Coffee Cost Per Cup Calculator — Home vs Café
Work out what a cup of home coffee really costs from your bag price and dose, then see how much you save versus the café — plus when a machine pays for itself.
Calculator
Per cup: home vs café
- Home$1.06
- Café$3.27
Brewing at home pays off
$2.21At $1.06 a cup against $3.27 at the café, you save $2.21 every cup — about $807.08 a year at 1 cups a day.
Bean-only: this counts coffee (and any extras you add) but not water, electricity, machine wear or your time, so it slightly overstates the saving.
About this calculator
Home coffee feels cheap, but how cheap exactly? This calculator turns a bag price and your dose into the real cost of a single cup, then sets it against the café price you pay so you can see the saving per cup, per year — and, if you enter the cost of a grinder or machine, the day it pays for itself. Everything stays in your chosen currency.
How to read your results
The hero figure is what one home cup costs in beans (plus any per-cup extras you add). A typical 340 g bag at 18 g per cup gives you a little under 19 cups. The savings stats compare that home cost to the café price; annual savings assume you drink the same number of cups every day. Payback divides your equipment cost by the daily saving, so heavier coffee drinkers break even sooner.
How it's calculated
Home cost per cup = (dose ÷ bag weight) × bag price + per-cup extras. Cups per bag = bag weight ÷ dose. Saving per cup = café price − home cost. Annual saving = saving per cup × cups per day × 365. Payback days = equipment cost ÷ (saving per cup × cups per day), shown only when there is a positive daily saving.
Worked example
A $20, 340 g bag, 18 g per cup, one cup a day, a $3.27 café cup, and a $150 setup.
Home coffee costs about $1.06 a cup — roughly 19 cups per bag. Against $3.27 at the café you save $2.21 a cup, about $807 a year, and the $150 setup pays for itself in around 68 days.
Frequently asked questions
Does this include water, electricity and milk?
Only if you add them. By default the calculator counts beans (and any per-cup extras you enter, like milk or a paper filter), but not water, electricity, machine wear or your time. Because those are left out, the saving it shows is a best case and slightly overstates how much you really pocket.
How much coffee should one cup use?
A common home dose is around 15–20 g of ground coffee per cup, following the SCA "golden ratio" of roughly 55–60 g of coffee per litre of water. Espresso uses far less per shot (about 18 g for a double); a large mug or a strong brew uses more. Match the dose slider to how you actually brew.
Why is my café cheaper than home?
That usually means a small dose, a cheap café, or a very expensive bag. Drip coffee from a corner shop can undercut a single-origin bag brewed strong. The calculator is honest about this — adjust the dose, bag price or café price to see where the lines cross.
When does a machine pay for itself?
Payback is the equipment cost divided by your daily saving, so it depends entirely on how much you save per cup and how many cups you drink. Two cups a day at a $2 saving repays a $150 grinder in well under two months; one cheap cup a day takes much longer.
Sources
- completehomebarista.com/guides/sca-coffee-ratio-guide
- pos.toasttab.com/blog/on-the-line/coffee-pricing
- www.transactionguide.coffee/reports/specialty-coffee-retail-price-index-2025-q1
Reviewed by the YouCalc Team · Last reviewed
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