What bag of coffee yields 120 cups? Say, this $7 bag is a pound (this would be cheap coffee and even though I don't like Starbucks, its higher quality than this). For a regular french press, you use 56 grams of coffee (proper ratio is 7 grams per 4oz). This produces 3-4 mugs (roughly 8-10 oz each) of coffee. That 1# bag is 450 grams, or 8 french presses worth. That means that 1 pound bag makes 24-32 mugs worth. Since I'm guessing your pricing is on a tall coffee, we'll say that makes about 24 of those. I know french press uses more coffee than other methods, but it does not take 5 times more grounds.
We buy coffee at Costco. I brew the full 12-cup pot everyday for 2-3 weeks on that one bag. And I make my coffee dark. At two weeks, 14 days x 12 cups = 168. I think you may be missing on the measurement of a cup versus your cup/mug. There may be some of the difference here.
I buy the store brand of coffee. It's $6.99. I make 10x 12 cup pots before I need a new bag. It is what it is. It gets really fun when you pay $4.50 for them to put a little milk and chocolate syrup in the coffee.
How big and how much is your costco bag? I'm guessing at least 5 pounds and not $7 (though cheaper on per oz than my example). Normal, grocery store bought, coffee is sold in 12 oz or 1 pound bags. Also, your 12 cup coffee pot is only 48-60oz (4 or 5oz/cup), so based on a "tall" coffee, only 5 servings. I am sure I am right on the ratio. It is 1T (7 grams) per 4 oz. http://stumptowncoffee.com/brew-guides/press-pot/ This Cuisinart machine reccomdends 1T per cup and 5oz per cup so not that much less than what I said for french press. http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DCC-1200-Central-Programmable-Coffeemaker/dp/B00005IBX9
12 cup pot = 48-60oz. A tall coffee is 12oz, which is at most 5 per pot. 5x10 = 50 tall coffees, not 120.
It's a 2-3 lb. bag, but I'm pretty sure it's only two pounds (and it's $11-12, but I'm over the 120 cups, so if you break it down.....). But that wasn't my point. My point is that I think your definition of a "cup" wasn't the same as Denny's definition of a "cup". That's all I was trying to get at.
The problem is Denny is using 2 different 'cups' in his example. A cup on a pot is 4-5oz. A cup at Starbucks is 12oz. I'm assuming a tall coffee based on this below, which says a tall drip coffee in Manhattan cost $2.01 after tax as of last January, so cheaper than his example (so maybe his price is for a grand 16oz drip, I'm not sure cause I don't go to Starbucks very often). http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/y...o-round-final-number.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://www.bluemoosecoffee.com/Brewing_Coffee.html#154497 1 lb makes 41 venti sized cups of coffee, at 18 oz per 20oz venti cup (they don't fill to the brim). $7/41 is $.17 per cup. Sue me.
Your link also says that 1 pound of coffee yields 100T, which is not true. It also says 1 T of ground coffee = 1 T of whole beans, which is obviously not true. And despite their chart that says for 12 cup pot use 9 T, they later say They say to START with 1:1, which is more in line with other guidelines. If we use their 1:1, then 1 pound = 453 grams = 64T grounds (7grams per T) = 64 "cups"=320oz(5oz per cup)=18 Venti sized (at 18oz)= $.41/venti cup. Yes, I know there is still a mark up. That wasn't my point. My point was you were using 2 different 'cups' to show a pricing discrepancy between home brewing coffee and buying at Starbucks.
We buy our coffee by the pound. Starbucks buys it by the ton You are being picky over a non point. The real point is there's a huge markup on the coffee, just like there is on the aspirin. People pay for the coffee, which is a luxury. They complain about the cost when it's health care. Most hospitals are non-profit. They only reason for them to stockpile cash is to invest in new equipment or buildings to acquire other hospitals, or maybe to fund a union pension plan. I'm not sticking up for hospitals or prices charged for health care. That is not my point at all. The people attacking the profession are missing the mark. The mark being that there is an awfully distorted kind of market for the services and medicines. If you or I had to take care of our own health care, we'd be buying bags of coffee and bottles of water instead of paying $2.25 for it all the time at starbucks.
The point i'm being picky on isn't that both Starbucks and hospitals charge a huge mark up (I agree they do), I just thought it was a deliberate oversight that made in order to make your point.
I could have used the hot dog cart/vendor equally as an example. The markup on a bun, hot dog, and condiments is huge.
Well I have no experience buying hot dogs (from the store or vendors) so you'd get no complaints from me . I'm guessing they make all their money exploiting the hot dog and bun package quantity discrepancy. Some sort of processed meat arbitrage.
I'm guessing the vendor jacks up his prices because he only gets business during lunch hour. However, I once did the math and it turns out a hot dog vendor makes a lot more than you'd expect. http://thehotdogcart.com/hd_income.html The average income for a hot dog vendor, working year round is about $100,000/ear. The maximum income for you, is essentially unlimited A hot dog with bun and toppings costs an average of 50 cents An average vendor resells a hot dog for $2.50 Sell 100 hot dogs a day you will earn $52,000/year Sell 250 hot dogs a day you will earn $130,000/year
I knew a hot dog vendor. She made pretty good money, considering she stood downtown for 6 hours per day. Also, a friend-of-a-friend had a bike built with a warmer and a cooler. Used to ride around the SoCal beach selling dogs and soda all day while back from college for the summer. After all expenses, he walked away with $30-35K for 4 months' work.
