Preferences #2: Home Brew VS. Going Out
“You wanna get some coffee?” has become a ubiquitous question that is just the right temperature. It usually indicates a reasonable time of day that’s perfect for a friendly sit down, is not at all presumptuous for a first date, provides plenty of time for other activities, and has contributed to the growth in American coffee consumption.
Another reason the daily cup drinking is at its highest level in six years is that people are still drinking it at home and coffee drinks have flooded the market.
People will drink coffee anywhere. Duh.
So, subtracting coffee as a social drink, which makes more sense, to brew at home, or pick it up on the go? Obviously, this is a personal choice, but I was curious if ordering a bag of coffee and having it shipped to Alaska was adding up.
I’m a single dude who drinks a bag of PR Blend in about three weeks. At $13.50 for the bag, and $4.99 for shipping to my island in Alaska, I’m out $18.49 or 88 cents per day.
Let’s say I hit up the best local coffee on my way to work instead of the CK boys.
The best place in town is $1 and it’s on my way to work. Yeah, a large coffee is one dollar. The roasting happens right there, it’s brewed right there and it’s delicious. It’s not at a restaurant, it is a coffee place that sells coffee for a dollar. It also sells fly fishing supplies, but that’s just an added bonus, not why it’s my favorite.
Anyway, three weeks there is $21, and it’s really more like $42, because I usually tip a dollar to show my appreciation for being better and much cheaper than Starbucks.
So, even with the shipping, it’s cheaper to order my PR blend and brew it at home and it can be even cheaper than the delectable, yet dirt cheap, shop in town if I didn’t tip.
A freshly brewed venti-sized coffee at Starbucks is $2.45 and would cost me more than $50 bucks over that three-week period. And that’s just for coffee, what if I got one of those coffee-drinks?
Comparing bags to bags, the grocery stores here do sell the standard bags of coffee which are $2-7 cheaper (depending on quality) than my PR blend subscription.
Anyway, we already knew that brewing our own coffee is the economical way to go. You can still meet friends for coffee, or post-up at your favorite joint and read, or fake read and see who comes in the door, because that’s become a strong fixture in our social experience. And I can still fork out a few extra bucks to get my coffee shipped to me and maybe buy a local bag every now and again when I’m not supporting the local shop.
I wonder what the employees at my local place think when I am gone for three weeks (because I’m brewing PR Blend at home) then show up for a week straight, then vanish again. I should wear a LeBron James jersey in there one day. See if they get it.
So, aspects of the hot vs. extra hot coffee question from last time seem to be solved. If you’re ordering extra hot because 1. you aren’t going to be drinking it right away or 2. if the outside temperature is cold, you can brew it at home because you won’t be walking out of a store with the container provided by the shop. Those cups are poor insulators and your coffee will go from extra hot to palatable shortly. Brew it at home, put it in a travel mug and you won’t have to worry about it cooling off. Rather than buy it extra hot to warm your hands, brew it at home, start the car, get it warm, then go outside and you’re good.
And sure, if you like it hot because you think it tastes better, more power to you.
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