How I Save $679.85 A Year on Coffee

There's been a lot of discussion about coffee in the news lately. How much does it really cost? It is good for you? The only person that can accurate answer those questions is the person drinking the coffee. I know the coffee I drink is healthy no matter if I drink it at home or buy it out. I drink it with a little bit of almond milk or one teaspoon of light non-dairy cream. I don't put heavy cream in it. I don't drown it in sugar. My coffee isn't a dessert. Cost, on the other hand, depends on where I get my coffee.

At Home

Last month's coffee bill was $8.99 plus $3.99 for a half gallon of almond milk. This month's coffee bill was $6.99 plus $2.38 for a container of light non-dairy cream. Assuming that's the pattern for the entire year, I spend $134.10 a year to drink coffee at home. It translates to 37 cents a day, but that's not 37 cents a cup. That's 37 cents every 20 6 ounce cups. It breaks down to a penny a cup.

Gas Station

My second favorite place to buy coffee is the gas station down the street from my apartment. Their 16 ounce cups are .99 cents. Their 20 ounce cups of coffee are $1.70, and it's a pretty even split as to how often I buy a particular size. If I buy one cup of coffee every day for a year, I'd spend $490.92. That's almost four times what I spend when I make my coffee at home.

Coffee Shop

Since I don't like extravagant coffee drinks, all I buy at coffee shops is black coffee, and I typically buy the largest size. The cost for that cup of coffee is about $2.23 for 24 ounces. If I were to buy that coffee every day, I'd spend $813.95 a year on coffee.

A coffee shop is by far the most expensive way to get coffee. It's twice as expensive as the gas station coffee and almost eight times more expensive than making it at home. My coffee shop coffee is 9 cents an ounce. By contrast, my home brewed coffee is .006 cents an ounce.

Needless to say, I buy coffee out about twice a year. Making it at home and bringing it with me saves me a maximum of $679.85 a year. The only thing I have to remember is to reset my coffee maker after an hour because it turns itself off after two hours.