How much does a daily coffee cost a year?

A single bought coffee on workdays can cost well over a thousand dollars a year, and more than one a day or seven days a week pushes it much higher. Making it at home costs a fraction per cup once you have a machine.

Is it worth making coffee at home?

For the money, yes; the per-cup cost at home is a fraction of a cafe price, so the yearly saving can be large. Many people keep a balance, buying coffee as a treat or social outing while making most at home.

What could the saving grow to?

Invested rather than spent, the difference between bought and home coffee can grow meaningfully over years thanks to compounding. This calculator shows the yearly saving and what it might become if invested.

Coffee Habit Cost Calculator

This calculator shows what a bought coffee habit really costs each year in New Zealand, what you would save by making the same coffee at home instead, and what that saving could grow to if invested rather than spent. You enter how many coffees you buy per day, how many days a week you buy them, the cafe price, and what the same coffee costs to make at home. From these it works out your total coffee spend for the year, both bought and homemade, and the gap between the two, shown as the amount saved a year by making it at home. It also grows that yearly saving as a regular contribution at 6 percent for 10 years, giving a rough idea of what a changed habit could be worth down the track through compounding. A single daily flat white on workdays can run into well over a thousand dollars a year, and buying more often pushes that much higher, while home coffee typically costs a fraction of the cafe price per cup. Use the tool to see your own numbers rather than guess, and to decide whether to cut back, switch some purchases to home brewing, or put the difference to work instead. The investment figure is an indicative estimate only; actual returns depend on what you invest in and are never guaranteed.

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Coffees bought per day

Days per week

Cafe price each

Home cost each

saved a year by making it at home

Bought, per year$0

Home, per year$0

Saving invested 10 years (6%)$0

The investment figure grows the yearly saving as a regular contribution at 6% for 10 years, to show the long-term effect; returns are not guaranteed. A balance of home and the occasional bought coffee is perfectly reasonable. Estimate only.

How it works

The calculator works out how many coffees you buy a year from your per-day and per-week figures, then costs them at the cafe price and at the home price. The difference is your yearly saving from making coffee at home. To show the bigger picture, it grows that yearly saving as a regular yearly investment at 6% over 10 years, which is where a small daily habit turns into a surprisingly large number.

Worked example

One coffee a day, 5 days a week, is 260 a year. At $5.50 that is $1,430; at 80 cents to make at home, about $208. The saving is around $1,222 a year, which invested at 6% for 10 years could grow to roughly $17,100.

Related calculators

Takeaway vs Cooking Calculator: takeaways versus cooking.
Compound Interest Calculator: how the saving grows.
Budget Calculator: your budget.
Subscription Cost Calculator: subscription costs.

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