Coffee addiction is the only valid addiction that can offer you health benefits if you maintain the lifestyle right. Though it’ll cost you a pretty penny to savor fresh cups of coffee every morning, the price is always worth it. But, you better learn how to save money on coffee.
But not every coffee enthusiast can afford to spend a lot of money on their coffee habit, and that’s totally fine. So to make it easy on your wallet and yourself, today we’ll be discussing helpful tips that can save you as much as possible.
20 Tips About How To Save Money On Coffee
Some of these tips can come off as a bit too cheap, but hey, if it works, it works.
Let’s take a look at the tips before diving into the details:
- Buy Your Beans In Bulk
- Expensive Doesn’t Always Mean Good
- Buy From Established Retailers
- Join A Coffee Club
- Get A Decent Coffee Maker
- Grind Your Own Business. . . I mean Beans
- Keep The Grind On
- Measure Your Grounds Every Time
- You Don’t Need To Grind Everyday
- You Can Always Re-Use Your Coffee Grounds
- Keep Your Grinder Clean
- Make Enough Coffee Just For Yourself
- Yesterday’s Stale Coffee Is Today’s Cold Brew
- Freeze Your Leftovers
- Fish For Gift Cards
- Buy Your Own Gadgets
- Wait For The Mistake
- Free Coffee Is A Thing!
- Make Your Own Creamer
- Try Out More Natural Energy Fixes
Tip #1: Buy Your Beans In Bulk
If you buy too many coffee beans at once, you risk losing their flavor as they sit in your storage for eternity, waiting to run out. If you buy too little, you won’t have enough to last the week.
The easiest middle ground is to buy 2-5 pounds of coffee in one go and do so with a discount. You get the price saved from purchasing a larger amount, with the added benefit of the discount itself.
Tip #2: Expensive Doesn’t Always Mean Good
You can be easily tempted to buy those exotic beans sitting on the shelf, calling you as if the beans have your name on them. But you’re here to save money, not waste more.
Though many companies sell coffee beans that cost a bit more than usual, it doesn’t mean it always comes in with extra flavor or benefits. Therefore, it’s best to skip expensive bean packets unless you are looking for something new.
If you’re more of a coffee shop person, try out the drinks from establishments other than Starbucks. You can save more money than you can think. You can even buy Starbucks beans and brew them at home to give you the premium taste while saving you a trip.
Tip #3: Buy From Established Retailers
Recently, many big retailers have started to offer fair trade coffee as one of their products. It serves both the coffee farmers and coffee lovers like you who are trying to save money. But how?
Fair Trade Coffee ensures that the coffee farmers are well-compensated with a decent living wage. Fair Trade Coffee is also less expensive than other major retailers’ brands.
If you can save yourself some money while helping others, why not do it?
Tip #4: Join A Coffee Club
If you’re always buying your coffee beans for a home experience, you can always join a coffee club. These clubs always offer a good deal that can help you save a lot of money on your everyday purchase.
Plus, they can help you budget based on your preferences, which is always better.
Tip #5: Get A Decent Coffee Maker
Though I’m telling you to “spend” money with this tip, it can save you more money in the long run.
Brewing your own coffee at home will always be the biggest tip to save money on coffee, but getting a decent coffee maker is where it all starts.
Pod coffee makers are a thing, but buying new coffee pods constantly is basically going back to square one with the expenses. But even then, it’s less expensive than visiting any coffee chain.
Tip #6: Grind Your Own Business . . . I Mean Beans
This is an obvious tip that we have mentioned in several other articles.
When you are grinding your own beans, you have control over the amount you will use with your preferred brew method.
When you already have beans that you bought in bulk and use them at a specific amount, you’ll need to purchase coffee beans less frequently, saving you precious cash.
Tip #7: Keep The Grind On
This tip applies to both whole beans and pre-ground coffee.
If you buy whole beans, you’ll obviously need to grind them. But even when you are buying pre-ground coffee beans, I suggest running them through your burr grinder once again.
When you grind pre-ground beans, it gives you finer granules of coffee that you can use in lesser amounts while getting the most out of it in terms of taste.
Tip #8: Measure Your Grounds Every Time
A few coffee grinders have settings to choose how many cups you want to brew and grind beans accordingly.
You can use the grinder’s settings to measure your beans right. But, of course, you can always get a dedicated coffee scale if you still want more accuracy.
Tip #9: You Don’t Need To Grind Everyday
You can save more time and money by not grinding beans every day. Sounds odd, but hear me out.
When you keep enough grind in your hand for 2-3 days, you use fewer beans, which can help you last longer with your current stash of beans.
Though preserving ground beans for long makes it lose a bit of flavor and aroma,
Tip #10: You Can Always Re-Use Your Coffee Grounds
You can re-use your ground coffee even after you are done brewing with it, and in more ways than you can imagine.
- Coffee grounds can work as a natural deodorizer if you put them in your fridge or freezer.
