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For $45 Per Month, All the Coffee You Can Drink

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Re: For $45 Per Month, All the Coffee You Can Drink

#111

Post by carlob »

yhager wrote: post #89
carlob wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it's really hard to make a homemade espresso that comes close to the one you get from a café around here. But then again maybe I should invest 10k on a new machine (and then 20k to renovate my kitchen to fit it in).

You can get a pretty good quality espresso with a fairly cheap setup. To me, the most important thing is the freshness of the roast, then the quality of the grinder, and and actual espresso machine comes third. I have a $800 setup (machine + grinder), and I roast my own beans, on an iron skillet, once a week. It's pretty difficult to find anything outside on par with the quality I can get at home (most of the time..)

> It's pretty difficult to find anything outside on par with the quality I can get at home (most of the time..)

It really depends on where you are. I find that espresso in the gourmet cafés in large American cities I tried is mostly on par or slightly worse than the average espresso in Rome. The grains and the roast can be pretty good, but it's often brewed slightly long for my taste.

Espresso here is so dense it's almost solid and that's the thing I can't reproduce at home.

Re: For $45 Per Month, All the Coffee You Can Drink

#112

Post by pbhjpbhj »

ivanche wrote: post #95
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and don't forget to read the following section on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee#Health_risks . Anecdotally I've found I'm more alert [in the mornings particularly] without caffeine but cutting it out hasn't helped me normalise my sleeping patterns.

If you want to normalise sleep patterns, I strongly recommend text "Good sleep, good learning, good life" ( http://www.supermemo.com/articles/sleep.htm ) It is quite long but IMO very well worth it.

Thanks that looks very useful reading this part now http://www.supermemo.com/articles/sleep.htm#Curing_DSPS_and_... - sounds like I'll need to sell the children and buy a farm ;0)>

Re: For $45 Per Month, All the Coffee You Can Drink

#113

Post by Patrick_Devine »

nitid_name wrote: post #105
Patrick_Devine wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not quite like having a coupon or carrying a credit card, but more like insurance. You're insuring that the maximum you'll pay for coffee every month is $45. If you think of it that way, it's a pretty good deal, and doesn't come with a ton of friction (you're more than likely already carrying a smart phone). Now you certainly could pay less than $45/month on coffee with coupons, but this takes away the hassle fr…

Doesn't every coffee place in NYC use the same blue coffee cups? I haven't been in awhile, but I remember the slice of pizza being pretty consistent from shop to shop and something about it being related to the cost of the subway. I could imagine coffee having a similar pricing scheme throughout the city.

I'd forgotten about the NYC blue coffee cups, but yes, I think that was the case in the past, or at least, it is according to wikipedia. Here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthora

I'm assuming these guys are targeting the more shi-shi fru-fru latte scene and not your blue collar cuppa cha which I associate with the anthora cups.

Re: For $45 Per Month, All the Coffee You Can Drink

#114

Post by QuantumChaos »

hiphopyo wrote: post #38
QuantumChaos wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coffee is good for you. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee#General_health

Those health benefits are more for people in their 80s. The coffee bean is actually a poison that the coffee plant uses to deter herbivores. Not to mention a recent Danish study that suggests pregnant women should abstain from caffeine as it's lethal to the fetus.

>Those health benefits are more for people in their 80s.

What are you basing that claim on? None of the studies mentioned specifically in the wikipedia section specifically mention people in their 80's, and many of the studies look at total mortality.

>The coffee bean is actually a poison that the coffee plant uses to deter herbivores.

I prefer to base my decisions on epidemiological studies, than arbitrarily applying the label "poison" to things

Re: For $45 Per Month, All the Coffee You Can Drink

#116

Post by iterationx »

adambenayoun wrote: post #25
carlob wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - non-techy enough to not have built a crazy $10k coffee-brewing setup at home I have an espresso maker (admittedly much much cheaper than that) at home, but I still drink coffee out throughout the day. Though I also must admit to the fact that I leave in Rome where an espresso is 70-90 cents and consistently good.

I own 3 espresso machines and have access to 5 no matter where I am (Splitting my time between Tel Aviv and the bay area) and I still drink coffee outside.

I'm in the market for espresso machines, what kind should I buy? Looking to spend no more than $2k.

Re: For $45 Per Month, All the Coffee You Can Drink

#117

Post by aestra »

pwthornton wrote: post #83
aestra wrote: post #12

Significant savings for some. If you had a 2 cups a day coffee habit, this works out to about $.73 a cup or $1.45 a day. Pretty good deal if you like coffee shop coffee. Assuming you'll otherwise spend $3 per cup you'll save about $1657 a year. $2190 vs $532.90.

The coffee included with the $45 plan (there are two tiers), is not $3 coffee. It's black coffee. In DC, a small drip coffee or pour over runs around $1.80 or so. It's $85 a month for the plan that includes lattes and other more expensive espresso drinks. A small latte usually runs around $3 or so. An espresso might be $2.25-2.50. Two small lattes a day (not a lot of caffeine) would save you a ton of money a month wi…

I just did some price research and it looks like coffee shop coffee in NYC will cost you $1.50 to $3. Regular coffee.

Re: For $45 Per Month, All the Coffee You Can Drink

#118

Post by jp555 »

mseebach wrote: post #108
jp555 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually more than anything it's the condo pool (and the dozens of owners who have not yet moved to low-flow toilets) that kills our water bill. :P ... also coffee is almost entirely water... so by your logic it's "almost free" as well.

> ... also coffee is almost entirely water... so by your logic it's "almost free" as well. No, not by my logic, not by anyone's logic. Almost the entire price of a cup of coffee covers the "bean" and "labour" part of it. The contribution of the cost of the water to the final cost of a cup of coffee is ... almost nothing at all.

you pay yourself to put a pot of coffee on at home? I thought you were talking about tap water? A 10-cup pot of coffee at home is like $0.10 of ground beans. I meant that is pretty close to how "free" my tap water is.

Re: For $45 Per Month, All the Coffee You Can Drink

#119

Post by jp555 »

jon_black wrote: post #88
jp555 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coffee is very good for you. Water from the tap is not free, it is a cost everyone pays in some way or another (built into rent or part of property taxes). Even if you still live with your parents, a dollar they spend on the water bill is a dollar less for you.

Coffee is not VERY good for you. That's a story you tell yourself so you don't have to stop drinking it...because you can't stop...you need it...you're life would be nothing without it. GRRRR...I'm so itchy without my morning...uhhh...water. Yes water costs. Jesus, point out the small things.

Coffee is not good for me because you think I'm just telling myself that it is? Do you have an actual reason (supported by evidence) for your claim it's not good for us? Because all I see in your contribution is straw-man cynicism.
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