The price of coffee is keeping me up at night!!

[Reggie Dunlop]

I don't drink a whole lot of coffee, one cup brewed at home in the morning. I buy the whole beans and grind 'em myself.

My favourite brand is Kicking Horse, but now the price at the supermarket is almost $26 a pouch! Traditionally when Kicking Horse is on sale, it's deeply discounted, which is the only time I purchase (in multiples). Even so, now the discounted price is creeping past my threshold ($16 or so).

I've started buying other brands on sale (many locally roasted options available) as a result.

I'd hate to delve into the big commercial brands, but I might have to if prices keep rising.

[HitterD]

I agree 100% and kicking horse is my favourite as well (three sisters blend). The sale price is fine but no way i'm paying $26 for a small pouch. Any other recommendations for comparable local coffee (whole bean) would be welcome

[blankall]

The larger pouches are on sale right now on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.ca/Kicking-Horse-...0CWS59XCX?th=1

[kermitology]

Why not one of the smaller local roasters? I don't know what the weight you're buying is exactly, but I have a subscription for Monogram, that runs about $23 a bag.

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

I don't drink a whole lot of coffee, one cup brewed at home in the morning. I buy the whole beans and grind 'em myself.

My favourite brand is Kicking Horse, but now the price at the supermarket is almost $26 a pouch! Traditionally when Kicking Horse is on sale, it's deeply discounted, which is the only time I purchase (in multiples). Even so, now the discounted price is creeping past my threshold ($16 or so).

I've started buying other brands on sale (many locally roasted options available) as a result.

I'd hate to delve into the big commercial brands, but I might have to if prices keep rising.

Coffee prices have gone crazy lately, I feel for coffee shops as they will lose big time here and a lot are small time business owners.

I don't buy beans myself at home but I did see Kicking Horse on sale for $16 for a 400 gram bag I believe at London Drugs which seems reasonable. I believe I saw a can of Folgers going for $19 ! Better to support local Canadian businesses than Amazon I guess.

[Regorium]

I just bought 4 lbs of ethical bean coffee from costco for $30.

Not really a coffee connoisseur so it's purely pricing for me. I've had it before and it's about as good as a standard Starbucks coffee which is good enough for me!

[Locke]

Well when they cant rip you off on the bread they've gotta rip you off somewhere!

[Sylvanfan]

I drink a lot of coffee...enough to the point where I expect my heart to explode within the next decade. But it's getting to a point where I had to start cutting back due to cost.

At this point I need to die within the next decade...because I won't be able to afford to live in the one after that.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

I drink a lot of coffee...enough to the point where I expect my heart to explode within the next decade. But it's getting to a point where I had to start cutting back due to cost.

At this point I need to die within the next decade...because I won't be able to afford to live in the one after that.

I just bought a mid-sized Colombian farming family and have them ship me their harvest. Cut out the middle-man.

[Shazam]

I've been stealing Reggie's used grounds. That's how to save money.

[DoubleF]

Prices have gotten crazy over the last few years.

IMO, don't view it as cost per top up, but cost per serving. Lots of other beverages have also gone crazy in price, not just coffee. Quality of beans is one attribute, but for some other beans, it might be cheaper, but I have to use so much more beans to get a reasonable taste vs others, that any savings are eroded. Basically like paying 30-40% less, but using like 50%+ more beans for a passable cup of coffee (or maybe it never gets to passable). Lastly, unify your measurements for the cost calculation. I personally use cost per pound, because it addresses the differences of bags in 250g, 454g, 904g etc. but cost per g/kg is probably fine too.

I think one of the first things to do is to avoid the 1lb bags. Look into 2lb+ bags and subscriptions to bring down your cost for the beans based on economy of scale. Last I checked, doing so can potentially bring the numbers into a range of about $15-30 per pound, including shipping. It doesn't seem like the price is going down that much, but keep in mind some of these subscriptions are also potentially dealing with premium beans that are going for something like $20-30 per half pound (ie: Rosso, Phil and Sebastian, Monogram etc.).

Another is to purchase green beans in bulk and roast them yourself. Prices have spiked here too, but I think green beans range in price of around $12-25/pound depending on type and volume (ie: 1 pound vs 25). When I checked some places have minimum orders in place for free shipping. Of a single type, 1lb could be $22/lb, 4lb could be $18/lb and 10lb+ could be around $16/lb. So there's a difference between buying 4 pounds of 4 different types of coffee bean vs 4 pounds of the same coffee bean.

I haven't done it yet, but from what I can gather, it takes around $50 in start up cost/equipment (ie: Storage green, storage roasted, and roaster such as a popcorn maker or mini oven), and about half an hour to an hour or so for prepping green beans, roasting (5-20 minutes as desired) and packaging/storage (mason jar?). I haven't done this yet, but I have the equipment to do it, I just need to buy the beans and sit down and do it.

Finally... look into finding someone else who is complaining about the coffee prices of the small bags and buy large ones and share them.

[PepsiFree]

Just drink instant

[Shazam]

Even instant has gone up in price a lot since that's what I usually buy now.