- Used coffee grounds can be used as fertilizers. If you have a small garden, your plants can enjoy some coffee along with you.
- Tired of stray cats littering your garden? Sprinkle coffee grounds in your garden. Cat’s don’t like the smell of used coffee grounds.
- If you have trouble with ants in your garden, coffee grounds can keep the ants away. But unfortunately, it’s almost lethal to ants since the chemicals in coffee grounds cause the ants’ legs to burn.
- You can re-use your already used grounds for another fresh batch. All you need to do is add 50% new coffee grounds and get brewing.
If you are worried about grounds, read out our how to prevent grounds in coffee article.
Tip #11: Keep Your Grinder Clean
Whenever you grind coffee beans using any mechanical grinder, they leave coffee residues in the grinder. Leaving residues for a longer time in the grinder can ruin both your coffee and the grinder itself.
When you clean your grinder regularly, you get to retain the machine’s integrity for longer and save yourself the trouble of buying another grinder.
Tip #12: Make Enough Coffee Just For Yourself
Most times, you feel like you need to keep a pot of coffee brewed “just in case.”
The answer is no, you don’t. Instead, only brew the amount of coffee you are planning to drink. Then you can save on coffee beans, and you won’t have to keep throwing out old, stale coffee.
Tip #13: Yesterday’s Stale Coffee Is Today’s Cold Brew
You may feel like your coffee is totally ruined after being in the freezer for long. But you can always turn it into a cold brew.
Even when it’s less tasteful, it’s still drinkable, and all you needed was leftover coffee.
Tip #14: Freeze Your Leftovers
You can make coffee ice cubes at home to keep your coffee cooled and preserved for a more extended period.
You can make iced coffee out of your leftover coffee by freezing them, which is even better on a hot summer day.
Tip #15: Fish For Gift Cards
This is one of the few “cheap tricks” we talked about, but it’s an interesting one.
Many people are giving out unwanted gift cards on eBay or Craigslist. You can get unwanted gift and discount cards for a meager price that you can use to buy your coffee beans or other accessories next time.
Tip #16: Buy Your Own Gadgets
When you have certain coffee brewing gadgets at your home, you won’t feel the need to go out and spend more money on the same coffee. This is more of a mind trick than a material one.
If you have the tools of the trade to brew yourself a fresh cup of java at home, like a coffee maker, a nice mug, thermos, etc., you won’t have to go out, and you can save more that way.
If you buy french press machine, you must read our best tips for french press users article.
Tip #17: Wait For The Mistake
This one is on the “really cheap tricks” list, but it can be an absolute goldmine at times. But it requires you to have a lot of free time on your hands.
When you are in a coffee shop for long enough, there’s someone who ALWAYS messes up an order. In that case, the shop offers a remake with the right order when the original mistaken version is either given away for free or thrown out.
Claim it for yourself before it gets thrown out, and you have free coffee!
Tip #18: Free Coffee Is A Thing!
“Free Coffee Mondays” is the first thing that comes to mind when I talk about free coffee. But, even aside from that, there are tons of free deals and coffee giveaways on the internet that you can look out for to score some fine free coffee.
Tip #19: Make Your Own Creamer
If you like creamers with your coffee, continuously buying expensive creamer from the market can be taxing on your wallet.
With a few home ingredients, you can create a fine coffee creamer at home that can offer you a better taste. And as for recipes, you always got Google and YouTube on your side.
Tip #20: Try Out More Natural Energy Fixes
This is the point where I “tell you not to drink coffee, without telling you not to drink coffee.”
The boost of caffeine-induced energy is the main reason why everyone loves and prefers coffee over anything. But other, healthier alternatives can provide you even more energy than coffee.
The easiest example of this is an apple. We all know the famous statement, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
An apple actually produces more energy than a regular cup of coffee. Exercising, along with a decent amount of fruit and vegetable consumption, can give you a decent energy boost that can surpass a cup of coffee.
Had fun learning tips about how to save money on coffee?
You will love to read our how to do coffee cupping at home article.
Bottom Line
Though the spending on a daily coffee habit differs from person to person, it’s better to save as much as possible on the hobby to maintain a decent coffee lifestyle.
We hope you get all the discounts, bonus gift cards, and free coffees. Because you are amazing, and you deserve it.
Cheers!
FAQs
If you are grinding your own beans and brewing your own homemade coffee, you can save over $1000.
You can either go into a local coffee shop or brew your coffee at home to keep the average cost of your morning coffee down.
Coffee shops use multiple additives in the drink to make it more appealing to your tastebuds, and that’s why people like to grab a coffee from coffee shops to get a better taste.
If you buy fair trade coffee, you can save a decent amount of money. Buying beans in bulk can also cost less overall.
When looking for quality over quantity, it’s easy to spend more money than you plan to on coffee. If you prioritize getting the best taste within a specific budget, you can save more money.
