Home coffee cost tool

Coffee Cost Per Cup Calculator

Add up the machine, beans, milk, filters, descaler and electricity, then see what one cup actually costs. The calculator also turns that number into daily, monthly and yearly totals and compares it with a cafe price.

  • Machine wear included
  • USD estimates
  • Nothing uploaded

Your coffee setup

Use your own prices. The starting values are a mid-range example, not a quote.

Machine
Coffee and cups
Other running costs

Electricity is an estimate per cup. If your machine stays hot for hours, raise it using your own energy rate.

Cafe comparison

Your prices stay in this browser tab. Nothing is uploaded, saved or added to a URL.

Your readout

What one cup costs

Enter your machine, coffee and running costs, then calculate. The readout separates each cost, totals the month and year, and shows the difference against a cafe drink.

How the cost per cup is calculated

The calculator puts every cost on the same footing: one cup. Coffee is priced from the bag, machine wear is spread across its expected life, and yearly descaler is divided by the number of cups you make in a year.

  • Coffee per cup = bag price ÷ bag weight × coffee dose.
  • Machine wear per cup = machine price ÷ (lifespan × cups per day × 365).
  • Descaler per cup = yearly descaler cost ÷ (cups per day × 365).
  • Total per cup = coffee + milk + filters + electricity + descaler + machine wear.
  • Monthly total = daily total × 365 ÷ 12, so every month uses the same 30.42-day average. The yearly total uses 365 days.

Worked example: a $699 machine and two cups a day

Using the calculator's starting values

Coffee
$18.00 ÷ 340 g × 18 g = $0.95 per cup
Milk
$0.45 per cup
Filters and electricity
$0.03 + $0.04 = $0.07 per cup
Descaler
$20 a year ÷ 730 cups = $0.03 per cup
Machine wear
$699 ÷ (5 years × 730 cups) = $0.19 per cup
Total
$1.69 per cup — $3.38 a day, $102.92 a month and $1,235.05 a year.

At $5.50 a cup from a cafe, the same two-cup day would cost $11.00. The calculator shows a saving of $3.81 per cup, about $231.66 a month and $2,779.95 a year.

What the number includes — and what it leaves out

The result is an ownership estimate, not an invoice. It includes the costs you enter and the machine price spread over the lifespan you choose.

  • Included: coffee, milk, filters or other per-cup extras, electricity, descaler and the machine's purchase price.
  • Not included: sales tax, shipping, water, repairs, replacement parts, cleaning tablets beyond the filters line, or the resale value of the machine. Add repairs to the machine price or a yearly cost if you want to account for them.
  • Electricity is an estimate. A machine that stays hot for hours uses more than one that heats on demand. Use your own energy rate and routine to set the per-cup figure.
  • The cafe comparison is per drink. If your cafe order is larger or uses more milk, raise the cafe price and the milk cost together so the comparison stays honest.
  • More cups lower the fixed costs. Coffee and milk stay roughly flat per cup, while machine wear and descaler fall as daily use rises.

Frequently asked questions

Does the cost per cup include the coffee machine?

Yes. The machine price is divided by its expected lifespan and by the number of cups you make in that time. The result is the machine's wear cost per cup. If you make more cups a day, that portion gets smaller.

Why is my answer different from the bag price divided by cups?

Bag price only covers coffee. This calculator also adds milk, filters, electricity, descaler and machine wear. The coffee dose matters too: an 18 g cup uses more coffee than a 12 g cup from the same bag.

How should I count electricity?

Use your energy rate and a realistic per-cup estimate. If your machine has a long warm-up or stays on all morning, include that standby time rather than only the seconds the pump runs.

Can I use this for an office?

Yes, in principle. Set cups per day to the team's total and spread the machine price over the expected life. For an office, also account for who maintains the machine and how often it is descaled; those costs can change the answer more than the coffee does.

Is anything I enter saved?

No. The calculation runs in your browser, and the values stay in the page. Nothing is uploaded, stored in the URL, or sent to an analytics endpoint.

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