Coffee consumption questions

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blackbird
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:36 pm

Coffee consumption questions

Post by blackbird »

Hey Folks,

I'm curious about how those of you who drink coffee manage it. Until the last few months, I have never been a coffee drinker. Instead, I consumed significant amounts of soda. After several unsuccessful attempts to give up soda long-term, I decided to try a methadone-like experiment to replace soda with coffee. A friend at work has one of the Keurig K-cup machines, so I bought a couple of small boxes of those, and I have become somewhat accustomed to drinking coffee.

This has not resulted in as significant a decrease of soda consumption as I would like. Since I do not have a coffee machine at home, I grab a soda on my way out and drink it with breakfast on the way to work. I probably drink about 30% less soda.

I have calculated what my annual cost for coffee consumption would be, it looks something like this:

2x coffee per day, k-cups purchased at Costco, 33 cents per coffee, yearly cost of $240.90

11 gallons of purified water for the second cup of coffee that would be brewed at work, yearly cost of $11.41

Purchase of a k-cup coffeemaker for the first coffee of the day at the house, $40

Total cost for first year, $292.31, with the following year expected to be $252.31

Questions/Concerns:

1. The k-cups seem very wasteful. I feel like a lot of trash is being generated from a single cup of coffee, and at least with the can of soda I know that it will be recycled. Have any of you tried the reusable k-cup containers?

2. Is there a place I can find k-cups cheaper than Costco? I looked around a little and it seems to be the best price I could find.

3. Based on some light Internet reading, it appears that 2 cups of coffee a day are less destructive than an equivalent amount of soda. However, I am putting almost one and a half tablespoons of sugar in each cup. I tell myself it is still less destructive than soda, but is it really?

Thanks folks.

wood
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by wood »

3. Based on some light Internet reading, it appears that 2 cups of coffee a day are less destructive than an equivalent amount of soda. However, I am putting almost one and a half tablespoons of sugar in each cup. I tell myself it is still less destructive than soda, but is it really?
Hard to tell. You seem to be consuming less sugar in total, but with the added "negativity" related to coffee consumption. And you still consume a good amount of sugar. I'd say if you replace the soda completely with sugar-infused coffee, you are slightly better off. If you can replace it with sugar-free coffee you are definetely better off.

These kind of questions are hard to answer isolated, because the body is a system influenced by many factors. To name a few in this context: Do you exercise? Do you drink the sugars together with a meal? Do you eat healthy otherwise? Yes yes yes is better than no no no. Also, you didn't specify exactly how much soda you consume now vs before and whether it contains caffeine or not. But I take it as a given that your sugar consumption has gone down, otherwise you wouldn't be asking about this :)

Cut the sugar and make sure to exercise ;)

ThisDinosaur
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by ThisDinosaur »

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10. ... 0903586412
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1829363/
Health benefits of coffee may be overblown, but there is no doubt its better for you than any kind of soda, sugar free or not.
I agree that k cups are the least cost-effective way of taking up a coffee habit, second only to starbucks.

As for quitting soda, is it just the caffeine that is making it difficult? I think for most people its just a habit or routine that's hard to break, not the substance itself. It might help to just carry a refillable water bottle around. Changing a habit is supposed to take about 3 weeks. So, for one month, try drinking water with meals or whenever you would normally have a soda.

7Wannabe5
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

I am once again contemplating the possibility of switching over from coffee to black tea, for reasons having less to do with health, and more to do with frugality and developing model of locavore practice. In theory, I could maybe grow my own hardy variety of tea on the north side of my greenhouse, and it is much less expensive on the open market than coffee. I intend to keep drinking coffee whenever I can access it for free. I still have some lingering remnant of severe childhood asthma, and I like the mild bronchodilation effect, as well as the energy, that these beverages provide.

Anyways, I think what might be a good compromise for you, although a bit of an initial skill-acquisition hurdle, would be to start brewing your own black tea kombucha.

blackbird
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by blackbird »

Well, I did not post my soda consumption because I am somewhat embarrassed by it. As a grown man I know better, but as an example, yesterday I drank about 6 ozs of Mtn Dew on the way to work, then about 10 ozs at my midmorning break, and then another 10 ozs after lunch, roughly 12 ozs at dinner, and yes, a final 6 ozs about an hour before bed.

So 45-50 ozs per day is a decent approximation.

At 3.85 grams of sugar per oz of Mtn Dew, that equals 173.25-192.5 grams of sugar. Damn, really hope my math is wrong. Seems even worse than I suspected when written out.

