The bucks in Starbucks

Saucyman, At what point is it worth getting an espresso machine as opposed to going out for coffee. –Queequeg


The Moby Dick reference more than likely makes you a Starbucks customer*. I know a lot of the kids are against corporate coffee, Saucyman is a little more flexible on the issue - equating the green & white leviathan to Oprah – both encourage people to read, each are worth an obscene amount of money and while neither is really my thing, they really aren’t as awful as people claim they are. Before Starbucks took over every urban street corner, finding espresso entailed a trip to a college town, Schultz and company should be credited for building demand that at the very least allows all the smaller, local versions to operate in the wake of the giant.

As to making coffee at home v. going out for your daily caffeine, the answer is in the math: Conservatively at twice a day, $3.00 a pop you are spending 42 bucks a week - over 2,000 dollars a year on coffee. Just for perspective, the average cost of owning and operating a car is about $7800 a year (payments, gas, insurance, detailing, etc.) – Your Starbucks habit is running you the equivalent of a used Hyundai coupe whose oil you change yourself.

For a point of reference, we are going to use La Pavoni EPC-8 Espresso Machine, in part because it has been field tested by Saucyman, it makes really good espresso and it comes in a real cool optional orange color. The chrome machine seems to be universally available for $719. (More on espresso machines below)

According to Corby Kummer’s The Joy of Coffee, a shot of espresso takes about ¼ of an ounce of coffee. At $14 dollars at pound, with waste you should get 50 -55 shots of espresso per pound about 25¢ a shot or about a dollar a day. Got steamed Milk? 1%, 2%, soy - which really isn’t milk at all unless someone has discovered an utter on the bean, half and half, organic? Using the price of 18¢ per ounce for organic whole milk you are looking at about a buck fifty per day under the most expensive scenario.

So far we are at $ 919.69, lets call it a grand with electricity, service & accoutrements and dishwashing. Normally, it is wise to calculate your time into this equation, because it is always good to value your time in equations – the hour and half round trip to Costco to save 2.65 on a case of beer doesn’t seem quite the bargain when you do that. By the time you drive or walk to a Starbucks, stand in line and order you have saved time by making your own at home - perhaps time management is worth calculating too in a separate equation.

Anyway, it is cheaper by half to buy a new espresso machine annually and make your own coffee.

However and this is a big however: Going out for coffee is not a strictly financial transaction. Everyday, I get up, walk the dogs, stop and get coffee, talk a little basketball with the Freshpot employees, people pet my dogs, I say hi to whomever I might know from the neighborhood and walk the dogs home. By the time I get back the dogs are empty and I am on my way to getting caffeinated. Even if I came home without coffee, the whole human interaction might be worth the buck or so it costs to fill up my travel mug. I make my second cup at home.

One day scouring ebay for a bargain for the aforementioned Pavoni machine, I came across a machine for sale – with a tersely worded passive-aggressive note from the seller saying he bought this machine as a Christmas present hoping to cure his wife’s 12 dollar a day Starbucks habit. Maybe for other people, the coffee run isn’t the temporary companionship perhaps but getting out and away from the ‘loved ones’ for a few minutes - loved ones who would sell their wife's Christmas present on ebay because his gift didn't change her behavior - $12 a day is cheaper than a divorce.

The math is easy, figuring out why you like going to Starbucks is a little harder.


Espresso Machines –

We do like the Pavoni, besides making a damn good shot of espresso, it is beautiful, looks lovely on display – counter furniture. Like many things of Italian design using its use is not particularly intuitive and the operation requires constant tweaking and maintenance. People who own Pavonis generally enjoy that aspect that they need to be cared for like a pet. That and not everyone can use them and there seems to be a high correlation between Pavoni ownership and fountain pen use - The paper is being peer reviewed now.

There are all sorts of machines from the stovetop espresso makers to the mid-line models to machines that come free/cheap but you have to buy prepackaged pods.


This cool variation manufactured by the inventor of the aerobie flying disc - It comes highly recommended and apparently makes a surprisingly good crema – the lovely, lovely candy caramel like espresso froth that tops good shots of espresso.



Different people advise to ask about bars of pressure when looking for an espresso maker. Considering every machine I’ve seen now claims it produces 12 to 15 bars of pressure, I’d narrow the selection down to two things: if it has plastic casing it isn’t going to hold up for all that long and secondly - get a machine that you can pack the coffee yourself – the coffee pods are expensive and the quality isn’t great – and the machines that grind, pack, tamp and pull all with the push of the button, are convenient but for the money, the espresso they make is just okay.

*You just don't meet that many harpooners.






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