Poll: How Much Would It Take To Make You Give Up Coffee For A Month?
Decided to have some fun with this week’s poll. I don’t know about you, but it would take a lot for me to give up coffee for a month. How much money would it take for you to give up coffee for a month?
How Much Would It Take To Make You Give Up Coffee For A Month?
- Three Million Dollars (A Home On The Beach) (26%, 17 Votes)
- It Ain't Happening (26%, 17 Votes)
- Three Hundred Dollars (A Car Payment) (25%, 16 Votes)
- Three Thousand Dollars (An Expensive Shopping Spree) (17%, 11 Votes)
- Thirty Dollars (A Dollar A Day) (6%, 4 Votes)
Total Voters: 65
Loading ...I can’t imagine my morning without coffee, but if you gave me $3 million dollars, I might think about it. Okay, who am I kidding. If there is anyone out there who wants to pay a big chunk of my car payment, I might be willing to go without coffee for thirty days for $300.
What’s your answer and why?
Last week’s poll was a little bit more serious: “Are you worried about the high coffee prices?“
Eight-three percent of you said “No, I haven’t seen a change.“
Ardee-ann said:
I haven’t noticed any changes yet in coffee prices.
Nate said:
Perhaps coffee beans will replace gold? I’m not too concerned right now. It’s a supply and demand issue and seems to have affected garbage brands more than it has specialty coffee.
PurelyCoffeeLover said:
I’m not so worried about the coffee bean recent prices, since so little of the price actually goes into coffee served in restaurants. I just wished that more of the coffee sold benefits the farmers, such as some of the fair trade. Really I wish that Fair Trade Coffee wasn’t necessary at all!
However, 17% of you did say if the price of coffee keeps going up, you’re going to switch to water.
Todd said:
The price hike of east African beans and Yemen really hit hard this year. Just to make the staple, Mokha Java, cost 3 to 4 time more this year than it has in the past. Also with the price increase it became hard to find a Kenya or Yemen that cupped half way desent. I do hope it levels out this season. It hurts going from $6.00 lbs green to $9. to $14 lbs green. and explain to your customers why the huge increase.
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Photo by Pocheco.
Category: Polls
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Mike Crimmins is the highly caffeinated blogger behind Daily Shot Of Coffee. Besides drinking way too much coffee, he's obsessed with the Yankees and getting dirty on his mountain bike.Subscribe
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I put that I’d give up coffee for a month for $30. The reason is that I have had to give up coffee in the past for medical reasons and never have found a decaf that I really liked, Postum is better IMHO. So I can leave it alone for cheap because I know I can do it, I would RATHER get some big bucks for quitting coffee for a while but I know that I could do it for cheap too.
Ciao,
Ardee-ann
I would buy a Good espresso machine with the cash , for coffee photography of course
My wife is always going on about how much coffee I drink. She doesn’t drink coffee (so why’d I marry her? Hahaha)
I have given it up for a few weeks at a time before just to see what would happen really. Even though I drink a lot, I use beans at home, as opposed to buying cafe coffees, so it’s not like I’m breaking the bank anyway…
Some people reckon’ they have more sustained energy when they are off coffee, or can taste/smell more… Maybe I wasn’t off it long enough… I just love the flavor, and I guess the – dare I say ‘romantic’ exercise of brewing a really good cup of coffee.
Coffee has never been about getting a fix for me, I just love the subtle flavors you can experience when you do it right. And that to me I guess a bit. Dollar value though??? Hard to say. I’d give it up tomorrow if I HAD too, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon.
Mike;
seriously!
if someone offered me a few million
i’d easily give coffee up for a month.
then buy a coffee plantation.
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interesting article on coffee land, bean prices and what not;
http://www.realestateproarticles.com/Art/10232/268/Costa-Rica-Property-A-Costa-Rica-Coffee-Farm.html
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By : Rebecca Wheeler
Submitted 2009-11-09 05:26:31
Are you dreaming of peaceful living with nature in a pleasant climate?
Having a nice home in the mountains?
Generating some income from the land?
If you answer yes to these questions then owning a small coffee farm in Costa Rica may be right for you.
Costa Rica is truly a tropical paradise with a diversity of choices for climate, proximity to nature and to urban amenities, and easy management businesses or crops that will allow you to supplement your income and in time to recapture your investment in land.
