Caffeinated Beverages Table: How Much Caffeine Content and Cost per Cup

How much caffeine is in your cup?

How much caffeine is in your cup?
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

I once read that caffeine is “mildly habit forming”. This can be easily verified by trying to go a day without coffee…

Being a penny pincher, it is natural for me to consider whether I am paying too much for my daily caffeine. I drink a couple 20 oz cups of coffee that I brew at home after grinding my own beans. I would say this is similar to the quality and caffeine content of coffee shop coffee. Millions of people drink coffee, tea, soda, and even energy drinks every day. How much caffeine are we getting, and how much are we paying for it?

I checked prices of some popular caffeinated items, and gathered information on caffeine contentment to get a handle on this. It turns out that I am getting more caffeine than I thought:

Table of caffeine content for popular beverages and cost per serving
Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

A good cup of coffee has A LOT of caffeine!

As you can see from the table above, Coffee Shop Coffee has 415 mg of caffeine per 20 oz cup. That's 5 times more than a Red Bull! And I drink 2 coffees every morning. No wonder I'm so productive...

I once tried drinking chocolate milk in the morning, but that didn't last. The table may reveal the reason: chocolate milk has almost no caffeine.

Now, let's look at cost more closely. How much would it cost, and how much would you need to consume, to get the amount of caffeine in 1 cup of coffee shop coffee?

Table of cost to obtain the amount of caffeine in one cup of coffee from popular foods and beverages
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

OK, now you can see why I couldn't drink enough chocolate milk to be happy in the morning! It would take 208 12oz bottles of chocolate milk to equal the caffeine in a cup of strong coffee. Cost: $290. Eating chocolate bars is also an expensive way to get caffeine. Coffee is hard to beat in value, only hot tea and Vivarin caffeine pills are more cost effective.

If you're trying to cut down on coffee, hot tea looks like a good alternative from a cost perspective. Tea also has health benefits, although I tend to drink green or decaf tea since I get plenty of caffeine already.

I'll put the data in a graphical format so you can see how the options for caffeine stack up:

Caffeine content: longer bars = more caffeine
Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

Cost to obtain the amount of caffeine in one cup of coffee shop coffee from foods and beverages
Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

Coffee Drinking Tips:

• A good cup of coffee is a good value in terms of cost for the caffeine content 
• Easy does it, you might be getting more caffeine than you "need".  Consider substituting a cup of tea or other coffee alternative for that 2nd cup of coffee
• Those expensive energy drinks may not have as much kick as you thought...

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Penny Pincher. All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal

Best Value Thermal Coffee Maker

Thermal Coffee Maker Features

My high end Mr. Coffee thermal coffee maker kicked the bucket and it was time to find a replacement coffee maker. After some thought, here are my top features for a new coffee maker:

1. Thermal Carafe. Coffee tastes bad when it sits on a burner too long. For me, any time on the burner is too long. Coffee makers with a thermal carafe do not heat the coffee on a burner. It is hot when it comes out and stays hot in an insulated carafe.
2. Simple. The Mr. Coffee had a timer feature to automatically start brewing that I only used a couple times. It also had sensors to cause it to stop brewing if all the lids, etc. were not closed tight, possibly a safety feature. All of these extra features cost money and make failure more likely. I really don't even need a clock on the coffee maker.
3. Good value. Of course, price is always important. Good coffee is important too. I was looking for a good value, a machine that would make good coffee, last a while, and not cost too much.

Thermal Coffee Maker Options

There are some good choices for stainless steel thermal coffee makers under $100. My favorites are:

Mr. Coffee 10-cup thermal coffee maker

Price: about $65

There are a couple Mr. Coffee thermal models available. My previous Mr. Coffee thermal coffee maker that I purchased about 5 years ago cost about $150. Now there are a couple choices for under $100. The X95 is the cheaper model and features more plastic than stainless steel. The X91 is a fancier model and features more stainless steel.

Although there are a couple choices with thermal carafe from Mr. Coffee in the under $100 price range, I was ready to try something different.

Frigidaire Professional 10-cup thermal coffee maker

Price: about $100

Filter type: cone filter

The Frigidaire Professional, also known as Electrolux, is a very sharp looking product. This product looks and feels expensive and would look great in any kitchen. It has lots of stainless steel surfaces, and the parts feel heavy and strong. I found the one in the picture for sale at Target, but have not seen it on amazon yet.

One problem with this coffee maker is that it may make the rest of your appliances look inadequate since it is very sharp looking! I was interested primarily in great coffee rather than the appearance of the coffee maker- you do pay about $40 extra for the fancy appearance compared with other models of thermal coffee makers. I decided to go with the simplest coffee maker with a thermal carafe.

Melitta 10-cup thermal coffee maker

Price: about $65

One great thing about this coffee maker is its simplicity. This unit has a power on/off button, the only one you really need. It also has a brew strength button and 3 buttons for programming the clock as well. It has black plastic and stainless steel surfaces. The plastic feels a bit flimsy, but overall a very good coffee maker.

Filter type: Uses #4 cone filter.

The Melitta thermal coffee maker is my choice for best value coffee maker. It has all of the features I need and makes great coffee. I decided to buy this model and give it a try.

Melitta 10 cup thermal coffee maker with cone filter basket- simple!
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

The Militta uses cone filters. This is my first experience using cone filters. Initially I was worried that they would be difficult to find in local stores, but this has not been a problem.

The coffee maker was easy to use and makes great coffee. The cone filter basket is easily removable for cleaning. The top of the coffee maker has a couple lids that open to provide access to the filter basket and water reservoir from the top (see picture).

I like the digital LCD clock with blue backlight and the red accent on the thermal carafe. At $54.99, it is not the cheapest coffee maker you can get, but is one of the cheaper ones with a steel thermal carafe. The Melitta thermal coffee maker is a good value for the money and makes great coffee with its cone filter. It has everything you need to make great coffee.

Melitta coffee maker- easy access to filter basket and water reservoir
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

Coffee Making Tips:

• Brew coffee at home every day instead of buying coffee at a coffee shop and save a couple dollars per day. This can add up to over $500 per year!
• Use a coffee maker with a thermal carafe for the freshest tasting coffee at home
• Black coffee has almost zero calories and can be part of your diet plan.
• Switch to decaf coffee or coffee alternatives in the afternoon to avoid loosing sleep.

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Penny Pincher. All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal