Save Money on Coffee. Make it at Home

Coffee beans are cheap. And they are getting cheaper.

But don't expect your morning latte to be any less expensive -- unless you brew it at home.

Arabica beans are trading at a five-year low, according to the International Coffee Organization. This means buying a pound of coffee at your local grocery store should be less expensive.

The same can't be said for the morning Joe from folks like Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts.

Why? Because coffee beans are not the only factor in what goes into your daily pick-me-up. There's the cost of the cups (which cost more than the beans themselves), the sugar (which costs more lately) and, more importantly, the labor.

"The cost of doing business is going up, from wages to milk to energy, so our prices have to increase slightly," Starbucks told Bloomberg Businessweek's UK edition.. "Coffee commodity costs historically comprise less than 10 percent of our overall store operating and occupancy expenses."

Starbucks, in fact, raised its prices most recently in June in both the US and abroad -- despite the low cost of beans.

The lesson here, of course, is to save your money and brew it at home. Now, get those percolators brewing.

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