In today’s world, the average cup of coffee can cost you an arm or a leg, or both. A franchise chain has recently raised their price per cup by $0.09, I guess they have to justify the $12,000 espresso machines they now use and smaller Mom and Pop shops are struggling to stay afloat with the ever present franchise stores popping up only blocks from each other. It’s hard to believe that just 10 years ago, a regular cup of coffee would cost less than $0.95 and now the biggest cup of coffee you can get from a franchise store will cost nearly a full dollar more. I love a nice cup of coffee every morning and I used to willingly spend nearly $5 a cup just to get my fix until I started working at home. Since then, I’ve been looking for ways to cut costs while still enjoying my vices and coffee was the first one to get put on the chopping block.

On average, I was spending probably $25 a week (about 5 cups) on coffee for myself and saw nothing wrong with this. I also supplemented this with store-bought coffee that was typically 12-16oz for less than $5 and would yield a larger amount of coffee to enjoy but there was a problem with it: it’s bland and flat tasting with no punch. Now that I’m working at home, I do not go get coffee during the day in order to save money but I definitely still drink it. I’ve managed to save a tremendous amount of money per week on coffee simply by buying my own, exactly how much will be discussed in part 2! If you really want to have premium coffee at home but don’t want to pay premium prices or join exclusive coffee clubs that offer little reward to them, I’ve got a few ways you can save money (if you have a coffee pot at home, of course):

Aside from roasting my own beans, I’ve been through all of these steps and have stuck steadfastly to my French press and home ground beans. This has not only yielded me the most cups of coffee for my money but has also given me coffee unmatched by any store bought brands or coffee found in any franchise store in terms of taste. The upfront cost of this might be the only thing that scares people off given your results each time you brew coffee. I purchased a Bodum Chambord 8-cup Press from Amazon and purchased some beans from our local big name franchise store. My upfront cost was only $40 or so after taxes for both the coffee and the press. That’s not a terribly high cost considering a decent drip maker will run you $25-$30 — and much more if you want a good drip maker — then filters will be a few dollars and then coffee will probably be less than $5 depending on what brand you buy. In comparison, you’re paying almost the same amount for either one and trust me, a French press will give you a much better tasting cup of coffee and you’ll end up pouring out less at the end of the day.

I can usually get about 15 presses of coffee out of a single 12oz. bag if I make enough for my girlfriend and myself, around 20 or so if I make it just for me. Each pressed pot of coffee will give me approximately 17oz. of coffee if I’m making coffee for myself and I’ll use this for the rest of the article. That’s a great return on investment per cup for the premium Fair Trade coffee that I buy. This also only takes me less than 9 minutes to brew and begin consuming so there’s a savings there as well. So far, I’ve yet to run into a situation with my press where I’m not saving money:

The breakdown cost per cup per bag is as follows:

Considering the same amount of coffee from your favorite franchise store will run you at least $1.20 before taxes, I’m saving $0.68 per cup of coffee. This coffee will also taste head and shoulders above anything you’ll buy in a chain store once you get your measurements down correctly. On a 1:1 cost comparison, the same thing at my local chain store will cost me at least $36 before taxes kick in. For every bag that I consume that I purchase myself, I’m saving a whopping $20.40 per 30 cups of coffee. And since I purchase only Fair Trade Certified coffees, this also means that the farmer who grows my coffee now has a sustainable and steady stream of income coming his way so that he may provide for his family. For this reason alone, I can justify paying $10 or more per bag of coffee.

So in the end, by having a slightly high entry cost, I’m saving approximately 57% per 30 cups over my local franchise coffee store. If you’re a busy person like I am, cleaning up a French press takes considerably less time than cleaning a drip coffee maker and this too can be quantified in terms of dollars per man hour — it takes me less than a minute to fully clean my press. Buying Fair Trade Certified coffee might mean a bit higher cost per bag of coffee but I’m also helping someone sustain their way of life.

In part 2, I’ll be discussing — in specifics — just how much money I’ve saved in aggregate over the course of a month or so.