Coffee Price - Inflation - Brand Alternative Advice

This isn't news, but I don't know where to put the thread.

So, coffee has gone up again, and again.

I used to buy really nice coffee beans and grind my own, I do love a nice coffee.

Due to cost I stopped that a couple years ago, started just buying Folgers - it was less expensive, and I could cover up the 'low quality' taste (I know some may disagree or see me as spoiled.. lol) with a decent creamer.

I drink one to two cups every morning.

In the past month and a half, coffee has gone up twice now, and when I went to put some in my online shopping cart (for pickup) it's 5 cents away from being 50% higher than it was less than two months ago. A container is now 13 dollars.

My husband and I live on a fixed income so I'm very price conscious, and with essentials rising in price too I know that coffee is a nice want rather than a need.

If I stop drinking coffee altogether our household expenses will be the same, in leaving my husband the coffee. (He has few pleasures so I want to make sure he gets to keep the few he has - out of love and respect only).

However, I can also make a brand change to an off brand to save the money, and just stop buying the Folgers.

So I'm curious, has anyone here tried Great Value coffee? I don't know how comparable it is to Folgers... If it's comparable I'll give it a try, but if it's more like Maxwell House than Folgers I'd rather quit altogether.

Are there any off brands that are less expensive?

Aldi has a Bustelo that is pretty reasonable

I use a system that is cheap and yet provides excellent coffee. I blend my own from four different ground coffees.

I go to 'Big Lots' and buy their 1lb 10 oz bag of 'JAVA TIME' Arabica coffee. Excellent dark and strong coffee. It's a very popular coffee and only costs $5 per bag. Note: Big Lots ran out of this brand for a while, so last time i went I bought all five bags they had. This coffee is that good and cheap.

I go to Walmart and buy the 'Great Value' ground coffee. This Great Value coffee is quite good in comparison to other more expensive coffees. And it is discounted from the more expensive coffees that Walmart sells. And, I also buy either Maxwell House or Folgers premium ground coffee at Walmart.

Finally, I go to the 'Dollar Store' (Now $1.25 store) and buy flavored, French Vanilla or Hazelnut ground coffees, at $1.25 per 6 oz bag.

Once I have my collection of ground coffees I mix them in an empty coffee container. My blend/mixture consists of 50% Great Value ground coffee, 25% of Maxwell House or Folgers, 15% JAVA Time (very strong), and 10% of French Vanilla or Hazelnut.

Of course, you will determine your own blend. But you can have great coffee at an affordable price by shopping around, at the stores I suggested, and by buying a cheap base (Great Value coffee) and then mixing your own blend. Not only affordable, but great coffee and cheap. Experiment.

That sounds good! I'll try it! Thank you..

The reason is that all green coffee doubled in price.

Coffee from around the world is based on what price Brazil sets for green coffee.

Well, Brazil has had a drought and a frost. Very unusual for them. Their green coffee has doubled in price since last year. The other places that grow coffee (Asia and africa) has had their coffee trees attacked by a virus.

The coffee roasters also have had issues buying packaging for their roasted coffee.
Finally the shipping costs for coffee has quadrupled. From $2,200 per container to $9, 100 per container. Mostly from diesel costs and waiting at ports for weeks to unload. This year they are expecting a shortage before the new crops come in.

Now Great Value coffee is decent...it's not horrible. It's similar in blending and roasting to Folgers or Maxwell house. The can is so big that it's difficult to use up before it stops tasting fresh. So I recommend that you store it in the freezer and pull what you need out to brew each morning.

I have learned the science and art of roasting coffee...found the wholesalers who will supply me with coffee beans from various parts in the world. From Timorleste to Guatemala....and of course Brazil and Columbia.
If Brazil has a good year and harvest (which I truly hope) coffee prices that you face on the retail level will come back down....otherwise it is going to get a lot worse in rising prices.

'Eight O'clock Coffee'
---
Sometimes..it is on sale.
- Buy one..get one free.
---
My favorite coffee brand.
- I am a coffee drinker..

I'm kinda ruined on coffee anymore....

After drinking coffee I roasted myself, blended with other coffee I roasted myself and ground and brewed....

I have become such a coffee snob that it's practically ruined me. But it's also a staple.

My business partner and myself hosted another coffee tasting party. Trying to get ready for opening a bakery coffeehouse.
The clear winner was the baked goods. Something that they weren't supposed to even rate. The coffee was good....but just considered average.

But that's how it goes....I made a blend myself of coffees I prefer and drank that. Good stuff!

So....
8 o'clock coffee is another commodity quality Arabica bean coffee. Coming from Brazil or Columbia. Roasted, ground and packaged in huge warehouses by computerized robots. Just like the other major brands.