[Sliver]

Caffeine pills and tap water for this cowboy.

[Locke]

To save money my family has switched to exclusively non-ethical beans. I want beans where you know some poor wretched souls were forced to work the fields to produce the yield, the money was then stolen from them and used to buy guns or cocaine producing equipment for a Cartel Warlord somewhere.

Its much cheaper and every year at Christmas the Warlord sends you a very nice card indicating how he spent your money.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Just drink instant

I know quite a few people who drink instant.

My wife hates the coffee at work, but wants an option to have half passable coffee at work without paying serious premiums at a coffee shop.

Last I checked, many instant coffees are on par with the price increase of beans if not more than the increase on beans. Per camelcamelcamel, something like a basic 100g Nescafe taster's choice has gone from <$4 around 2-3 years ago to an average of around $7 or 1.75-2.25x.

Nescafe gold espresso 200g went from $9 around 2-3 years ago to around $15-16 now which is around 1.75x.

Some of the others I looked at were like $1.20 per serving (ie: $11.99 for 10) which is more expensive per serving for beans ($0.20-0.60 for the coffee per serving ignoring capital cost) and the taste was weaker for the instant coffee.

However, you do have to look at the situation on a case by case basis as the increases in pricing isn't consistent across the board.

A 250g preground Lavazza Crema e Gusto was $2-3 around 3-4 years ago and now regularly goes for around $7 or 3x+ which is more brutal than the instant coffee.

Per Camelcamelcamel, 1lb of Kicking Horse 3 sisters was maybe $10-14 around 2-3 years ago and probably closer to around $15-20 now or 1.25-2x which is less to more than the instant coffee.

Bulk beans drops the average price per serving faster than bulk instant coffee, so if you're buying in 4lb+ batches, the numbers might say something totally different too.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I know quite a few people who drink instant.

My wife hates the coffee at work, but wants an option to have half passable coffee at work without paying serious premiums at a coffee shop.

Last I checked, many instant coffees are on par with the price increase of beans if not more than the increase on beans. Per camelcamelcamel, something like a basic 100g Nescafe taster's choice has gone from <$4 around 2-3 years ago to an average of around $7 or 1.75-2.25x.

Nescafe gold espresso 200g went from $9 around 2-3 years ago to around $15-16 now which is around 1.75x.

Some of the others I looked at were like $1.20 per serving (ie: $11.99 for 10) which is more expensive per serving for beans ($0.20-0.60 for the coffee per serving ignoring capital cost) and the taste was weaker for the instant coffee.

However, you do have to look at the situation on a case by case basis as the increases in pricing isn't consistent across the board.

A 250g preground Lavazza Crema e Gusto was $2-3 around 3-4 years ago and now regularly goes for around $7 or 3x+ which is more brutal than the instant coffee.

Per Camelcamelcamel, 1lb of Kicking Horse 3 sisters was maybe $10-14 around 2-3 years ago and probably closer to around $15-20 now or 1.25-2x which is less to more than the instant coffee.

Bulk beans drops the average price per serving faster than bulk instant coffee, so if you're buying in 4lb+ batches, the numbers might say something totally different too.

Your posts crack me up, dude. They are so long no matter what haha.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I know quite a few people who drink instant.

My wife hates the coffee at work, but wants an option to have half passable coffee at work without paying serious premiums at a coffee shop.

Last I checked, many instant coffees are on par with the price increase of beans if not more than the increase on beans. Per camelcamelcamel, something like a basic 100g Nescafe taster's choice has gone from <$4 around 2-3 years ago to an average of around $7 or 1.75-2.25x.

Nescafe gold espresso 200g went from $9 around 2-3 years ago to around $15-16 now which is around 1.75x.

Some of the others I looked at were like $1.20 per serving (ie: $11.99 for 10) which is more expensive per serving for beans ($0.20-0.60 for the coffee per serving ignoring capital cost) and the taste was weaker for the instant coffee.

However, you do have to look at the situation on a case by case basis as the increases in pricing isn't consistent across the board.

A 250g preground Lavazza Crema e Gusto was $2-3 around 3-4 years ago and now regularly goes for around $7 or 3x+ which is more brutal than the instant coffee.

Per Camelcamelcamel, 1lb of Kicking Horse 3 sisters was maybe $10-14 around 2-3 years ago and probably closer to around $15-20 now or 1.25-2x which is less to more than the instant coffee.

Bulk beans drops the average price per serving faster than bulk instant coffee, so if you're buying in 4lb+ batches, the numbers might say something totally different too.

You crazy man. 475g of instant is like $14, per cup you’re looking at like $0.12.

Anyone who is complaining about a $0.12 cup of coffee is crazy! Crazy!

[chedder]

I'm lazy and only drink one cup per day so it's Keurig for me. 60 cents per pod works out to $219 per year for a cup a day. I sometimes feel guilty about the plastic waste but so far not enough to do anything about it.

Thinking about a Nespresso but that'll double my per day cost.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Great time to convert to tea!