The Cost of Coffee

Calculating what the actual cost of a cup of coffee is ranks right up there with the necessary mathematical challenges of quantum physics. You might not have even considered what the price of a cup of coffee that you brew at home actually costs.

You don't buy the makings for your coffee by the cup. You buy a pound (we still say a "pound" of coffee even though that "pound" is now 13 ounces rather than 16 ounces) of coffee at your local supermarket. You take it home and store it, and then you make pots of coffee using the ground coffee, but you drink that coffee by the cup -- not by the pot or by the pound or even by the ounce.

So what is the real cost of a cup of coffee that you make at home? I have no idea, and you probably don't, either. The first consideration is the kind and brand of coffee that you buy. Then you must consider the strength of the coffee that you brew (the stronger the coffee, the more coffee grounds must be used).

Next, you have to consider waste. How many cups out of a pot of coffee are drank, and how many end up being poured down the kitchen sink?

Wait a second, Mr. Math Genius -- that isn't all. Now you need to consider the cost of the fuel that was used to make the pot of coffee, and divide that by the number of cups in the pot, and don't forget to include waste in the equation. How about the wear and tear on the coffee maker? Those things don't last forever, you know.

The fact is, we are probably going to drink that cup of morning coffee (and maybe a lot of others) no matter what the cost of it turns out to be. The truth is that the cost of the coffee that you buy at your local grocery store is going to vary from week to week, depending upon the supply-and-demand theory of economics. So just go pour yourself a cup of coffee and don't worry about it.

By Miodrag Trajkovic