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I like a good cup of coffee – not that easy to find. I have two or three cups each morning (decaf) and use a Keurig. I know, not the best way to make coffee, but it’s quick, easy and expensive. I received the machine as a gift (it does cappuccino and lattes too- which I rarely use).
My true love is Starbucks, black no sugar, that too is expensive.
I spend considerable time in the supermarket market coffee aisle trying to figure out the best deal on K-Cups and looking for sales. I use my handy phone to divide the cost by the number of Cups in the box. I’m looking for $0.60 or thereabouts. All this leads me to take the lowest cost regardless of brand, which is pretty ridiculous I admit. Just a frugal retiree because it seems the thing to do.
The other day Connie and I were having “breakfast” in a Starbucks. While there, I looked at the bags of coffee beans. $18-ridicules! But as I was enjoying my coffee and egg bite, I began to convince myself to splurge so I picked up a bag of beans and asked it be ground.
The barista asked how I planned to use it which apparently determines the grind. I left with my Starbucks ground for a Keurig. Since I already had the Keurig inserts that allow you to use your own coffee, I was good to go.
I guess some of the engineers and spreadsheet folks know where this is headed. My $18 bag of beans ends up being far less expensive than buying $7.00 boxes of ten or twelve K-Cups. 🤑
It should have been obvious, but all these years I couldn’t get past the Starbuck’s sticker price to my detriment. A classic penny wise and pound foolish. And I do feel foolish. 😱
Now if I just had a donut or bagel with a schmear.🥯
I buy the Kirkland Signature House Blend, 2.5 lb bag for about $18. It’s essentially Starbucks coffee but for a fraction of the price. They did away with the store grinders so I grind it myself and it’s excellent coffee for the price. I enjoy it every morning I’m home. On road trips, I’ll take a 5 cup coffee maker with me and brew my own.
Location matters. Some Costco locations still have the grinders. None near me, unfortunately…. grrr
Look after the pennies and the pounds of coffee will look after themselves? Sorry!
Good one.
You folks that think Keurig coffee pods can be spendy,try having an Nespresso single serve coffee machine. Pods go from $1.25 to $1.60 depending on your taste. My wife likes the latte coffee drinks. One a day is much cheaper than one at the coffee stand.
You can usually get 2lbs of Starbucks at Costco for about $18. And buy yourself a grinder and grind what you use daily; night and day difference in smell and taste.
Keurig-Dr Pepper is an interesting company. Stock sells for $28 per share. Company has too much debt, however. I always think that KDP is a good takeover candidate. Dr. Pepper is the 2nd most sold soda in USA by recently beating out Pepsi. Just this week we bought a new Keurig brewer direct from the Keurig website. Cheaper than buying at Costco because the buyer is ordering only the brewer coffee machine. I know, I know, it is not the best brewed coffee taste, but it sure is clean (no grains to deal with) fast, and convenient.
Company Description
Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. owns, manufactures, and distributors beverages and single serve brewing systems in the United States and internationally.
The company operates through three segments: U.S. Refreshment Beverages, U.S. Coffee, and International.
It manufactures and distributes branded concentrates, syrup, and finished beverages, as well as sales of owned brands and third-party brands; tea, cocoa, and other products; and offers finished goods relating to K-Cup pods, single serve brewers, specialty coffee, and ready to drink coffee products.
The company offers its products under the Dr Pepper, Canada Dry, Mott’s, A&W, Peñafiel, GHOST, Snapple, 7UP, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Clamato, Core Hydration, The Original Donut Shop, Sunkist soda, Squirt, C4 Energy, Hawaiian Punch, Electrolit, Bloom, Bai, Evian, Yoo-Hoo, Vita Coco, Big Red, RC Cola, Crush, McCafé, Tim Hortons, Van Houtte, Celestial Seasonings, Bigelow, Starbucks, Dunkin’, Folgers, Peet’s, 7up Energy, and Swiss Miss brands, as well as other partner and private label brands.
It markets and sells its products to supermarkets, mass merchandisers, club stores, e-commerce retailers, office superstores, vending machines, fountains, grocery and drug stores, convenience stores, and other small outlets; and directly to consumers through Keurig.com website.
Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Frisco, Texas.
