cup of the stuff doesn’t seem like such an extravagance. Until it adds up.
I’m certainly not guiltless when it comes to splurging on coffee. I could have bought a plasma screen TV with the money I’ve thrown in Starbucks’ till. Even though I am addicted, I’ll try to curb back my spending from now on or at least get used to drinking homemade brew out of the to-go cup that I can never quite get clean (ew). Or maybe I’ll just switch to the watery stuff from 7-Eleven.
Cleveland is a physics sophomore.
Buy a french press (cost way less than the machine you bought), and a weekly supply of fresh roasted beans from a place like Whole foods, etc. (where they have in-store grinders).
Damn cheap, AND it'll make you a real cup of coffee.
Though money should not stand in the way of this addiction ---- so stay away from the 7-11 watery stuff.
Plasma screen won't give you nearly the daily pleasure a good cup of joe.
[[ and if you're into history, don't forget to read up on the history of coffee, fascinating stuff. ]]