One thing I have learned during my time on this earth is that there are two kinds of people… those who drink coffee and those who don’t.

I have always been the first kind.

Growing up, at special family gatherings, the adults would make a huge pot of black coffee on the stove, laced with sugar. Everyone, kids included, would get a glass mug of this beautiful dark creation and added a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. I can’t remember whether it was a caffeinated brew or not but based on the noise and activity level that quickly ensued, I bet that it was a full throttle coffee simmer.

These days, the tradition continues (minus the cup of java for my toddler). My mornings start out with a first-rate hot cup of coffee. The debate regarding the health benefits of coffee will go on endlessly. In the meantime, I drink plenty of water, eat my veggies, and make my coffee eco-friendly.

Here are 5 ways you can go green with your coffee beans, guilt free:
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Hardly a week goes by when a personal finance writer doesn’t take a swing at Starbucks and buying coffee, so why not put it all to rest and do some math to settle it once and for all? I know it’s almost a no-brainer but let’s do the math and see how far ahead you can be if you were to brew your own coffee, whether from grounds or with a single serving coffee pod machine, rather than buying it in the coffeehouse.

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Tim Clark, author of The Prosperous Peasant (my review), has a blog called Soul Shelter and he posted a guest article last week where the author’s friend Dave, a multi-millionaire from the dot-com boom, bought an espresso machine for $945. At first I reacted the same way as the author, “It must be nice to be able to afford a high-end, fully automatic espresso maker, I mused aloud.” But as the article continued, I saw the logic.

“OK, consider this: One double latte costs three dollars at a coffee shop, so your outside coffee-drinking habit comes to six dollars a day for you and your wife. That’s $2,190 per year in after-tax dollars,” Dave extrapolated. “Assuming you’re in the 27 percent tax bracket, that means you have to earn $3,000 before taxes to pay for those lattes. That’s more than a month’s wages for a substitute teacher here in the state of Oregon.”

I don’t spend $3 at a coffee shop each day but he and his wife do. I don’t spend $2,190 per year in after tax dollars on double latte’s, but he and his wife do. I don’t have to $3,000 before taxes to pay for coffee each day, but he and his wife do. For him, the $945 espresso machine makes perfect sense even after you factor in the cost of milk, beans, etc. It may not make sense for me, but for him it makes perfect sense.

This is basically the reverse of the monthly payment math trick. The monthly payment math trick is where a salesperson tricks you into paying more for something by justifying it in terms of monthly payments. If I were to argue that he’s making a bad decision, I’d be falling for the trick in reverse by focusing on the $3 a cup cost versus the $1000 espresso machine. When you do the math and find total cost, his logic is sound. You could argue that he shouldn’t be spending $3 on a double latte every day but then you’re not talking money anymore, you’re getting into personal preferences.

The bottom line is that you should always be doing the math. A commenter, Hank, said that his mantra this year is to “just do the math.” When you do the math, the answer is usually pretty clear. In this case it’s crystal clear, once you get past the $945 up-front cost. The other comments for this post are pretty good too, I think many of the commenters know each other so it makes for some lively debate.

What are your thoughts on the purchase?

(Photo: asurroca)

One of the most fascinating stories I read in Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely, was that of Tahitian Black Pearls. It’s amazing because what happened with black pearls has happened with so many other products through the ages, you’d think we’d learn to recognize it… but we don’t! While I won’t reveal the whole tale, Emily Bobrow’s review, which appeared in the New York Observer, remarked that in Predictably Irrational…

We learn that James Assael, a postwar ‘pearl king,’ had little luck in unloading the gunmetal fruits of black-lipped oysters when he first introduced them to America in the 1970’s. But then he convinced his buddy Harry Winston to display a string of these lovelies in his Fifth Avenue window, together with an outrageous price tag. The rest is history.

For those who don’t know, black pearls are supposed to be very expensive.

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Last week, I went through my usual routine of making coffee in the morning. After filling the water reservoir and putting ground coffee in a filter in the basin, I ran upstairs to do some work. A few minutes later, I noticed that I couldn’t smell any coffee. Usually after a few minutes I could smell the rich flavor of glorious coffee wafting through the home, but today that smell was gone. I walked downstairs and, to my horror, saw that the coffeemaker hadn’t made any coffee. The green “On” light was lit but the pot was empty! Try as I might, and this included opening it to see if there was an obvious problem but I couldn’t see one, I couldn’t get it to brew (or even heat up the platter). Boo! I need coffee!