Just curious if anyone else here that started using GLP-1 meds has noticed a significant change in their sense of taste? We bought Starbucks French Roast k-cups for more years than I can remember, stocking up on several boxes at a time from Costco when there was a sale (~$0.50/pod). It was “OK”, but after starting on the aforementioned med, it just didn’t taste the same. After purchasing a new Keurig Supreme Plus machine with adjustable settings for temp and strength, I used an included coupon to purchase a small box of Gevalia Columbia pods. I noted a significant improvement in taste such that I can no longer stand my former favorite – extremely bitter tasting to me, regardless of the machine settings. Salt is another taste that seems to have elevated in sensation, especially if it’s “in/on the food”, rather than added by me at the table (which I use far less of now).
Best to all.
Ha, Dick – you should see the high-end coffees that sell for hundreds of dollars a pound.
This is the kind of financial analysis I fully support: coffee math.
Forget Wall
Street. Forget the stock market. The real retirement spreadsheet battle is
fought in the supermarket coffee aisle while staring at K-Cups and dividing
price by cup like you’re negotiating a federal budget.
I respect it.
I use a Keurig at home and at work, so I’m fully committed to convenience-based coffee economics. At home, we drink coffee from Aldi. It’s a German coffee, and honestly, it’s very good. Nothing fancy, no barista judging me, no second mortgage required — just solid coffee.
At work, we have a “connection” and get boxes of HEB Texas Pecan K-Cups. I don’t know who started that pipeline, but whoever it is deserves a medal. Those things are wonderful. That’s not coffee. That’s a morale program.
But I laughed at the Starbucks bean discovery because that is exactly how life works. You spend years avoiding the $18 bag because it looks expensive, only to realize the “cheap” little boxes have been slowly robbing you one pod at a time.
That’s not penny wise and pound foolish.
That’s K-Cup inflation with emotional damage.
The real lesson here is simple: sometimes the expensive thing is cheaper, the cheap thing is expensive, and a retiree with a calculator app in the coffee aisle is still one of the most dangerous economic forces in America.
Now, if we can just get Medicare to cover donuts and a bagel with schmear, we’ll have solved retirement.
I’m about to out myself as having ghastly, plebian taste in coffee.
I didn’t become a coffee drinker until my late 50s when I got sick. I’d fly into Portland for treatment, and the Portland terminal was redolent with coffee aromas from multiple locally-based stands as well as the national outlets like Peet’s and Starbucks. So one day, trying to overcome some pretty intense fatigue, I tried a mocha (I’m a chocoholic) and fell instantly in love. I’d have one every time I came through the airport and started visiting the local stands where I lived.
And today I have two mochas almost every morning at home. But here’s where it gets ugly, because I’m both cheap and tasteless.
I don’t use a Keurig or an espresso machine. I use a Mr. Coffee. That’s right, the old $19 Joe DiMaggio model. I make it strong by shoveling in big spoonfuls of ground coffee bought at Costco — the 2-pound bag of Peet’s Dark Roast or the massive 3-pound can of Kirkland Decaf, depending on my mood and need for energy — and for mocha flavor I use (cringe) chocolate-flavored coffee creamer.
I love the concoction, but I’m a disgrace to true coffee appreciation. I’ll hide my face in shame as soon as I wipe the mocha stain from the corner of my lip.
I must be a disgrace too. I use a drip coffee maker and coffee from Aldi at $6.99 for 17 ounces. It tastes great.
I make drip coffee, too, though I buy good beans for it. I’ve owned Keurigs for my office but never really liked the taste. I can tolerate Nespresso if that’s what they have in a hotel room. But I much prefer my strong French roast brewed in my own kitchen. My husband makes himself espresso every day and makes me a latte on Saturdays to drink while I’m writing my baseball column. (He’d make me lattes every morning if I wanted him to, but I get up before he does, and I like my black, dark French roast.)
We have a nespresso machine in Greece, it’s good and fast and relatively easy
Nick Politakis, Sorry, but I only trust the Turks and Dunkin’ to brew my coffee.
True, Turkish coffee is very good!
I’d guess you’re probably pretty close to drinking the same coffee as those who pay the big bucks for brands like Starbucks. In truly blind taste tests, consumers really can’t differentiate. Packaging provides the cues to trigger the brain to note the difference.
I don’t know about quality of beans, but i bet i could tell difference between DD and Starbucks.
