Average cost of espresso

[highwayhotshots]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone knew what the average cost was to make one espresso. My friend said it costs him on average .20 a cup. Does that sound about right?

[topher]

depends on what you are paying per pound. 7 grams per shot. 453.59237=1 lb. so that is 64 shots per pound. If my calculations are wrong I am sure someone will let me know

[caffe biscotto]

To continue where topher left off, at .20 per cup, your friend must be spending $12.80 per pound for his/her coffee, assuming the coffee itself is the only cost factored into a shot.

Perhaps they're paying less than $12.80 per pound and there may be additional costs factored in, such as the monthly cost of filtered water, divided by average shots per month.

Surely your friend's .20 doesn't include labor, service, overhead...

[John P]

My friend said it costs him on average .20 a cup

I think the key here is "a cup".

When most barista refer to "per cup" they will probably be talking about a double, since many don't serve single shots. If you purchase a "shot" of espresso, nearly everywhere in the US, it will be a double.

This means unless he is roasting his own, he's using a really low grade espresso. That would be why it is .10 per shot, .20 per cup. On the other hand, if he roasts his own, or is talking about per SINGLE shot of espresso, he is using some mucho-primo espresso!

But let's explore this from the "How many shots per pound?" perspective.

In reality you have to assume about 10-15% wastage of coffee, so if you have 453.59237 g only ~385 to 408 grams with which to work. So at 7 grams a shot you are getting 55 to 58 shots per pound... Although I don't know many who really use 14 grams per double...

it's safer to assume about 50 shots per pound.
Many shops do 17 to 20 g doubles (or 19-21 g triple), so if we take an average and divide the 453.59237 g by an 18.5 g shot we come up with 24.52 doubles, or about 49 single shots. If we include a reasonable amount of waste here, this is a much easier target to hit--even at 16 or 17 g per shot.

For us, we used to average about .37 per shot actual cost, and although we roast our own now, we source very select coffees and, factoring in bean and roasting costs, we average about .29 per double. Most of our shots are approx 17 grams.

I guess the real question is, "What was the friend actually saying?"

[CCafe]

How the heck do you guys get 17g in a 14g basket? Do you guys just fill the basket and tamp the heap or just grind it fine enough to tamp with very little force putting more in the basket?

Every coffee house I help setup or the ones who ask for additional training, the first thing I mention to buy is a gram scale. It never hurts to measure how much your putting in the basket. Yes there will be some waste but if your dumping in more then 14g then your throwing money down the drain.

[John P]

The LM style baskets are 15 g baskets really. We have a straight walled double basket on our Synesso. I just grind and dose as needed for the espresso, and generally have a few mm left after tamping to allow for puck expansion.

As far as dosing goes, it's part of the bean/roast/grind/brew temperature dance. After a while you develop a feel for it and I can usually get within .5 g of the sweet spot within four shots.

Usually.

[CCafe]

Its kind of funny after I wrote that post I remembered a job I went did for a fella down in KS. The person that sold them their shop also sold them the coffee for the espresso machine. The espresso machine was a super automatic and its a little hard for the owner to check how much the machine is using.

The owner told me he thought it might be over filling a tad because he was going through a lot of espresso. After weighing the output for a double it came in around 24 - 26 grams. There was so much grinding that it would over flow and fall down in the catch all of the tray. The past owner must have made a killing selling product to people that he also sold the machines too. I just hope this isn't happening around the country. Greed!

[davidsbiscotti]

Well, if it only costs .20 per cup.... then I'm getting out of the bakery business and buying an espresso shop. To heck with wheat prices doubling in under a year!

[CCafe]

That's probably a good move. Ever heard of Celiac disease?

[davidsbiscotti]

Speaking of good moves, ever heard of tornado alley?

Well, celiac is a genetic disease, affecting way less than one percent of the American population.

Iowa tornadoes on the other hand....