For some time, I had been purchasing coffee beans at La Prima‘s cafe in the Strip District. The beans were almost always freshly roasted, and it gave me an excuse to stop on the morning commute, drink an espresso, and thumb through the New York Times. The beans weren’t cheap, but they weren’t terribly expensive (cheaper than Starbucks), and I felt good about giving our money to a local roaster. A few months ago, we became members of the local food co-op, and I kicked around the idea of ordering coffee there. Being members, we received a 20% discount(!) on special orders, but I didn’t want to give up my precious and tasty La Prima. Then, when bean supplies in the house were dwindling, Jen picked up a pound of Dean’s Beans Moka Sumatra. Goodness. I had assumed it was a bit pricey, being tasty, organic, and free-trade, but it wasn’t. In fact, it was the cheapest coffee the co-op sold. A few days later I placed our order for five pounds of the stuff. Finally, last Friday, we got the call that our coffee was in. Total cost for five pound of freshly roasted, organic, free-trade coffee? $31.

Posted on 24 May 2005