One advantage of Starbucks for sure is consistency among its locations. DD can’t match that.
I must disagree. If I could enjoy, for example, Dunkin Donuts beans as much as Starbucks, I’d certainly opt for the cheaper bag. But there’s a quite noticeable difference to my palate (I don’t use sugar or flavorings, which might allow one to get away with inferior beans). If you really want a great cup of coffee, Dunkin and other mass-market choices don’t provide it, at least in my experience.
That’s the power of brand. I taught Marketing for 30 years. The literature is very conclusive.
Very astute comment, Marilyn. And this goes way beyond coffee beans. As you know scientists rely on the randomized, double blind controlled study as the gold standard for comparison, because it eliminates any bias the investigator or the subject may have.
We have had fun with friends by conducting single blind, non-randomized experiments. The host serves various brands of Scotch or wine without telling us what the brands are, and we are asked to rate them. We are often surprised that our preference doesn’t correlate well with the retail prices.
If only some of those brilliant minds in marketing would choose a career in basic or applied scientific research instead, think of what we could accomplish!
I stand by my statement. “The literature” does not determine my biological experience. And note, I don’t buy beverages or food in their stores, just beans to grind and brew my own coffee at home, which is not at all the focus of their marketing efforts.
You still look at the package every time you spoon out the coffee. When you do that your brain registers preference.
Wait until they start putting dirt in there and I just mindlessly brew that!
They won’t ever do that— the value is you get the same thing every time.
A few months ago after the single origin coffee I order online increased to $25/bag (years ago when I first started ordering it the cost was $18/1 lb bag) I decided to date a bag after I opened it to see how long it lasted. I only drink one cup in the morning. Ends up a bag lasts just a bit over a month. It seems expensive but at less than $1 per cup a lot less the going to a coffee shop, which we don’t have anyways in our small rural town. Plus like my comment below I don’t drink alcohol any more, plus I can easily afford it.
If you want to save money and also have a great cup of coffee, get a French press and pour the hot coffee in a thermos. Been doing this for decades. It’s why I could afford to retire.
Fun post. Glad you stumbled into your magic beans.
When shopping for coffee to have “at home,” we’ll pay attention to prices. Since we’re always changing places, what’s available varies, as does cost (and currency). Not unusual for the first cup of the day to be instant.
But coffee out is another story. Remember the advice to skip the latte, have coffee at home and save the difference? Nope. I have coffee out all the time.
Sometimes I think if we’re ever settled I’ll learn how to do coffee better. Could be fun. But I’d still like a coffee shop too.
Haven’t heard about instant coffee in years, last time I had instant was in Europe somewhere. I remember when I was growing up that’s all my father drank. The word Sanka comes to mind.
This really isn’t about the cost of coffee. It’s about the price of convenience. It’s the single serving that. Is driving the cost of Keurig— rhink about the price of packaging!
To some extent, but the large difference in K-Cup coffee brand prices seems to indicate more than packaging. In any case, now I have a top coffee brand at significant savings.
Why do you believe the difference in price is related to superior coffee? Thinking more expensive is better is a marketing tactic as old as the hills.
My daughter works for a business that trains baristas. Years ago she was an award-winning barista herself, has travelled to the world’s top coffee-growing regions multiple times, and spends a good chunk of her working life visiting and talking with people who dedicate their lives to roasting speciality beans.
Trust me — if you tried telling her a coffee bean is a coffee bean and it’s all just marketing, she would absolutely take you apart and probably try to kick your butt for good measure. As for me? I say nothing, and quietly hide my cheap Aldi roast whenever she comes home from London. 😉
i totally understand the power of brand. There’s no convincing someone who is brand loyal. Aldi is also a powerful brand with super good products.
It’s not simply marketing that accounts for all the difference. There’s another bit of common wisdom that can also apply here: you get what you pay for.
And what you’re paying for is all the money Starbucks has invested to create the brand identity. Doing that isn’t cheap — but Starbucks has taken a commodity and convinced most of the folks in this discussion that their coffee is unique. Their marketing is absolutely great— much like Sunkist did with oranges, Chiquita with bananas, and Dole with pineapples!