Investment options include a Bed and Breakfast located in nature, finding a parcel of land and building homes for resale, taking over a small business, or, among other options, buying a small farm.
A coffee farm is a good option for acosta rica property investment as it allows one to have a home and manageable business in a location in nature and still be close to urban services while living in a very agreeable climate. Naranjo and San Ramon, cities west of San Jose and not far from the airport, are excellent locations. These areas produce high quality coffee with good yields.
I recently completed a detailed study of the investment required and expense and income from coffee production. Here I summarize the major data, a Business Plan can be obtained by contacting us at our website.
Operating expense data are based on a study of the national average by the Costa Rica Coffee Institute, ICAFE, for the year 2007-2008. The Costa Rican colon was converted to U.S. $ at c506.65 to $1. The dollar entries would be relatively accurate for the 2009-2010 harvest.
We determined average price to be c57,000, $113 per fanega. A Fanega is 400 liters of fresh beans and produces after processing one Quintal, 100 lb of dried green bean.
Prices for coffee farms have approximately doubled from 2004 to 2009. In part this is due to sale of land for residential projects and to a lesser extent due to better prices for coffee. We have used $20,000 per hectare because at a higher price the long-term return on coffee would not justify the investment, unless the Costa Rica land were to produce high yields of high quality specialty or organic coffee commanding a much better price.
Costs of production have also increased over the last 5 years, but prices also increased. The average annual yield in the ICAFE research was 25.4 fanegas per hectare. This is very low, probably due to producers cutting maintenance expenses due to the low prices in prior years. Yields of well managed plantations in prime areas can be as high as 60 fanegas. For projecting yield and income in our Business Plan we use 25.4 as the low yield, 32 as a medium yield, and 40 as high yield.
We use a 20 hectare farm as a model because if properly managed it will yield enough income to provide a decent living. Of course it is possible to find a five hectare farm that will be less investment and management.
INITIAL INVESTMENT: ($U.S.) Hectare 20 Hectares
Land purchase, $20,000 per hectare, 20 hectares 20,000 400,000
Vehicle, used pick up 36 891
Storage shed 20 503
Equipment 14 357
Initial improvements to increase yield and quality 400 8,000
________ _______
Total start-up investment 20,420 409,751
Home Construction, 1500 square feet at $50 75,000
ANNUAL OPERATING EXPENSE AND INCOME
(In the detailed study, we break expense and income down by low, medium, and high yield, as well as by ordinary bean and speciality coffee)
Labor, materials, harvest, specialty with high yield 2,252 45,049
Overhead costs 443 8,860
Income, specialty bean, high yield, @$139 fanega 5,560 111,200
Income, net of expense 2,865 57,300
Recovery period for investment=7 years
CONCLUSIONS
The aim of proper coffee management should be to produce quality coffee sold at specialty prices and to maximize yield, even though this may involve a larger initial investment in Costa Rica land purchase and crop improvement. Net return is substantially less for ordinary coffee bean and if the yield is lower.
Generally coffee produced at elevations above 1200 meters is considered specialty, but this depends upon the mini-climate, soil quality, and growing conditions in particular regions. Higher elevations around Naranjo and San Ramon produce specialty coffee and there are cooperatives and private firms that purchase from the producers. San Ramon has an organic growers cooperative.
An option for those who wish to label and market their own coffee is to pay a Beneficio, a processor, to prepare Grano Oro, that is beans ready to roast and package. This cost is approximately $18 per fanega, or 100lb. If your cost of production is $85/fanega and $18 processing, the total is $103 per hundredweight, plus roasting, packaging and shipping which might be around $30 per 100 lbs. You can also contract to process, roast, and package your coffee at $1 per kilogram, or $45 per hundredweight.
Competent local management and experienced labor are readily available for coffee, so that owners’ management responsibility is not great.
Risks include years in which the price of coffee is low or even does not exceed the cost of production and adverse weather or disease problems, which reduce yield or quality.
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i’d say, based only on the above, that the rise in coffee prices has more to
do with the ‘middle man’ than coffee growers and farmers.
I say $3K is about right. It would definitely not be worth $300! I can get by with one cup of quality coffee per day. I’ve even gone a week+ with no brew and experienced no ill effects. In fact, it was like they say “absence makes the heart grow fonder” I do remember hearing the song “Reunited and it feels so good…” playing in my head when I had that first cup after depriving myself