Easy, Affordable, and Better Coffee at Home, Get It All!

Every day starts by firing up my espresso machine. As I go through my morning routine (after feeding a hungry feline and a whining dog!), I grind some fresh beans and pull three delicious shots of espresso. Making great coffee at home is so satisfying, and I look forward to it every morning.

When I talk about coffee to my friends, they often say they love coffee, but they do not have the time to go through this routine. They instead grab a cup on the go at the drive-through or put a pod in their Keurig machine because it is easier and faster. But is that the case? Everybody can make a fantastic daily cup of coffee in the comfort of their own home, without a fuss. It does not require special skills or training; it does not have to be expensive. All you need is some essential equipment and to follow easy steps.

Better quality coffee for less

For comparison purposes, I will use Starbucks Pike Place® Roast: your Grande at the coffee shop, the ground coffee bag, and the K-Cup pods at your grocery store, Kroger. Last but not least, the price of a bag at your local roaster.

Cost breakdown

Your Grande Pike Place® Roast: $2.45 plus taxes at your local Starbucks
A 16oz Grande contains roughly 2 2/3 oz ground coffee, which brings your coffee at $0.92/oz.

A 12oz bag of the same coffee at Kroger: $7.29 plus taxes
That makes $0.61/oz.

A box of 10 Keurig Pike Place® Roast K-Cup pods, 4.4oz: $7.49 plus taxes
That gives you $1.7/oz.

A 12 oz bag of fresh specialty coffee at your local roaster: $12 plus taxes
That brings your coffee at $1.00/oz.

Then there is the cost of the equipment. Espresso can be expensive because you will need a good espresso machine and a good grinder. The good news is that there is a large choice of very inexpensive methods to brew an epic cup: a French press, an Aeropress, or an Italian Moka pot:

All can be found for less than $50 and will last for years.

A traditional drip coffee maker (like the Bonavita BV1901PW Metropolitan One-Touch Coffee Brewer) will cost less than a Keurig machine and make a great coffee if you use good fresh coffee.

The bottom line, it’s no surprise that making your cup of coffee is cheaper than buying on the outside. But sorry, not with a Keurig machine, at the price of $1.7, you pay top dollar your cup of Joe! Slightly more expensive than your Starbucks but not that much, you can self-brew a delightful cup of coffee by purchasing a coffee bag from your local roaster. In terms of quality, smell, and taste, they are not playing in the same league. Open that fresh bag of beans and smell them; you will thank me, just that whiff is worth money.

Talking about freshness

Any commercial ground coffee is a blend that caters to a mainstream consumer palate. Once it is ground, it keeps its fresh taste for a couple of days (without mentioning how long it sat on the store shelf, it’s apparent the freshness would be gone by the time you would consume it). In contrast, whole beans can hold their freshly roasted flavor for over 30 days.
In one K-Cup pod, you have 0.44oz. Let us say you brew 8oz of coffee with one pod. The typical recommendation for brewing a good coffee cup is 1oz of coffee per 6-8oz of water. That means that your cup contains half the coffee you would have if you self-brewed it or bought it at your local coffee shop (and I include Starbucks in that definition since they use 1oz per 6oz of water).
Technically the quality of your cup made with your Keurig will suffer from the simple fact that there is not enough coffee ground in it to make it right. You will have an under-extracted coffee and miss out on a great experience.

Time breakdown and convenience for a delicious cup of coffee

It takes about 5 minutes to brew an entire pot of coffee with a traditional drip filter, without any involvement. All you need to do is put a filter, scoop some ground coffee, eventually grind it yourself (check out my next article), and start the machine.
For a French press: it takes about 3 minutes to heat water to 200°F and 4 minutes of brewing time.
It only takes 3 minutes for an Italian Moka pot and less than a minute for a nicely crafted espresso.

If you think about it, it is not that much involved and more challenging than putting a pod in a Keurig machine, and it takes less time than sitting in your car, waiting for your turn at the drive-through, which can quickly exceed 5 minutes, during which you are not able to do anything else.

The bottom line, can we get it all? Easy – affordable – better

Because of the perception that coffee takes time, many own a Keurig or a Nespresso machine or grab a coffee at the drive-thru window of their nearest coffee shop. Nothing wrong with that, but I would like to share with you my journey to discover an easy, affordable, and better coffee in the comfort of your home.

You cannot have the satisfaction of opening a new coffee bag and smell the aroma of fresh coffee beans at the drive-through or using a pod. When you make your coffee, you have access to an almost unlimited choice of options: from your local roaster, your grocery store if they have an excellent selection of specialty beans, or online, thanks to some innovative retail platforms, like Drinktrade.com. Trust me, buy a bag of fresh coffee and try it for yourself.

Furthermore, there is one thing that convenience cannot buy is the joy of the process; Grinding your fresh beans, making your coffee for starting the day. What a reward! I promise you; you will never go back!