{"id":39,"date":"2026-10-03T18:41:35","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T18:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/costo-espresso-a-casa-2\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T12:20:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T12:20:23","slug":"costo-espresso-a-casa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ilbaristaincasa.com\/en\/costo-espresso-a-casa\/","title":{"rendered":"Espresso at home vs at the bar: the real cost"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What is the espresso cost at home compared to the bar? There is no single answer: it depends on <strong>how many cups you drink a day<\/strong>, what coffee you use, and what you have already invested. This guide does the arithmetic with indicative numbers: cost per cup, upfront investment, and <strong>the point at which home espresso starts to make sense<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"esp-callout\"><b>If you have 30 seconds<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>With specialty coffee the per-cup cost at home is indicatively <strong>\u20ac1\u20131.50<\/strong>: coffee is the dominant item, water and electricity are negligible.<\/li>\n<li>A working minimal setup costs about <strong>\u20ac500\u2013520<\/strong>; depreciated over five years at one cup a day it adds ~\u20ac0.27 per cup.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Under two cups a day<\/strong> home espresso is mostly a question of quality and control; from the second coffee it is also a question of price.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>The espresso cost at home per cup: coffee is the dominant item<\/h2>\n<h3>The coffee: the biggest item<\/h3>\n<p>A 250 g bag of specialty coffee costs on average <strong>\u20ac12\u201320<\/strong>; a mid-quality commercial coffee, <strong>\u20ac6\u201310<\/strong>. A double espresso uses about <strong>18 g of coffee<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>With a \u20ac15\/250 g bag the cost per cup is about <strong>\u20ac1.08<\/strong> (18\/250 \u00d7 15); with \u20ac20 it rises to \u20ac1.44; with \u20ac12 it drops to \u20ac0.86.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Coffee is by far the biggest item<\/strong> in the per-cup cost.<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Type of coffee<\/th>\n<th>250 g price (indicative)<\/th>\n<th>Cost per 18 g double<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Specialty<\/td>\n<td>\u20ac12\u201320<\/td>\n<td>\u20ac0.86\u20131.44<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mid quality<\/td>\n<td>\u20ac8\u201312<\/td>\n<td>\u20ac0.58\u20130.86<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Commercial<\/td>\n<td>\u20ac5\u20138<\/td>\n<td>\u20ac0.36\u20130.58<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h3>Water and electricity: negligible<\/h3>\n<p>Extracting one espresso takes <strong>a few millilitres of water and a few watt-hours<\/strong> of electricity \u2014 on average <strong>less than a cent per cup<\/strong>, provided you use compliant water (<strong>TDS 80\u2013120 ppm<\/strong>) without buying it bottled.<\/p>\n<p>The per-cup total at home with specialty coffee is therefore indicatively <strong>\u20ac1\u20131.50<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3>The hidden costs<\/h3>\n<p>They stay low anyway: <strong>descaling agent and cleaning tablets<\/strong> come to a few euros a year on average; a filtration system (cartridges or a water bottle) is a <strong>\u20ac50\u2013150<\/strong> investment with filter replacement every 6\u201312 months.<\/p>\n<p>The real variable cost, for those who drink milk drinks, is <strong>milk<\/strong> \u2014 and that is where the comparison with the bar shifts, as you will see below.<\/p>\n<h3>The comparison with the bar<\/h3>\n<p>At the bar, an espresso in Italy costs on average <strong>\u20ac1.20\u20131.50<\/strong> in big cities and \u20ac1.50\u20132.00 in many tourist areas; a cappuccino <strong>\u20ac1.50\u20132.50<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In purely per-cup terms the gap is smaller than you might think: <strong>at home you save most when it comes to milk drinks<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Coffee cost and extraction parameters are documented by the <a href=\"https:\/\/sca.coffee\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"dofollow noopener\">Specialty Coffee Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>The upfront investment: machine, grinder, accessories<\/h2>\n<h3>The machine<\/h3>\n<p>An entry-level vibration-pump semiautomatic starts at <strong>\u20ac200\u2013400<\/strong>; an E61 model with a <strong>copper boiler<\/strong> sits on average <strong>between \u20ac600 and \u20ac1,500<\/strong>; high-end lever machines cost more still.