A daily café coffee feels small in the moment, but multiplied across a year it's often a four-figure line item — and the gap between café and home-brewed pricing can be 5-10x per cup. This calculator turns your actual habit into a yearly number, breaks down the cost per cup both ways, and shows what redirecting the difference into an investment could become.
How the calculator works
Home cost/cup = bean price / cups per bag + editable add-on. Cups per bag must be positive. Equipment cost is separate and reduces first-year and cumulative switch savings, while recurring home cost excludes equipment. Investment uses end-of-month contributions at the labeled nominal annual rate divided by 12. Real purchasing power = nominal terminal value / 1.025^years, using the same nominal cash flows; returns are hypothetical.
Why home brewing is usually so much cheaper
A café coffee's price covers more than beans — rent, labor, cups, and a margin are baked in. A bag of beans brewed at home spreads its cost across 20-28 cups with no markup beyond the ingredients themselves, which is why the per-cup gap is typically 5-10x. Espresso-based drinks with milk narrow that gap somewhat since home versions need an espresso machine and milk too, but drip coffee stays dramatically cheaper brewed at home.
Limits and edge cases
Home cost/cup = bean price / cups per bag + editable add-on. Cups per bag must be positive. Equipment cost is separate and reduces first-year and cumulative switch savings, while recurring home cost excludes equipment. Investment uses end-of-month contributions at the labeled nominal annual rate divided by 12. Real purchasing power = nominal terminal value / 1.025^years, using the same nominal cash flows; returns are hypothetical.