I just checked 8'Oclock and their original medium roast is 27.6 cents per ounce which is 3 dollars cheaper (per bag) than the Folgers so I put two bags in my cart, I'm thinking of a third but I don't want to push storage and freshness either.

I didn't get terribly snobbish but buying whole bean and doing my own grind fresh daily was spoiling. Whole bean went up some time back and my husband doesn't care so long as it's brewed coffee (ish) (he'll drink truck stop coffee for goodness sakes) I just started buying Folgers and covering up the taste..

But 8'Oclock has good beans without being premium so I'll try their original ground... I still have everything to grind my own beans so I may look into beans again and try and figure out the price difference. I just know before I was spending less with Folgers than with beans, but I was buying premium too most the time.

Look at this:

It's a wholesale green coffee importer and distributor. A "bag" will weigh 60-70KG each. (140+ lbs)

https://www.olamspecialtycoffee.com/origins.html?p=7

There are others but I posted Olam because they post the prices.

Grinding your own beans is not a bad thing...
Lots of people enjoy doing it. I do.
BUT
Few people understand what is necessary to actually do a good job of it. Particle size consistency is a must...and usually the commercial roasters/packagers are going to grind more consistently than I am....until I bring out the $1500-3500 grinders. And even still the big guys do better because they sift the coffee after grinding to remove the tiny particles that happen.

It does assist with a fresher tasting coffee. It does ensure that you are not getting anything else but coffee. But your average blender style grinder isn't really a good grinder.

Is there an Aldi in your area? Their house brand coffee, specialty select, seems pretty good at a decent price. My father is a major coffee snob and he likes the "Specialty Select" German mild roast.

I don't pretend to be an expert on coffee, but I too have two cups in the morning and enjoy a strong coffee at a cheap price. So here are a few more suggestions for those of us who use a 'drip' coffee maker.

1. No need to have an expensive 'drip' coffee maker. What is important is that, if you are only having 2-4 cups in the morning, is that you have a '4' cup coffee maker with a heater element to keep the coffee hot. You can't make good coffee with an 8-10 cup coffee maker without wasting grounds. The 4 cup maker maximizes the water flow through your grounds to obtain the max strength/flavor of your grounds. If you don't have a 4 cup maker, go to Walmart and look around. I used the 'Joe Dimaggio Mr Coffee' 4 cup model for years. And it's very reasonably priced too.

2. If you do use a 4 cup drip coffee maker, don't use the 8 or 10 cup paper filters. They sell 4 cup filters at Walmart. The 4 cup filter maximizes the water flow through your grounds for stronger and more flavorful coffee.

3. To save money and coffee ground usage, brew all your morning coffee in one brewing. Don't make one pot and then another. If you make two pots instead of one, you'll use up a lot more of your coffee grounds.

Good/flavorful coffee doesn't have to be expensive. I'm thinking my coffee costs me between k20-25 cents a cup.

Again, don't be afraid to experiment.


'

I like Folgers smooth blend, but it has become scarce here. I now use Folgers breakfast blend. I usually buy a 3 lb container at Sam's Club. Last month it was around $10.00.

I brew 2 heaped teaspoons in a K-cup.

No we don't have any Aldi's here (No Sam's Club either) we have: Walmart, Food City, Grant's Supermarket, and of course Big Lots and Dollar General... That's it.

Anything else would be a minimum of 1 to 1/2 hour drive from my house...

a dash of cinnamon often helps. but is aint cheap

Good information.

Items I have: a French Press, a Single Serve K-Cup coffee maker (and the filters to use my own coffee), a 12 cup coffee maker, a 4 cup coffee maker and a cold press coffee maker thing as well as my little pot for making Turkish coffee on the stove.

If I use the 12 cup coffee maker I don't keep the brewed coffee on the burner I have a thermal coffee carafe to keep the coffee at temperature.

What I brew and keep the coffee in depends on my mood, and what I'm in the mood for. But all of the above is in my kitchen and more such as my coffee grinder.

Did I mention I enjoy coffee? Lol...

I like using a V-60 myself with a gooseneck teapot.

30 grams of ground coffee to 500 grams of water.

You say that you enjoy love coffee. Well here is a theme song for you, "I Love Coffee' by the Manhattan Transfer:

(1) "I Love Coffee" - Java Jive by Manhattan Transfer - Bing video

Enjoy the song!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I'm not much of a coffee person myself, but I was in Aldi the other day and noticed this brand (and thought of this thread).
It was a canister, just under 2 pounds, for $7-$8 (though I have noticed Aldi's prices vary from store to store- even in the same town)
I don't know if that's a good price or not, or how it taste.
Just thought I'd throw this out there.