<\/p>\n<h3>The grinder<\/h3>\n<p>The grinder is the second item: an entry-level conical <strong>\u20ac100\u2013200<\/strong>, a 40\u201348 mm flat burr <strong>\u20ac300\u2013600<\/strong>, a 64 mm flat burr <strong>\u20ac800\u20131,500<\/strong>. Accessories (tamper, WDT, scale) add <strong>\u20ac65\u2013120<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3>Depreciation over five years<\/h3>\n<p>In short: a working minimal setup (\u20ac300 machine, \u20ac150 grinder, \u20ac70 accessories) costs on average about <strong>\u20ac500\u2013520<\/strong>; a refined one (\u20ac800 machine, \u20ac500 grinder, \u20ac100 accessories) <strong>around \u20ac1,400<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Depreciation: over five years, at one cup a day, \u20ac500 spread over <strong>1,825 cups<\/strong> adds about <strong>\u20ac0.27 per cup<\/strong>; at two cups a day it drops to <strong>\u20ac0.14<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3>Second-hand: less outlay, more checks<\/h3>\n<p>The second-hand market is an alternative worth considering: E61-group machines and 64 mm flat-burr grinders often circulate in good condition.<\/p>\n<p>With the right checks (<strong>stable pump, burrs with no play, boiler with no visible scale<\/strong>) they can cut the initial outlay by on average <strong>20\u201340%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The risk, as always, is the lack of warranty and the difficulty of verifying internal condition.<\/p>\n<h2>When it pays off: the arithmetic per cup<\/h2>\n<h3>The arithmetic per scenario<\/h3>\n<p>One cup a day \u2192 about <strong>\u20ac1.35<\/strong> at home (\u20ac1.08 coffee + \u20ac0.27 depreciation) versus \u20ac1.30\u20131.60 at the bar: substantially a tie, and the payback depends on local prices.<\/p>\n<p>Two cups a day \u2192 2 \u00d7 (1.08 + 0.14) \u2248 <strong>\u20ac2.45<\/strong> versus \u20ac2.60\u20133.20 at the bar: <strong>from here, home espresso wins on average from day one<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>At three or more cups a day the advantage becomes clear, and it grows if you drink cappuccino often: 0.2\u20130.3 L of milk costs on average <strong>\u20ac0.30\u20130.50 at home<\/strong> against \u20ac1.50\u20132.50 at the bar.<\/p>\n<h3>The variables that move the numbers<\/h3>\n<p>The numbers change with the usage pattern. If you only drink at home on weekdays, the arithmetic applies only to home cups; if the coffee is shared with the family, the depreciation spreads even thinner.<\/p>\n<p>And one variable the arithmetic does not catch: some roasters apply more favourable per-kg prices on 1 kg formats or subscriptions, pushing the per-cup cost below the 250 g bag rate.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the numbers, there are variables the arithmetic does not capture: <strong>freshness<\/strong> (at home the coffee is ground at the moment, at the bar not always), control over ratio and grind, and the ability to try different origins without a per-cup surcharge.<\/p>\n<p>And one limit to consider: at the bar the price includes service, professional equipment and the barista&#8217;s skill \u2014 things you have to reproduce at home with maintenance and practice.<\/p>\n<p>In short: <strong>under two cups a day, home espresso is mostly about quality and control<\/strong>; from the second or third coffee it is also about price. For the guides on parameters and maintenance that underpin this arithmetic, see <a href=\"\/category\/guide\/\">the guides<\/a> on the site.<\/p>\n<div class=\"esp-callout\"><b>The key numbers<\/b><\/p>\n<div class=\"esp-data-box\">\n<div><b>Double espresso<\/b><span>18 g<\/span><\/div>\n<div><b>Cost per cup (specialty)<\/b><span>\u20ac1\u20131.50<\/span><\/div>\n<div><b>Minimal setup<\/b><span>\u20ac500\u2013520<\/span><\/div>\n<div><b>Depreciation (1 cup a day)<\/b><span>~\u20ac0.27\/cup<\/span><\/div>\n<div><b>1 cup a day<\/b><span>~\u20ac1.35 vs \u20ac1.30\u20131.60<\/span><\/div>\n<div><b>2 cups a day<\/b><span>~\u20ac2.45 vs \u20ac2.60\u20133.20<\/span><\/div>\n<div><b>Second-hand<\/b><span>\u221220\u201340%<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home espresso vs the bar: cost per cup, upfront investment and payback, with indicative numbers to understand when brewing at home really saves money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_locale":"en_GB","_original_post":"38","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guide","en-GB"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ilbaristaincasa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ilbaristaincasa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ilbaristaincasa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ilbaristaincasa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ilbaristaincasa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231,"href":"https:\/\/ilbaristaincasa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions\/231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ilbaristaincasa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ilbaristaincasa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ilbaristaincasa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ilbaristaincasa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}