Modern Value in Gourmet Coffee

Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world, second only to oil. Coffee trading is more active than corn, wheat, pork belly and metal trading. In response to such heavy demand, the price of coffee continues to rise. Despite the rising cost, coffee still remains an incredible value for you and your family.

Coffee often seems expensive at first glance. In an attempt to find the highest priced coffee around, we found a roast from Yemen that retails at $48.95 per pound. The average price of gourmet coffee, however, was $18 per pound. Wow! These must be quite the roasts to qualify for such high price tags. Digging deeper, however, we learn that a cup of gourmet coffee is surprisingly less expensive than most popular beverages on the market today

Don't believe us? Following is the math to prove it. All estimates are based off of a standard 12-cup coffee-maker. The average coffee grind requires 1 rounded tablespoon of ground coffee per two cups of water. This equates to six rounded tablespoons of coffee per pot of coffee. According to ask.com there are approximately seventy-five tablespoons of ground coffee per pound of coffee, equating to roughly twelve full pots of coffee per pound.. Twelve pots of coffee equal 144 cups of wonderful brew. Considering waste and human error, we rounded this number down to a conservative 100 cups per pound of coffee. Referring back to the most expensive coffee we could find, the price of a single cup of coffee equates to only $0.49 per cup ($48.95 per pound/100 cups per pound =$0.49 per cup), while the average priced gourmet coffee computes to $0.18/cup ($18 per pound/100 cups per pound = $0.18 per cup). Let's now compare the cost of a serving of gourmet coffee to servings of other beverages. In the below examples, we compare a 12 ounce serving of coffee against 12 ounce servings of other drinks.

Beverage Unit Cost Per 12 ounce Serving

Gourmet Coffee: $0.27 per serving ($18.00 per pound, 66 servings per pound)

Whole Milk: $0.40 per serving ($4 per gallon, 10.67 servings per gallon)

Pepsi: $0.55 per serving ($3.33 per six pack, 6 servings per six pack)

Snapple Peach Tea: $0.67 per serving ($0.89 per bottle, 1.3 servings per bottle)

Budweiser Beer: $0.71 per serving ($17.00 per 24 pack, 24 servings per pack)

Note: For cost accuracy, we checked weekly grocery flyers and the internet for the lowest price on beverages and used those in the above computations. Clearly, a 12 oz cup of gourmet coffee is more affordable than many other popular beverages.

Who can drink coffee?

We often hear comments that, "Coffee is bad for children. It has too much caffeine and my kids want to add lots of sugar!"Stop! I have seen elementary school children drink Mountain Dew both before after school, or as soon as they can get to a convenience store. Did their parents check the ingredients of Mountain Dew or other sodas before allowing their child to buy that supercharged drink? Some parents pride themselves on only allowing their children to drink fruit drinks. These, however, can be laden with too much sugar or even worse, high fructose corn syrup. A cup of coffee, however, is full of both anti-oxidants and phytochemicals, and is often a healthier option than sports or fruit drinks.

Ways to Prepare Coffee

There are also many different ways to enjoy coffee. It is popular in Vietnamese culture to mix sweetened condensed milk with very dark coffee. The Arab culture has been known to mix cardamom in with their coffee. Try adding chocolate, caramel, mint, or any flavor that sounds good to your coffee. You can also buy flavored coffees. Don't like caffeine? Use decaffeinated coffee, and serve it hot or cold to your whole family at any time of day. Use stevia powder instead of artificial sweeteners to sweeten your coffee. Stevia is a natural sweetener that has no calories. You can also try dark brown sugar or evaporated cane juice in your coffee. Clearly, there are many ways to enjoy low-cost coffee at any time of day.