Better Than Starbucks- Don’t Go Broke on the Beans
Today is the first day in our five part series on saving money by making great coffee at home. People have a hard time believing me, but it’s true – I like the coffee I make at home just as much as I love my Grande nonfat misto which I consider the best kept secret at Starbucks. So when I’m out with friends, or traveling, I happily order my favorite drink, but you can tell how much I’ve cut down my Starbucks runs because the barista recently came up to the window and said, “Kathi! I thought I recognized the hum of the motor on your car! We’ve missed you!” Now that’s frightening.
All week we will talk about not just saving money, but making the at-home coffee experience the best it can be so Starbucks can stay a treat – and not have to be a necessity.
Saving Money on the Beans
- Check the Sale Rack Recently, I’ve seen my favorite brands of coffee on sale in the back of our supermarket (you know, that weird looking shelf that has the unsold Easter candy and matzo on it.) Just this week they had my favorite blend of Starbucks Decaf (Blonde) on the shelf for 50% off. So that $8.99 bag is marked down to $4.49, plus I get a free tall drip coffee at any Starbucks by turning in the bag. (A tall drip is $1.85 which is a drink I would normally order there while driving or traveling, bringing the price of my beans down to $2.64. Huzzah!!!) I bough six bags- which should supply my decaffeinated needs for several months.
- Keep Your Ear to the Ground (or the Web) Subscribe to money saving sites like Money Saving Mom to find out about all the coffee deals going on out there. Crystal has a network of women who are out looking for deals for you, so you won’t miss valuable coupons like this one for $2 off 2 bags of Starbucks beans If I’d seen that coupon before buying my decaf beans, that would have lowered my price to $1.64 a bag.
- Stretch those Beans Once you’ve made your first pot of coffee, don’t throw away your coffee and filter. Just add about 50% more ground coffee the next day and I bet you won’t even taste the difference. (And once you’ve stretched it to two days, go ahead and add those grounds to your outdoor plants as a natural fertilizer.)
- Use Expired Beans No one has ever died from using expired beans, and unless your one of those people who is so picky about your coffee you travel with your own coffee pot, you probably won’t be able to tell the difference. The decaf coffee I bought has three months until the “Sell Date”. Don’t believe them. My daughter’s boyfriend worked at Starbucks and saved up about a dozen of the bags that employees get once a week for free (plus a mug and other fun goodies) and gave it all to me for Christmas. Because I had just laid in a supply of beans, I had more coffee than a girl could handle. (Hard to believe, but true.) I lived off that coffee for over a year and never detected a drop in the quality of the beans.
- Use Beans You Don’t Like Remember that bag of beans you bought at Costco of French Roast that were SOOO cheap and what a genius you felt like for saving money, but then you got them home and realized they were WAY too strong? Oh, just me then? Anywho… I took those beans, ground up some, and mixed them with a light roasted coffee that I bought that normally would be too weak – turns out the custom blend was perfect.
- Choose a Finer Grind The finer you grind, the less coffee you can use to get the same results. Experiment with grinding to a powdery consistency and see if you can use less beans.
- Make Your Coffee Last It’s tempting when your coffee has grown cold to just want to make a new pot. Instead, make your coffee last as long as possible by using insulated containers to keep it totally drinkable.
- A Desk Drink Warmer
- Contigo Mug
- Insulated Coffee Pot
Yes- true coffee coinsurers will balk at some of these suggestion, but I figure if you’re going to drink coffee every day of your life, it’s worth testing out what is important to you when it comes to coffee. Don’t blindly follow what your coffee snob friend says, experiment, and figure out what works for you.
And the best way to save money on beans? Win them! Tell me your favorite way to stretch your coffee budget by midnight Friday, September 27th, 2013 and I’ll send one person (picked randomly) a bag of my favorite Starbucks coffee. Only true coffee lovers need apply.
I save on coffee using many of the ideas Kathi posted. I always put the leftover coffee in a thermal pot to drink throughout the day. It usually stays hot, but if it cools it can be microwaved just enough to heat it up. I also buy coffee on sale and often mix one brand with another. If you’re trying to cut down on caffeine then mix decaf and regular to make your own half-caff.