On the other hand, there are significant differences (taste, texture, appearance, etc.) between various apple varieties, and the same holds true for most fruits and vegetables. Why should coffee beans be any different? (Hint, there are significant differences – soil conditions, bean variety, etc.) Certain brands sole-source different blends with beans from growers with specific locations, soil, climate, coffee bean variety, etc. It’s worth spending some time investigating what there is to offer.
Did you know there are several hundred different types of bananas?
The coffee made with their beans tastes better than coffee made with some other beans. Still other beans probably taste better than Starbucks. I’m simply reporting my experience, guided by comparison, not marketing. It was not the latter that brought Starbucks to my attention, but the fact that they took over the business I had already been patronizing (Coffee Connection). I’m convinced the latter was better than Starbucks, but you can’t drink old memories.
Starbucks is ubiquitous — it’s impossible not to be affected by their marketing. I admit even though I know better, I buy my coffee from Zabars in NYC. I have it shipped to WI!! Such is power of brand!
See above on my timeline and how I simply shifted to Starbucks when they took over a coffee space I was patronizing already in the 1980s.
I’ve been buying Starbucks beans ever since they took over the Coffee Connection in Cambridge, MA, in the 1980s. The Coffee Connection was the best, especially on those days when you could buy beans that had been roasted more than seven days ago for 50% off. But Starbucks beans have served well, for grinding at home and then pouring the hot water into my manual Melita pot via a cone filter. Collecting “stars,” especially by paying through the phone app, usually results in several free bags over the course of the year (somewhat reduced now that “double star days” seem to have been trimmed back quite a bit in the reset of the rewards program this past March). The big splurge is during the Christmas sale, when beans can be 30% off. Then there’s the free birthday drink, any size, which for me means the Venti Latte. Otherwise, I only buy beans at Starbucks, not being able to bring myself to pay the other prices on the menu. For great tasting coffee at home, I find Starbucks to offer great value. The problem, however, is that it makes most other coffee one encounters, even in many restaurants, almost undrinkable.
Chris, thank you for reviving redolent memories of The Coffee Connection. It was bought – but not improved upon – by Starbucks sometime in the early 90’s.
Indeed. Perhaps I was not clear above. It was Coffee Connection prior to the takeover that I was recalling with fondness.
I love this! Not a huge Starbucks fan here, but love how you found a way to be more frugal for your morning coffee. I agree with Dana that I try not to buy coffee in a can. I have a recommendation if any of you live in an area with Meijer grocery store. Their Frederick’s brand of premium coffee is good, especially the flavored ones. We buy for a treat sometimes. Chris
A great example of where Nick Maggiulli’s 0.01% rule would have been handy :
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/0-01-rule-money-expert-130000592.html
I’m not spending that on coffee😎
Richard: I have done the same, both the grocery store price comparison and the grinding at Starbucks. What I would really like would be the opportunity to put more grounds into the Keurig filter insert for a more potent pour.
Mine has a “strong” button that allows the water to move more slowly through the coffee. It does make a difference.
Agreed, mine has that function also. Yet sometimes I like it even more robust.
Even when we were starving grad students, coffee was the one thing we wouldn’t skimp on. We’d cut corners elsewhere. No coffee from a can. We bought good beans and ground them either at home or in the supermarket.
The Mr bought himself a very nice espresso machine and milk frother a couple of years ago when he got his bonus. Our coffee game has improved considerably.
On the other hand, I won’t pay for Starbucks egg bites. I’ve perfected my recipe and make batches in my Instant Pot.
My son who is an ex barista recently bought an espresso machine. It was quite expensive but his wife convinced him to take the plunge. Her thinking was he doesn’t drink alcohol, and coffee is his passion so why not. Great wife!
Ok, I’ve got to ask: What’s an egg bite?
In my version, I blend up eggs, a bit of cream or milk, plain Greek yogurt, crumbled goat cheese, and a bit of hot sauce and salt and pepper. I also use crumbled cooked sausage or bacon, and diced sautéed onions and peppers. They’re steamed and come out about the size of a mini muffin (or golf ball!). They freeze and reheat nicely.
The original recipe called for cottage cheese, but I can’t abide that, so I swapped in the Greek yogurt. You could also use any other kind of cheese, but I like goat cheese.
It’s egg whites mixed with potatoes or bacon, onions or peppers. It’s about the size of a golf ball and cooked by microwave at Starbucks. Quite good.