Are you paying less for your coffee nowadays?

[Nonchalance]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

Any business will sell things for what the customers will pay them for it. I don't buy Starbucks coffee. Can't stand the burnt taste or the price. And in my opinion, anyone walking around with a Starbucks cup is announcing to the world that they have bad taste and throw away their money. The prestige thing is lost on me.

Ditto. Besides, I make my own.

My cousin visited a coffee grower who told him Staryux buys the cheapest beans, then burns them black to disguise their off-flavors.

[Disgustedman]

Originally Posted by leoliu

The commodity prices are falling across the board, but I haven't noticed any cut in my grocery bills in the past year. How so??

I go to 7-11 and buy my coffee. French Van, Big Energy, Blueberry (Yuck!), Colombian (Nice dark strain) and so I fill my thermos (Here it comes) all of TWO QUARTS and the creamer and flavorings for free.

$1.57 each day....While people are paying $2.11 for 24 ounces....I have no clue to what SB charges, but probably 3X what I pay

[2e1m5a]

$10 a Month for as much Coffee as I can drink, through a "coffee club" at work.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I haven't noticed a drop in the price of coffee beans. They went up last year and seem to be remaining about the same so far this winter.

I did get some really nice deals on meat just 2 weeks ago, so I think maybe the price of meat has dropped a bit. Meat on the hoof is down in price at the auction yard and that is showing up in the price of meat in the grocery store meat counter... or, actually, I don't know about the grocery stores since I buy meat in the primal cut, but there has been a cut in the price of meat where I buy it.

[kwong7]

It's a distorted supply and demand here. When input prices go up, the business is pressured to raise the sales price. They may lose some sales if the price is too high for quantity demanded; I doubt this happens because coffee is a habit and is addictive. When the input prices go down, the customer is already conditioned to paying more and will not protest to lower the price. However, a company might lower their prices if other businesses lower theirs.

As for my household, we spend about $400 a year on Nespresso capsules, $60 in local roasted beans (for pour-over/french press/cold brew), and about $150 on coffee at restaurants (coffee shops/restaurants/hotels) per year. We spend more on so many other things that we could easily cut back on first than to worry about coffee prices. As a hedge, I've been a longterm investor in Starbucks which gives a nice dividend.

[SportyandMisty]

I purchase unroasted coffee beans (called "green beans", even though technically it is a seed rather than a bean), and then roast them at home using a thrift store hot air popcorn popper.

There are several sources on the internet -- just do a google search for "green coffee beans -extract" (because you are not interested in extract) and you'll find many sources for the home roaster.

If you're interested, here are a few internet sites where you can read up on how easy it is to do this:

• https://www.sweetmarias.com/tradition
• https://www.sweetmarias.com/instructions

In general, roasting coffee is about as easy as popping popcorn in a hot air popcorn popper.

I pay about $6.50 or +/- per pound of green coffee. When you roast it, it drives moisture out - so one pound of unroasted yields about 12 to 13 oz of roasted coffee. I roast about once per week.


There is another benefit beyond cost, and that is quality. Like so many other things, the quality of coffee beans falls on a bell curve:



By definition, only 5% of the world's coffee crop is in the top 5% of quality. Starbucks and other commercial roasters purchase from the middle of the bell curve because they need hundreds of tons of product. They do not purchase from the top or bottom of the curve, because there just isn't enough tonnage there.

The top 5% quality-wise ends up being purchased by small-batch specialty roasters and by hobbyists like me. Beans below the middle of the bell curve end up in store brands. The very bottom (almost not drinkable) is typically flavored with Vanilla or Hazelnut and sold as flavored coffee, as the flavoring masks the poor quality of the bean.

Originally Posted by Corn-fused

I would never buy coffee out some place other than if I want a cup with a breakfast or brunch meal at a restaurant but even then I most often drink water. I would rather put my money towards the food instead of the overpriced beverages.

I also can not stand the taste of Starfunks coffee. It is wretched tasting to me. I don't know if they use chicory in their coffee that gives it that awful burnt taste or what.

I make coffee at home for pennies per cup and I take it in to-go mugs if I need/want to.

I have not noticed the prices of coffee at stores decreasing at all either even though the coffee bean prices, gas prices AND employee wages are all lower. And I doubt the coffee prices will ever be lowered nor any of the other food prices that have continued to skyrocket.

I think their water is just too hot at Starbucks. I sometimes buy Starbucks whole beans and make it at home. It doesn't have that charred taste. It was decent in a French press and even better in a Chemex.

I haven't seen any movement on beans at the grocery store. Still $10-$15/pound depending on brand.

[bUU]

The perfect temperature for brewing coffee is 195°F.

[tickyul]

Yeah, for the most part, pretty much ditched Starbucks.....just make-up some instant at home.

Going into Starbucks......summertime, there is always flies in the store. And the too loud and horrible music they play has made me want to go there less and less.