Buy a Thermos...Make Good Coffee
When there's a big economic change, people are forced to change their ways. In the last year, the commodity price of coffee has doubled. It's mellowed in the last three months, but coffee retailers have all been forced to increase their prices for coffee.[ad#Google Adsense - use me]Case in point, Canadian coffee giant Tim Horton's announced that it will be increasing the price of certain menu items to offset the rising price of coffee. Last fall, fellow coffee chains Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts announced the same, but Tim Horton's wanted customers to know that it would hold off for as long as it could. In the grocery store channel, Folger's made a similar announcement late last year. Luckily for coffee vendors, an increase in price on a low-ticket item may not change behavior in any way, but for some, it will. I am suggesting that it should!Read: Tim Horton's price hike brewingWhen the commodity price of coffee doubles in a year, retailers are forced to respond or go broke. This is a great time for coffee lovers to reconsider their spending. In booming economic times, we don't need to be as price-conscious. In tough economic times or when the cost of things we like go up, we have to find ways to economize. Or do we? What if you could enjoy better coffee at a lower price?
Each day, I drink the equivalent of four retail-medium coffees. I make one pot in the morning before I leave home, and I pour it into my Thermos. I don't mind plugging Thermos because they make a great product. Accept no substitute. It keeps my coffee hot ALL day. The last cup I pour from it isn't lukewarm, it's hot. Here's the math...I go through one pound of coffee every two weeks. That pound of freshly-roasted coffee costs me $15. Let's assume then that it costs me $1.20 each day to make my four medium coffees. That's 30 cents per cup. I believe a Tim Horton's medium coffee costs $1.20, but that could be low. Now maybe you don't drink all of four medium coffees per day. No problem, let's assume you only drink (need) two of them...Marc's Thermos: Two medium coffees x 30c / coffee = 60 cents Tim Horton's: Two medium coffees x $1.20 / coffee = $2.40 Difference = $1.80 / day Working days per month = 20Marc's Savings = $36 / monthWait!, you're thinking, brewing a pot and filling a Thermos is something extra I now have to do each morning! Ask yourself other than for the convenience of not having to get out of your car, what's convenient about a Dunkin Donuts or Tim Horton's drive-thru line-up in the morning on the drive to work?Wait!, the chain knows how to make coffee, that's what they do well, I should leave that to them! I'm sorry, but Tim Horton's, Dunkin Donuts and McDonald's can't touch the coffee I make and pour out of my Thermos all day long. Starbucks can't compete with the quality of coffee that I make at home and drink all day. For $15/pound, I'm buying coffee of a variety of sources freshly-roasted by a professional local roaster, handled with care right up to the point that I buy it. Start with our home page to learn how easily you can make great coffee at home.Wait!, I don't have a Thermos! It costs $30 for their top of the line beverage insulator. You'll save more than that in your first month and it will last you years.Economic shocks are not all bad. They make us rethink the things that we take for granted. We get comfortable and stop considering that there's another way. Find your local roaster, buy a pound from them every two weeks, grind and brew it fresh at home each morning and pour it into a Thermos for the day. Save yourself 10-15 minutes sitting in the drive-thru of a chain that is mass-producing a mediocre coffee compared to great coffee that you could be making for yourself at home.When I buy coffee from a chain's drive-thru, it's only because I need one and wasn't prepared in advance.