Most Dutch people drink more than one cup of coffee a day, and no matter how often they hear how unhealthy it is – too much coffee – it remains a stubborn habit. So we should all just make the best of it, right?
How much does a cup of coffee cost?
If you buy several cups of coffee a day from your favorite joint, you will probably notice at the end of the month how much money you spend on it. After all, the average price for such a cup of coffee-to-go can be anywhere from €2.50 to €3.50. And if you’re a real coffee fanatic, you’ll pay an extra euro for that special flavor or brand of coffee. It adds up nicely.
The price for a cup
Even if you make coffee regularly at home, it can cost quite a bit of money. Maybe it’s something you want to cut back on or maybe, like me, you just find it interesting to delve into how much money you actually spend per week, month or year on your coffee addiction. You may well be shocked and find yourself on coffee rationing, but I hope not. Let’s take a look at the price per individual cup.
- Filter coffee – per cup you pay about €0.08
- Beans – per cup this costs €0,10
- Senseo – coffee from this machine costs €0.14 per cup
- Dolce Gusto – this Italian coffee costs €0.32 cents
- Nespresso – as much as €0.43 cents per cup
This is the price for just the coffee beans, cups or pads and not the water. It also does not include the price of the coffee machines you need. So if you make coffee with an expensive fully automatic coffee bean machine, you will pay quite a bit more anyway.
Depending on coffee machine prices
So the price of a cup depends very much on the purchase price of coffee makers – somewhere between €30 and €1500 per machine. The lifespan of such a coffee maker also counts. You will also need to clean and descale a coffee maker regularly. Especially if your home water is hard and you use the machine often, you will need to go after it regularly.
The purchase price and service life
If we calculate how much the lifetime of a coffee maker is, you will see that suddenly the price of cups of coffee is not so different from each other at all. Here briefly the average purchase cost of a coffee maker for…
- Filter coffee – a coffee maker costs an average of €75.
- Beans – a semi- or fully automatic machine can cost up to €800,-.
- Senseo – this device costs very little, only €50 on average.
- Dolce Gusto – similar, also €50.
- Nespresso – also not expensive, €70.
This means that you end up spending only about eight to nine euro cents per cup with a coffee maker, making this the cheapest way of making coffee. We skimpy Dutch people therefore predominantly use this method.
Counting health and medical expenses
Coffee in itself is not unhealthy, but there are some methods of preparation that are not as good for health. Experts and scientists have done research and found that filter coffee is also the healthiest because it is properly filtered. If we include health costs, the cost of your “deductible,” then it is totally cheap to drink filter coffee.
Opportunities to save
Of course, you can still save on the brand of coffee you buy. Or you can look for deals when you buy a new machine or coffee maker. If you really want to save money, buy a thermos cup and brew your filter coffee for lunch yourself at home in the morning in your own coffee maker. That will easily save dozens of dollars a week.