If there’s one thing that everyone should know how to do, it would be making a decent cup of coffee. This simple skill should be ingrained into everyone over the age of 16. Drinking coffee in the morning is a ritual for millions of people around the UK and rest of the world, but it can be an expensive habit.

Our relationship with coffee has changed over recent years, more and more people are turning to American-style coffee shops for their morning fix rather than simply boiling the kettle. Douwe Egberts has published the results of a survey which finds that the average Brit spends well over £15,000 on take-out coffee throughout their lifetime!

The research found that we grab a takeaway coffee as often as five times a week, spending as much as £5 a time in some cases. It also found that over a third of people don’t even know how to operate a cafetiere.

Considering the current state of the UK economy, it’s no surprise that people are considering cutting back their spending on takeaway coffee. There is a pretty simple way to get around splashing a fiver a go on coffee, and that is brewing it at home.

This simple task has been long forgotten by today’s society, but the increasing squeeze on consumer purses might just see more of us filling our kettles at home once more. Research by Mintel found that more Brits are turning to more premium instant coffees. These speciality coffee granules have really driven the instant coffee market, helping it grow by 12% to 80% in four years between 2005 and 2009. Whereas, the sale of ground coffee accounted for just 19% of sales in 2009.

Ben Perkins, head of food and drink at Mintel, said: “While once British consumers were happy to settle with a bog standard cup of instant, today the traditional cup of coffee has become increasingly sophisticated as roast, ground, instant premium and super-premium are being sought after more frequently by core users than in previous years”.

So, it’s clear which coffee we prefer to drink at home, but we ask the question, which is more cost effective, ground or instant coffee?

Instant Coffee

• Kenco Rappor Coffee (100g) £2.48 = £2.48 per 100g
• Carte Noire Coffee (100g) £3.58 = £3.58 per 100g
• Nescafe Original Coffee Granules (200g) £4.00 = £2.00 per 100g
• Douwe Egberts Pure Indulgence Instant Coffee (190g)£4.00 = £2.11 per 100g

Using the four different types of instant coffee above, we can claim that the average cost for 100g instant coffee in the UK is £2.54*

The typical cup of instant coffee uses 1 or 2 teaspoons of granules, weighing in at around 3 grams per cup. The average cost of 3g instant coffee is 8 pence**

Ground coffee

• Lavazza Qualita Rossa Caffe Espresso (250g) £3.86 = £1.54 per 100g
• Taylors of Harrogate Lazy Sunday Coffee (227g) £3.28 = £1.44 per 100g
• Cafédirect Fairtrade Rich Roast Ground Coffee (227g) £3.38 =£1.49/100g
• Carte Noire Ground Coffee (250g) £3.79 =£1.52 per 100g

Using the four different types of instant coffee above, we can claim that the average cost for 100g ground coffee in the UK is £1.50***

The typical cup of ground coffee uses 2 tablespoons of ground coffee, weighing in at around 10 grams per cup which would cost you 15 pence, whilst the average cost of 10g instant coffee is just 15 pence****

Comparing instant and ground coffee prices

We can see that the cost of ground coffee is almost twice the price of instant coffee per cup, but this only considered the cost of the coffee itself. It would be thoughtless not to consider the equipment or accessories required to make a cup of instant or ground coffee.

In order to brew a good cup of instant coffee granules all you really need is a kettle and a teaspoon, but there is a lot more to ground coffee. You will require a kettle, teaspoon, and either a cafetiere or a filter coffee maker, sometimes known as a percolator. Oh, and don’t forget filter papers!

Ultimately, ground coffee will cost more at home, but it’s still a fraction of the cost of a coffee from Starbucks, Costa or Nero’s. What you go for will depend on your personal taste. Ground coffee provides a better flavour and is often preferred by coffee connoisseurs, but if you’re all for speed and convenience the cheaper instant coffee might be just right for you. Either way it’s clear we can save a packet on our coffee fix – so wake up and smell the Savings!

*(£2.48+£3.58+£2.00+£2.11) / 4 = £2.5425
** (£2.54/100) * 3 = £0.0762
*** (1.54+1.44+1.49+1.52) / 4 = £1.4975
**** (£1.50/100) * 10 = £0.15

ALL PRICES TAKEN FROM ASDA ON MYSUPERMARKET.COM (PRICES CORRECT AT TIME OF WRITING)

	Written by :
	Jemma is a news & research reporter for compareandsave.com. Having worked as a journalist on a number of personal finance websites; she now spends time researching and commenting on UK personal finance stories and investigating new ways to help our readers save money. For press enquiries, please visit our Media Centre page.