Who doesn’t like the smell of fresh roasted coffee? These days, it is sealed in bags, in pods, or at large coffee franchises.
When was the coffee roasted and how fresh is it?
Ground coffee loses it’s freshness quickly.
Most decent roasted coffee sells around $10 – $16/lb.
If you insist on a barista to make your latte, frappe, or cappuccino it will cost around $4 – $5/cup.
If you have just one of the above for 7 days/week, it is costing you over $30/week, or over $100/month for the taste experience.
Even drip coffee will cost over $2/cup or over $40/mo. if it’s made for you!
Now, if you want to save money and enjoy freshly ground homemade coffee this is what I do, and you can to:
Buy green coffee beans and roast them yourself. At Sweet Maria’s, you can buy 10 lbs of green coffee beans for around $8/lb including shipping.
Specialty Coffee Association says you can make around 36 cups (8 oz.) of coffee for each pound of coffee. That will cost you less than 25 cents/cup!
Most beginners start roasting with an air popcorn popper. I use a West Bend. For making the coffee, I use an Aerobie Aeropress or you can use a drip coffee maker or expresso maker. You can make only one cup from the Aerobie and you can prepare it as strong or weak as you prefer as opposed to the coffee pods. In addition, you need a coffee grinder to grind the beans. You also need fresh water, sugar/sweetener, and creamer depending on your preferences. I make home made whipped cream which is so good!
There is a start up cost to buying the roasting equipment, grinder, and coffee maker but this will last for years. Once this is done, all you will need to do is buy green coffee beans (which stays fresh between 6 mos. and one year per Sweet Maria’s). I buy around 20 pounds at a time and roast 2 pounds each time I roast. I always roast two origins for taste and variety.
Lastly, I feel good because I am supporting small coffee farmers around the world. You can buy exotic African coffee from Burundi, Kenya or Ethiopia. You can taste coffee from Costa Rica, Brazil, Sumatra or Honduras. My wife and I love the fresh taste and smell of freshly roasted and ground coffee right at home. You will too!
By the way, it can take around 1 hour to roast 2 lbs which will last over a week. We grind the beans as needed.
Here are several links with more information:
https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/s/aeropress?ta=typeahead
(20% coupon from Bed Bath and Beyond can be used)
Woah! Gonna go check out Sweet Marias! Thanks for the great article 🙂