Sadly, I believe my coffeemaker is kaput.

The solution? I had two. I could either go to the local Wal-Mart/Target/Similar store and spend $20 on a coffeemaker (or buy this Mr. Coffee DRX5 4-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker and not leave my house)… or I could try Gevalia Kaffe again. I opted to go the route of the Gevalia Kaffe trial because for $15 you get a decent coffeemaker and two half-pound bags of coffee. The last time I tried two types of flavored coffee, because I’d never had flavored coffee before, but was less than pleased with it (nothing against Gevalia though, I think I just enjoy normal coffee).

The last time I did it, the offer was for a free coffeemaker and a travel mug for $5. The offer isn’t as sweet this time, this time I got a fancier looking 12 Cup Programmable Stainless Steel Coffeemaker (an estimated $100 value! Wow!), a Stainless Steel Coffee Scoop (a $10 value! Wow!), and two half pounds of coffee for $14.95 shipped. The two types I chose were French Roast and Le Procope, a choice from their European Coffeehouse Collection named after a fabled café in Rome (how could I not try it???).

Update: The offer for a free coffeemaker is part of a trial for their coffee-by-mail program. I’ll have to cancel my membership if I want to avoid getting coffee by mail and pay subscription fees.

I’m a fan of coffee, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not about to spend $20,000 on a coffeemaker.

(Photo: woo-hoo)

We live in a disposable society. We’ve gotten so used to everything being so cheap that we often think about replacement before we think about refurbishment, which is great for companies but bad for our budget and our environment. I experienced this first hand a month ago when I pulled out my coffeemaker to make a cup of coffee.

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How many times did you see Gevalia and think Godiva? Yeah, I did that a whole bunch of times until I realized Gevalia is all about Kaffe (coffee!). Anyway, they have an offer out there for a 8-cup free coffeemaker, two 1/2-lbs. packages of coffee, and a stainless steel travel mug for five bucks. That’s it… five whole dollars for all that (shipping and handling are included). The freebies must be crap right? Actually, wrong… I tried out the trial program (easily cancelled right afterwards) and it went pretty good. Currently, the offer is for a 12-cup coffeemaker, 2 ceramic mugs, and a stainless steel scoop for $14.95 though I signed up for only the 8-cup coffeemaker and travel mug for $5.

Until I started working full time, I drank coffee sparingly because I didn’t really need to be totally awake in order to walk to class and fall back asleep. But after I started work, coffee became a staple of my morning routine. I didn’t make it at home because I didn’t have coffee or a coffeemaker but they had it at work so I drank it there. Then came the time I had to wake up early for a flight and found I seriously needed some coffee to make it through so this $5 coffeemaker, coffee and travel mug was right up my alley.

Signing up online was easier than stealing candy from a baby, within a few minutes my order was in. I had the cancellation number handy (1-800-438-2542) so whenever I received the package I could call to cancel. The order arrived a few days later in a huge but light package (the coffeemaker is big) that included everything I expected, no problems whatsoever.

Coffeemaker – The coffeemaker was a Gevalia branded percolator that is able to brew up to 8 cups of coffee, two would be enough for me. The coffeemaker is programmable by timer and brews great coffee in mere minutes. The only downside is that the little filter holder is a weird triangular shape I wasn’t used to seeing. A regular filter will fit fine in but it won’t be a snug fit, but it wasn’t a problem for me at all. The pitcher is sturdy enough and I’ve accidentally banged it lightly on the counter without any cracks. I’m not going to tempt fate by banging it really hard though.

Coffee – You pick the two half-pound packages you want and they come in a foil bag that folds down easily. I drink coffee infrequently at home so I throw them in the freezer where they stay just fine. You get a pretty solid selection of free coffees when you start.

Travel Mug – The mug is just like any other travel mug really. It’s not cheap or flimsy, as I would’ve expected, but it’s not anything really special either.

Overall Impression – Great deal for $5 if you don’t have a coffeemaker. You can can set the $5 coffeemaker on a timer; that alone is worth the $5. You aren’t getting crappy trial offer junk you’d expect at such a low price. I also haven’t been getting any junk mail from them (only once, to offer me the same deal again) so that’s a bonus. I hate it when I quit something and they constantly send offers to get me to join again. Gevalia didn’t do that, for which I’m thankful. If you do take advantage of this, remember, the cancellation number is 1-800-438-2542.