With one tablespoon of sugar equal 12.5 grams, my 1.5 tablespoons per cup, twice a day would be 37.5 grams of sugar a day.

Obviously not great in itself, but an improvement over the current situation.

Now I brace myself for the much-deserved shaming.

vexed87
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Location: Yorkshire, UK

Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by vexed87 »

To cut down on costs and packaging, there are two obvious options.

Instant Coffee vs. Whole bean/ground coffee.

I regard the former a sin, and the latter the best way to consume coffee. Ideally go for whole beans. Pre-ground coffee is more convenient, but doesn't retain it's freshness as long as whole beans. I buy my beans in 1kg bags, once opened I freeze the bag, and decant 100g or so every few days. I haven't personally found any other form of coffee match the taste of coffee ground daily by hand.

I'll still purchase pre-ground coffee in certain situations (mainly at work, if I forgot to grind my own that day), but buying whole beans and grinding at home provides superior taste IMO. http://www.hario.co.uk/ceramic-grinder- ... nd grinder is one of the best you can get for the money, and you can adjust the coarseness of the grind to suit your brewing method and taste preferences.

At home, I'm more likely to produce 4-8 cups of coffee (that's 2-4 real sized cups!) in a drip machine, and in the office I use a French press. These are the cheapest and least wasteful means to prepare coffee that I have found.
Last edited by vexed87 on Thu May 04, 2017 9:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

blackbird
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by blackbird »

For a french press, how are you heating the water? Microwave? Or does the hot water from tap get it warm enough for you?

vexed87
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Location: Yorkshire, UK

Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by vexed87 »

The French press only comes out at home if I'm drinking coffee alone, I use the kettle as it's more efficient at heating the smaller amount of water than the drip machine, quicker too, but doesn't produce coffee while unattended, you need to be present to time the brew. At the office, there's a water boiler with constant supply of hot water stuck to the wall.

Dragline
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by Dragline »

Almost never saw a cup of black coffee I didn't want, but I am much less picky than most. We drink pots of the stuff at home with a basic drip machine. Youngest son is the designated "java boy."

My "improve the morale of the office" campaign over the last several years resulted in a plethora of coffee options, including large Starbucks machines (they supply and fix the machine if you buy their coffee), K-cups and a high-end Nestle with coffee pods. So much consumption occurs. I have to switch to tea at some point in the afternoon. Easy to overdo it.

You might try weaning off soda with sparkling water, first with the flavored stuff varieties, then just soda water. Plain water is the ultimate goal. It's bad stuff to consume in quantity over a long term, but you already know that. Force yourself to drink a glass of water before any soda is allowed and you'll probably drink less. And/or pee more. :lol:

blackbird
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by blackbird »

I appreciate the responses folks. Soda is very much an achilles heel for me, and is entirely a willpower issue, of which I am lacking. I have a friend who uses a french press, and I'll try to get more details about that option from him at lunch. It seems to be the lowest impact and least wasteful of available options.

cmonkey
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by cmonkey »

When I am in the office I am limited by what I bring which is just a thermos full - 4 fluid cups (2 coffee mugs). This limitation is enforced by having no free coffee available and I am way too cheap to buy Aramark dishwater at 1.99 a cup.

When I'm home...well, you might double that. :mrgreen: I try not to drink any after 12 PM though.

enigmaT120
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by enigmaT120 »

7Wannabe5 wrote:
Thu May 04, 2017 8:31 am
Anyways, I think what might be a good compromise for you, although a bit of an initial skill-acquisition hurdle, would be to start brewing your own black tea kombucha.
Good idea. It almost tastes carbonated, from the acetic acid. I am tempted to start making it. I quit drinking black Irish Breakfast tea every morning mostly because I got tired of paying 80 bucks for a 5 pound bag (about a 3 month supply) plus the honey and milk I put in it. I'm pretty much caffeine free now, though if I ever went out for breakfast I would probably have coffee.

7Wannabe5
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

@enigmaT120:

Right. I have occasionally been drinking a slightly fermented brew of lemon, ginger and honey as a tonic lately, and it seems kind of like sour, spicy soda for adults. Black gunpowder tea is quite inexpensive in the ethnic markets in my neighborhood, and I have been known to drink the Dollar Tree variety on occasion because I am a caffeine slut.

distracted_at_work
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by distracted_at_work »

blackbird wrote:
Thu May 04, 2017 9:07 am
Now I brace myself for the much-deserved shaming.
No shame in trying to improve mi amigo.