I like to save on coffee by getting the flavored creamers and syrups. I figure the amount of money I spend on that keeps me from spending WAY TOO much on drinks from coffee shops.
I love the iced coffee at Dunn Brothers ( a Midwest gem!). Iced coffee at home just never compared. But I figured out that what I was missing was cold press coffee. So, I order a large cold press with no ice for the cost of one of my favorite medium iced coffees. Then I take that baby home and make 6 iced coffees out of it over the course of the week! I add milk and/or half & half and vanilla coffee syrup ($4 for a large bottle at Sam’s club). I know I can make my own cold press coffee and save even more and that’s my next goal.
Oh, and the best way to store bulk beans or grounds is in the freezer. Just bring it to room temperature before grinding and you’ll have frugal, fresh coffee!
My husband and I had these really delicious Mint Mojito coffee from Philz which sells for probably $5 a cup. Anyway, we decided to try to replicate it ourselves on the weekends as a treat. We grow our own mint (which is really easy to do, they grow like weeds) and so I pluck a handful of mint leaves and mash it with a tablespoon of sugar while the coffee is brewing. You can always adjust the sweetness to taste. We omit the heavy cream and it tastes just as good, and is nonfat!
I like your tip to use coffee that you don’t like by mixing it with another type. I actually have a tub of way too strong and nasty coffee hidden in some far corner of my cupboard right now. hehe I’ll have to try that tip. 😀 Thanks!
I have two ways I save on coffee:
#1 NOT DRINKING IT!! Like this morning, it’s tough but I decided to skip a day. Saves me money and is an attempt to not get too addicted. I even have a new creamer which leads me to…
#2: I bought pumpkin spice creamer from Aldi and it tastes just like (or better than!) Starbucks!!
I always buy my coffee on sale and with a coupon and I will mix brands together (like Starbucks and a cheaper brand) to make it stretch farther. I also freeze the leftover coffee in ice cube trays to use in my iced coffee, or sometimes i use it in my brownies in place of the water the mix calls for.
My husband is the only one in the house that drinks coffee, so before we had a Keurig, we are on #2, he would make a whole pot on Monday and after he got his cup for the ride to work he would turn the machine off, Tuesday morning the timer would turn it on in time to warm the pot up, etc till it was all gone, then he would start over.
We now have a Keurig and we use the reusable cup, we have one for coffee and one for tea.
I have a Keurig. I found two jumbo boxes of the Christmas seasonal cups on clearance at Bed Bath and Beyond for 75% off. I bought two boxes of them AND saved more with the coupons I had! Yes, the expired. Yes, I am sick to death of gingerbread coffee. I drink one up a day, I can do it!
haha! maybe you can bundle up the seasonal ones and re-gift them this year. we’re getting close to Christmas afterall 🙂
Good idea! 🙂
I found some Starbucks cinnamon coffee at Target last year for $3.98. It went way past the expiration date, but I couldn’t tell the difference at all. I’ve gotten other seasonal coffee for really cheap too. Typically I just buy my coffee when it is on sale or I have coupons.
I use to be an assistant manager at Starbucks so there is SO much about this post that makes me cringe (grind beans finer, mixing beans, etc..) because I understand the science of a great cup. THAT SAID, Kathi does have some great points that there are ways to cut the cost! Buy beans on sale, store unused coffee for iced coffee later, put used grounds in your garden, etc…. My favorite cost-cutter is that all of your favorite drinks can be made at home and very simply! I am not much of a coffee drinker, but prefer espresso. For less than the cost of a normal coffee maker, I purchased a stove top espresso percolator and a milk frother. You can also get any syrup you want online or at local stores. AND if you watch after season sales, you can often find your faves on the clearance rack! So, now the magic happens at home. Great beverages are just a beautiful balance of good espresso/coffee, aerated milk (not just hot milk), and the flavor of your choice. I still love Starbucks, but it is the joy of having someone else make it for me that is my treat now!
I regularly check out the local Amish salvage grocery to find slightly outdated but quality coffee for cheap!
And cold coffee….no problem just add some sugar and some cream and some ice and you have an expensive iced coffee for cheap!
I have a keurig. I use a reuseable cup so I can stretch my coffee out. It is cheaper than buying the k-cups.