Gourmet Coffee Habit Costing Consumers As Much As $1,500 Yearly
By Mike Banks Valentine, Fri Dec 9th
Copyright 2005 http://www.TastesofTheWorld.net
Gourmet coffee consumers rarely consider the cost of their dailycoffee in terms of the expense to brew premium whole bean coffeeat home (50 cents to 75 cents) with prices of a pound of gourmetcoffee beans versus a two or three cup a day ($4.50 to $6.00)coffee drinking habit when purchased at premium coffee houses. Arecent Washington Post article discussed Seattle law studentsspending money from their student loans for Starbucks coffeeacross the street from the Seattle University School of Law.
Erika Lim, director of career services at the law school haslaunched a campaign to reduce coffee consumption by studentsattending the university on student loan money. She points outthat students are spending education loans on luxuries likelatte instead of necessities like a loaf of bread. That borrowedmoney takes years to repay and many students don't do the mathto see that study time with 2-3 cups of coffee at Starbucks over4 years can cost them significant sums - as much as $4500 inprinciple, interest and fees on their student loan - over thecourse of their education. An online calculator has been postedfor those interested in calculating their caffeine expenses at:http://www.hughchou.org/calc/coffee.cgi
Gourmet Coffee drinkers have become accustomed to paying $2 ormore per cup for fresh brewed coffees at Premium coffee houses –and many sources are predicting those prices may increase to asmuch as $4 per cup soon due to expected increases in greencoffee prices. But smart gourmet coffee consumers have longknown that premium coffee brewed at home costs just 12 cents orso per cup, depending on preferences for coffee strength.
Many coffee producers recommend starting with 1 tablespoon offresh ground gourmet coffee beans per standard 6 ounce cup ofwater. Starbucks recommends double that amount for strongercoffees at 2 tablespoons per 6 ounce cup. A pound of gourmetcoffee (that is 16 Ounces or 1 Lb.) divided by 1 1/2 Ouncescomes to roughly 10 pots of 10 cups (6 Ounce cups) equaling 100cups for the cost of one pound of gourmet coffee beans. At theaverage of 1.5 tablespoons per 6 ounce cup and average size of12 ounce coffee mug, you can expect 50 cups of home brewedcoffee per pound of gourmet beans!
Prices of premium gourmet coffee beans range between $10 and $18per pound, making a cup of home-brewed gourmet coffee, madefresh to your liking, cost only between .10 cents and .25 centsper cup or between $1.00 and $2.00 per pot of coffee! Even therarest and most expensive coffee sold, the exotic Kopi Luwak, at$175 per pound, is still
