# What does it cost you to make a cup of coffee?



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

The Telegraph thread got me thinking...

Just an excercise...Be honest (we'll exclude paying yourself labour, water/household utilities, cups & regular kettle, non-coffee specific things that will be found in any home)for instance I'm drinking a Clever Dripper brew, reckon I've had 100 brews from it:

Clever Dripper £15.00 (15p/brew)

Filters £5.00 (5p)

Scales £30.00 (never owned scales prior to coffee interest - 30p)

Brew stand £30.00 (30p)

Grinder £250.00 (£2.50)

Total £330.00/100 = £3.30

...plus coffee (25g, plus grinder purge) 78p

...total £4.08 per brew.

Clever makes 2 mugs, so £2.04 per mug.

If I drop the scales & stand (call them optional - remember, in the real world people use scoops & spoons to measure) from the equation that's £1.74 per mug of black coffee. Phew, glad I didn't use the pourover kettle! ;-)

Obviously, I have used the grinder for other brew methods, so that part is not entirely realistic, but then I have spent more than twice that on grinders in general since owning the CCD...likewise wth my scale collection...(I know, I know, I could just stop buying stuff, but who notices £30 here, £50 there?)

I started by saying "be honest"...which of course, I wasn't - the full extent of my addiction will be taken with me to my grave ;-)


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## Anthorn (Sep 14, 2013)

I'll do it for Moka pots but I have to look up current prices of the equipment on Amazon because mine is very long standing, some being passed down from my late grandmother.

Bialetti Moka Express, 3-cup = 18.95. Comparison with caffè lungo so makes one cup, 125ml.

Balance scale = 38.00

Gas reducer ring = 6.00

Grinder - Krups GVX2 = 37.95

That's about it for equipment.

Cost of coffee using Lavazza Qualita Rossa beans - on Amazon currently more expensive than other Lavazza beans which would be regarded by some as better quality:

Per cup @ 15g = 20p

Edit: I don't see how including the cost of equipment in the cost per cup is relevant since in that case the cost over time would become less and less.


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Really interesting question, Mark - but I wonder if the cost you've arrived at - £2.04 per mug over a cycle of 100 brews is accurate. This would assume that your fixed assets - grinder, brew stand etc are depreciated to zero which, of course, they aren't as they still have a residual value at the end of the 100 brew cycle.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

The Systemic Kid said:


> Really interesting question, Mark - but I wonder if the cost you've arrived at - £2.04 per mug over a cycle of 100 brews is accurate. This would assume that your fixed assets - grinder, brew stand etc are depreciated to zero which, of course, they aren't as they still have a residual value at the end of the 100 brew cycle.


In my business our equipment is leased purchased over 5 years and depreciated over 5 years to a value of zero in the accounts. It still has a value second hand and it presumes we replace it with new stuff after 5 years .


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

The Systemic Kid said:


> Really interesting question, Mark - but I wonder if the cost you've arrived at - £2.04 per mug over a cycle of 100 brews is accurate. This would assume that your fixed assets - grinder, brew stand etc are depreciated to zero which, of course, they aren't as they still have a residual value at the end of the 100 brew cycle.


Good point, look at it more as costs for the 1st 100 brews, it'll get cheaper by the brew from now on (I brew in the CCD 2-3 times a week)...as long as don't buy/replace stuff (which of course I will...got some hazing on the CCD, may try the Bonavita for better heat retention...). There's some swings & roundabouts, that'll probably make it difficult to get below £1 per cup/mug a time moves on, for a 2 cup brewer.

It's really more of a rough illustration relating to how brewing relatively small quantities results in a high 'per cup' price, cafes need to sell quantity simply to remain open. Even using great quality beans, at home, they're only 18% of the cup price (no labour, low overheads), in this semi-realistic scenario.

At work I use a Lido, scale & Sowden (£220?), still ~a pound a brew for this year, before coffee (£1.63/brew), around 66p per clean mug (plus a bonus silty one, say half price for that one & 58p per mug if you include that). Beans alone still around 36p per cup (@ 4.5cups). That makes me feel better ;-)

Bean price is analagous perhaps to equating the cost of motoring simply to the petrol you put in the tank, you still need insurance, tax, MOT ...etc...

I have no verdict/judgement on whether this is "expensive", or not - it's a hobby & enjoyable...that's the reward & value to me. But I think that hobbyists generally (I see the same in other spheres) aren't realistic about costings that simply kill your business in the commercial sphere. This in turn makes it easy to jump to quick judgements about businesses operating in our sphere of interest, generally?


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Mrboots2u said:


> In my business our equipment is leased purchased over 5 years and depreciated over 5 years to a value of zero in the accounts. It still has a value second hand and it presumes we replace it with new stuff after 5 years .


Using this model for depreciation - would be interesting to see how much the cost of coffee would be produced from an espresso machine. I bet the cost would be a surprise even if you were able to recoup, say, 40-45% of the original outlay on the machine at the end of five years.


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## oop north (Jun 23, 2013)

Speaking as an accountant







, working out how to allocate your fixed (or nearly fixed) costs across your production / sales is a big problem. Spreading the cost of an espresso machine over 20 cups of coffee is going to look more expensive than spreading the cost over 1,000 cups - but in reality you have a cost that is fixed, and then the cost of coffee beans that is variable (variable relative to the number of drinks you make).

Plus there is the issue of sunk costs - once you have bought the machine, what you paid for it is pretty much irrelevant (what matters is the opportunity cost of keeping - ie, what you could sell it for) - so, once you have your equipment in place it is just the coffee bean costs that are relevant, really. Unless you are someone who is habitually buying and selling equipment, in which case you may need an intervention


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Just done some back of a ****' packet maths for espresso machines costing £2k, £1,200 and £300 respectively. Let's say you make 8 shots a day - this figure is arbitrary I know. Over five years this would amount to 14,000 shots pulled on the machine. This would cost you, per shot - 9.3p, 5.6p and 1.4p for each of the three price bracket machines. These figures don't include the cost of servicing or replacement parts and assume that the machines in question have a residual value of 35% of their original outlay.


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## Geordie Boy (Nov 26, 2012)

For me I work it out to be approx 80p per drink

Assumptions

18 coffees a week, each of 18g beans and coffee is £20/kg - 36.0p per drink

Machine & Grinder initial value £1500 depreciating to zero over 5 years - 32.1p per drink

Electric costs 5p per shot (1400W heater on for 20mins)

Milk costs 10p per milk drink (10 per week) - 5.6p per drink

100ml bottle water used per drink (£1.50/8l) - 1.9p per drink

Servicing costs, cups, scales, etc not included


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Hmmm. Each cup costs me time, sanity and the love and respect of friends and family


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## Anthorn (Sep 14, 2013)

The foregoing posts appear to me to be somewhat confused. In any production environment the cost per unit is the cost of production - materials, energy, labour, maintenance - divided by the number of units made. Items such as premises, equipment, fixtures and fittings, etc. come under the category of assets or liabilities depending on whether they are owned, leased or rented.


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