The Latte Factor - stop drinking your money away

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Like most professionals, we probably all drink a ton of coffee and add that to the late nights in the wards and the call nights in the ICU. I’m all for coffee when its free in the doctor’s lounge or at the nurses station but if you are the type of person that has to go to starbucks for a venti nonfat sugar free vanilla latte every morning, you are probably spending thousands of dollars a year on coffee. If you pay 3 dollars for a premium coffee drink (venti price is more than 3 dollars) x 5 days/week = 15 dollars x 50 weeks = 750 dollars.

On starbucks gossip weblog, they mention that the company pays on average 1.42 cents per pound of coffee. For a shot of espresso, there is about 7-10 grams of coffee for 1 shot of product. 1 pound = 453 grams. So how many espresso shots can you make with 1 pound of coffee? About 45 to 64 shots of espresso.  How many shots in a venti nonfat latte?  anywhere from 2-3 shots. At about 2-3 cents per shot of espresso that is about 4 to 9 cents of actual coffee in your venti nonfat latte.  How much milk in a venti latte?  Venti runs around 20 ounces if you order a hot drink.  At 3.35 per gallon of milk, it costs starbucks at 1 gallon equals 128 fluid oz, 52.3 cents per 20 oz drink.  So the base cost of a venti latte is 4-9 cents + 53.3 cents = 57.3 cents to 62.3 cents.  The price of a venti latte ranges from 3.50-4.50 depending on where you live.  The profit margin thus measures to be anywhere from = 2.97 to 3.92 so the profit margin is 500 to 670 percent.  This does not include salaries and overhead.

I understand that we all need to keep awake by drinking coffee.  Erika Lim has a calculator that you can use to see how much money you save or spend on coffee by buying premium.

Still the main focus of this article is that you should be a little more conscious about the little things that you spend on a day to day basis because it can add up over time. This doesn’t just apply to coffee. It applies to the donut you get every morning before you go to work or the newspaper you pick up instead of having delivered to your house or reading free on the internet.

Consumer reports has an interesting article on taste test for coffee. This is their short review that you can read for free:

McDonald’s, $1.35, was decent and moderately strong. Although it lacked the subtle top notes needed to make it rise and shine, it had no flaws.

Burger King, $1.40, looked like coffee but tasted more like hot water. It was a little sour, with an unusual hint of chocolate.

Dunkin’ Donuts, $1.65, was weak, watery, and pricier than Starbucks. It was inoffensive, but it had no oomph. (If you brew with Dunkin’ beans at home, you can make it stronger.)

Starbucks, $1.55, was strong, but burnt and bitter enough to make your eyes water instead of open.

CR’s take. Try McDonald’s, which was cheapest and best, or make your own coffee–just call it something special. The other three were all only OK, but for different reasons.

Some general strategies you can take to save money on coffee:
1. make coffee at home
2. take advantage of free coffee at work
3. don’t buy premium drinks at places like starbucks
4. if you need to buy coffee…listen to consumer reports and try some of McDonalds coffee.
5. try to wean yourself off of your caffiene addiction.
6. try a ghetto latte

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