Is Roasting Your Own Coffee Cheaper Than Buying Fresh Beans?

As the coffee price is rising dramatically in the last year due to inflation and tariff, many people are considering roasting their own beans at home. We’ll break down the costs, calculate the break-even point, and consider additional factors to see if it is really saving you money.

Cost Breakdown

First, let’s understand the costs involved:

• Initial Investment: I use the Gene Cafe Roaster which costs $650, a one-time expense.
• Green Bean Cost: Green beans cost around $7.50/lb.
• Pre-Roasted Bean Cost: Freshly roasted beans that I buy online or from local roasters cost $20/lb.
• Roasting Yield: If you roast light to medium, the yield is around 85%.
• Daily Consumption: I drink 2 cups per day, each needing 18-19g of beans. So my daily consumption is 37g of roasted coffee, or 0.0816 lb/day.

To find the cost per pound of roasted coffee at home:

• For 1 lb (16 oz) of green beans, roasted output = 16 * 0.875 = 14 oz = 0.875 lb.
• Cost per lb roasted = $7.50 / 0.875 ≈ $8.57/lb.

This seems to be much lower than the $20/lb for pre-roasted beans, but we must account for the roaster’s initial cost and electricity cost.

The Gene Cafe Roaster uses 1300W (1.3 kW), and roasting takes about 15 minutes per batch:

• Energy per batch = 1.3 kW * (15/60) hours = 0.325 kWh/batch.
• Each batch roasts 250g green, yielding 250 * 0.875 = 218.75g roasted.
• Daily consumption is 37g, so one batch lasts 218.75 / 37 ≈ 5.91 days.
• Batches per year = 365 / 5.91 ≈ 61.76.
• Total annual energy = 61.76 * 0.325 ≈ 20.07 kWh/year.
• At $0.34/kWh, annual cost = 20.07 * 0.34 = $6.82.
• Daily electricity cost = $6.82 / 365 ≈ $0.0187/day. This is relatively small compared to bean costs.

Daily Cost Calculation

• Cost of Buying Pre-Roasted: Daily cost = $20/lb * 0.0816 lb/day = $1.632/day.
• Cost of Roasting at Home (Beans Only):
  • Cost per lb roasted = $8.57/lb.
  • Daily cost = $8.57 * 0.0816 ≈ $0.699/day.
• Total Daily Cost of Roasting at Home (Including Electricity):
  • $0.699 (beans) + $0.0187 (electricity) = $0.7177/day.
• Daily Savings: $1.632 – $0.7177 = $0.9143/day.

Break-Even Point

The break-even point is when the total savings equal the roaster cost ($650):

• Total savings over ( t ) days = $0.9143 * ( t ).
• Set this equal to $650: $0.9143 * ( t ) = $650.
• Solve for ( t ): t=650/0.9143≈710.9t = 650 / 0.9143 ≈ 710.9t = 650 / 0.9143 ≈ 710.9 days.
• Convert to years: 710.9 / 365 ≈ 1.95 years, or about 23.4 months (1 year, 11.4 months).

Conclusion

It seems likely that roasting your own coffee is cheaper long-term, with a break-even point of nearly 2 years. After this, you’ll save money compared to buying pre-roasted beans. If you buy cheaper roasters like the very popular Fresh Roast SR-800, the break-even point is even less than a year since it costs less than $300. Additionally, home roasting offers fresher coffee and customization, you can’t beat the joy of making your own coffee and observing the transformation from green to roasted beans.