I'd support buying either a French press or a drip coffee machine, depending on the quantity you drink.

Personally, I use a drip coffee maker so I can program it to brew before I wake up. Then the very first thing I can do in the morning is have a cup of coffee. The rest can be brought into work via Thermos to do my small part against the tyranny of the k-cups. You can start with sugar in your coffee to to help fight the soda addiction with the goal of slowly weaning yourself off.

Of course, when making a change, ERE recommends ripping the Band-Aid off, so to speak. You could summon some willpower and just stop drinking soda :D Easier said than done but hey it had to be said.

ThisDinosaur
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by ThisDinosaur »

distracted_at_work wrote:
Thu May 04, 2017 11:08 am
Of course, when making a change, ERE recommends ripping the Band-Aid off, so to speak.
See, for me this works better for some things than others. Move to a smaller place and sell your TV: easy. Eat this not that: harder. When the change involves a decision you have to make *every single day*, instead of all at once, you have to find a way to hack your own behavior. Find some way to make Present Me make the decisions for Future Me, before Future Me has the chance to F it up.

Example: shopping and cooking when I'm not hungry. Anticipating that I will make bad decisions when I'm hungry and impatient, I fill my house with healthy foods and cook for a week in advance. That way, its easier to reheat the leftover chili in the fridge than order a pizza.

Example the 2nd: a pullup bar in my home vs. a gym membership. The pullup bar I can use everytime I walk by it and have a few minutes to workout. Driving to the gym involves turning a 40 minute workout into a three hour schlep.

blackbird
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by blackbird »

ThisDinosaur wrote:
Thu May 04, 2017 11:52 am
See, for me this works better for some things than others. Move to a smaller place and sell your TV: easy. Eat this not that: harder. When the change involves a decision you have to make *every single day*, instead of all at once, you have to find a way to hack your own behavior. Find some way to make Present Me make the decisions for Future Me, before Future Me has the chance to F it up.
I agree. I was able to change our savings rate from less than 10% to over 60% in a couple of years (thanks in large part to reading here) because the bulk of that came from one-time situational changes (changed houses, created automatic savings plans, etc).

The soda / sugar issue is a struggle because I have bad snacking habits. I burn through calories (historically anyway, though I'm slowing now) and have never had issues with weight gain. So I have always eaten multiple times a day. Replacing soda with something better requires me to make that willpower roll all the time. And frankly, the fatalist in me is always whispering that I'm already hardwired for cancer / heart disease / etc and it doesn't matter that much. Not a helpful trend. All completely in my control though, if I just suck up and deal with it.

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jennypenny
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by jennypenny »

I liked soda a little too much for the feel of it mostly, not the taste (too sweet). I missed that sensation when I stopped drinking it so I solved that by adding some club soda to my wine (which I'm not giving up :D ).

+1 on a french press. Better coffee with very little waste or power usage. I use this one.

El Duderino
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by El Duderino »

When I'm not drinking a well blended White Russian, it's pretty much nothing but coffee and tea loaded with the heaviest, fattiest milk or cream I can get my hands on. Keto is king, after all.

To the OP, you've got to just suck it up and decide that you're not going to be a soda drinker any more. Just like smoking cigs or snorting fent. As they say in the _____ Anonymous world, you're not responsible for your addiction, but you are responsible for your recovery. And if you're even remotely serious, you'd simply stop buying soda so that it's just not available, unless you're willing to go get one when a craving strikes. Works for me when I want to change my consumption of something.

This french press from Ikea is $10. I've bought three of them over the years and always been happy though the snob in me wants a Chemex one with a fancy, long stemmed kettle to delicately pour the 90 degree centigrade purified water in a counter clockwise manner, starting from the perimeter and working my way in so as to best saturate the grounds. Not that I'd taste a damn bit of difference.
Image

All those Nespresso and Keurig machines are not only over-complicated and over-priced but they're also little bacteria cesspools, and I'm not talking about the good kinds of germs either. It was a brilliant piece of marketing that got us to the point where they're a regular appliance in lots of homes now and, from what I've observed, they seem to be almost be a prestige item for some people, despite their ubiquity.

KevinW
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by KevinW »

+1 to French press and grinding your own beans.

OTCW
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Re: Coffee consumption questions

Post by OTCW »

French presses make bad coffee taste good.

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