Our Guess – Coffee Prices are going up.

The world coffee news this week is that coffee futures are on the rise by several percentage points. What this means in normal terms is that traders expect the wholesale price of coffee to go up. That will in turn be passed on to the consumer and we can all expect the price of a pound of beans or a large latte, extra foam to rise. Since prices have already been on the rise, this isn’t really very good news for us all.

So, it is probably a good time to look at your potions for saving a little money. The most obvious and biggest way to save (no, NOT giving up drinking coffee – that’s just madness) is to make all your coffee yourself at home or at your office rather than paying lots of extra money to Starbucks or whoever your prepared coffee vendor of choice might be. How much can you save? Let’s say you drink the equivalent of a large cup of coffee a day, five days a week. That cup costs you about $1.80. But make it at home, even if you buy expensive $13 a pound beans? Cost is – even if you make really strong coffee, at most $13/16 or about 80 cents. That’s $5 per week or $250 a year. Obviously, if you drink more you save more. Similarly if you drink more expensive coffee drinks, you will save more, even allowing for the purchase of a fancy espresso machine.

The other way to save? Downscale your coffee itself. Many years ago I realised that I only liked a latte a little bit more than a good quality cup of drip coffee with plenty of milk in it. And if you switch from a large latte to a large drip coffee, You save yourself even more – something along the lines of  $1.50 per day or more. Or try an au lait if you want something more than a plain coffee…

Related posts:

1. Global Coffee Prices – And Is Fair Trade Fair?
2. Good news, bad news for coffee prices.