Mastodawn

I calculated that I could save roughly 280€ a year by switching to a cheaper brand of coffee

I calculated that I could save roughly 280€ a year by switching to a cheaper brand of coffee - Feddit UK

The one I’m drinking right now is 6.76€ and the cheapest one is 1.28€. First of all - what a price difference. Secondly, it’s actually not bad. It does have that faint “cheap coffee” taste, but after a few cups I barely notice it anymore. The real question is: is the tradeoff worth it? Do I give up a few percent of enjoyment on every single cup just to save the equivalent of a month’s grocery bill yearly? I’m not in any dire financial spot - frugality is basically a hobby/lifestyle for me at this point - but it’s getting rarer and rarer to find ways to pocket savings of this level anymore.

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manualoverride Mar 16

How are you buying/making your coffee? I switched from good quality instant to good quality beans and halved the price per month and got much better coffee in the process.

I did need a grinder and an espresso machine which consumed the first years savings, but after that it was all crema and savings.

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Janx Mar 17

I’d like to point out that you do not need to buy an espresso machine to enjoy good coffee. An Aeropress, a Chemex, a french press, a v60 pourover, or even a drip machine, with burr grinder can produce amazing coffee…

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dandelion Mar 17

but you do need an espresso maker to make espresso, which still tastes better than the coffee pour overs or drip machines can produce 😅

but you can also buy a bare-bones, manual press-lever espresso maker for much cheaper - it’s smaller, easier to maintain, has no electronic parts

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MalReynolds Mar 17

For those thinking about it, I picked up a second hand Rancilio Silvia (model 2 I think) for like $150 (more now, people have cottoned on) like 12 years ago and they are real BIFL. The frame eventually rusted (should have painted) so I replaced it with stainless last year, you can still get all the parts from the manufacturer, there’s even fan made temperature / pressure add-ons or better pumps if you want. So worth it.

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dandelion

that’s awesome! I didn’t make espresso for the longest time because I didn’t want a big, expensive machine that had too many bells and whistles.

What I ended up going with was a brand new Flair manual lever espresso maker, which incidentally also only costs $150, and I’ve made excellent espresso with it so far.