Do you need coffee in the morning? Do you brew it in your Keurig and then feel disappointed in the quality? Do you spend money every morning at Summit? Stop. An awesome quality cup of coffee doesn’t always come from a machine or coffee shop, and can totally be done on a budget and in a small space, like on your dorm room sink’s counter! Here are the two easiest ways how:
Method #1: Coffee Pot
The coffee pot is an underrated classic. It’s perfect for making more than one cup at once, and there are even machines on the market now that have a clock you can preset so you can wake up to a hot cup of Joe. This one from Mr. Coffee has that preset feature, and is under $25. To brew your own, you just add water to the water-receptacle, put ground beans in the filter basket, and press “on.” To clean, simply empty the filter basket into the trash and rinse. Old school.
Method #2: Pour Over
Pour over coffee is my personal favorite—probably because I grew up watching my parents make their coffee in this way. This method is perfect for you if you’re making one cup at a time, since the brewed coffee goes directly into the cup. To start, you need hot water. Unless you want to boil water on a stove top (difficult if you don’t have access to a stove), a hot water pot is probably your best bet. Check this one out for under $25.
Besides hot water, you’ll also need some cone filters and one of these little contraptions, which go over the cup that you’re going to drink your coffee out of. Put the cone filter inside the cone, add ground coffee beans, and pour hot water over the grinds in the filter. Pour until your cup is full, and then you can simply toss the filter and rinse the cone. Voila.
This picture may look like high maintenence, but trust me, it’s a piece of cake!
So how much do you save?
Oh, now let’s look at the prices. I based these numbers on the equipment suggestions in this article and the cost of a 12 oz. bag of Starbucks house blend (even though I will say that if you’re going to be into coffee enough to start brewing your own it might be time to graduate from Starbucks to something more interesting). All the total estimates are for 100 cups of coffee.
Coffee pot:
- Pot: $20
- Coffee beans: $26
- Total: $46 (that’s $0.46 a cup!)
Pour over:
- Hot water pot: $21
- Filter holder: $3
- Filters: $2
- Coffee beans: $26
- Total: $52 (that’s $0.52 a cup!)
Summit:
- One cup to-go: $2.50
- Total: $250
Keurig:
- Machine: $200
- K-cups: $72
- Total: $272 (at $2.72 a cup—more expensive than ordering at Summit!)
So to all you coffee lovers out there: treat yourself with an actually good cup of homemade coffee. You, and your wallet, will thank me.