I Love Going Out For Coffee Here and There, but Is it Worth it 3x A Week?
I Get It
Grabbing your favorite Hot or Cold coffee beverage at your favorite local cafe or popular fast food-like coffee restaurant is sensational. It is on the go, you don’t have to make the coffee, and you save time in your day. I’ve done this plenty of times when I am in a pinch with time, on the go, traveling, or was too lazy to make my own coffee.
One of my favorite drinks at a local coffee shop is getting either a latte or a cappuccino. For me, it is the perfect coffee drink because of its simplicity. My future wife enjoys a specialty latte with raspberry or chocolate!
Although it is fun and easy to go out for coffee, it is too convenient. Going out for coffee more than 3x a week, with hoping not sounding too preachy, is kinda a waste of money.
However,
To explain why I think it is a waste of money to go out for coffee more than 3x a week, I am going to use numbers. I’m Sorry! I know, math and numbers are boring, but they are effective for proving my case rather than me ranting.
Let’s paint the picture. You are a busy person. In the morning, you wish you had more time to make coffee. To compensate, you go to your local coffee store or fast coffee shops to get your caffeine fix. It becomes a routine. Now you are going 3 or more times a week to get your coffee.
Getting 3 large lattes from your well-known fast coffee shops will run you from around $12-$15. Not a lot of money right? What about over 10, 20, or 30 years? Think about how much you have spent over the last 10 years on fast food, going out for a beer, or purchasing clothes you don’t wear. All of these purchases are small at first, just like the coffee. However, small purchases like these collect over time. The amount you spent on coffee, beer, or fast food could have been used elsewhere.
For a great example, let’s stick with coffee. If you consistently bought 3 lattes from two well-known fast coffee shops for 10 years, how much would you spend? Getting 3 lattes a week from Store One will cost you $13.95, and from Store 2 it will be $12.39. Continuously doing this for 10 years you would have spent $7,254.00 at Store 1 and $6,442.80 at Store 2 (Check image below). For me, that is a big chunk of change that I would rather spend elsewhere.
Now
What if you made your hot or iced lattes at home? How much would it cost if you made 3 lattes at home weekly?
First, let’s talk about equipment. You need some specific equipment to make amazing great lattes every day. For a budget-friendly coffee setup, I would suggest the following equipment below to make delicious lattes or other coffee milk drinks. I use all of the equipment listed below. It is consistent, reliable, and I enjoy using it.
– 6 Cup Bialetti Moka Express as of 05/24/2023 is $38.33
– SHARDOR Conical Burr Coffee Grinder as of 05/24/2023 is $65
– KitchenTour Coffee Scale with Timer as of 05/24/2023 is $23.49
– Secura Milk Frother as of 05/24/2023 is $34
– Torani Variety Pack as of 05/24/2023 is $32.92
The price of coffee varies from person to person. Personally, I like to buy single-origin coffee from grocery stores or online. Although this cost more than getting your can of coffee at a grocery store, you get a nicer cup of coffee at the end. The coffee I used in this scenario is from Fresh Roasted on Amazon which is priced at around $24 per 2 pounds. The two other pieces of the puzzle for making the latte are milk and water, which are fairly cheap!
There is a major upfront cost at first because you are buying your own equipment. In total, it will be roughly $220. However, breaking down the cost of the latte by the ingredients (coffee grounds, water, milk, and syrups), the cost of one latte at home is around $0.79 (breakdown is in the table below). Making this 3x a week would be roughly $2.37. Much cheaper than going to fast coffee shops.
| Prices as of 5/25/2023 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment | Cost of Equipment | Cost Per Gram | Cost Per Latte |
| Dark Colombian Supremo | $23.95 | $0.024 | $0.71 |
| Coffee Scale | $23.49 | ||
| SHARDOR Conical Burr Coffee Grinder | $65.00 | ||
| Bialetti Moka Express 6 Cup | $38.33 | ||
| Secura Milk Frother | $34.00 | ||
| Syrup Torani Variety Pack | $32.92 | $0.012 | $0.01 |
| Water | $0.00 | $0.00 | |
| Half Gallon of Whole Milk at Aldi | $2.28 | $0.001 | $0.07 |
| Final Cost | $219.97 | $0.79 | |
So much cheaper, that I want to graph the comparison, and look at the stark difference. If you were to make your own coffee drink 3x a week for 10 years, you would only have spent $1,456.68. In comparison to spending $7,254.00 at Store 1 and $6,442.80 at Store 2. An 80% cost reduction from Store 1 and a 77% cost reduction from Store 1. That is a lot of extra dough in your pocket if you made your own coffee drink at home! Now, what would you do with that extra cash each month? You know me, I would invest and that is what we will discuss in Part 2!
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