As gasoline prices were only a penny or two away from $4 a gallon in Oklahoma City this week, drivers obviously complained and in some cases, talked of cutting back on long-distanced trips.
As I paid $4.75 for a cup of coffee this week at one Oklahoma City restaurant, it led to a discussion about the cost of a gallon of coffee and whether drinkers were cutting back.
So I did some comparing. Not to pick on any individual coffee company, but I started with Starbucks where prices typically range from $3.15 to more than $7 for specialty beverages. A tall Starbucks cup of coffee is 12 ounces and costs on average $2.55. Doing the math, it will take 5 cups to reach 60 ounces and 6 cups will make it 68 ounces, or 4 ounces more than one gallon of coffee.
Doing further math, and you have a cost of $12.75 for a gallon of Starbucks coffee! Go for the $7 cup and your 12 ounce cup costs anywhere from $35 to $42 a gallon.
If you prefer Scooter’s Coffee, prices at the chain average $2.50 to $3.75 for brewed coffee and up to $7.25 for specialty hot lattes. That figures to $12.50 for a gallon at Scooter’s lowest price. But if you prefer the $7.25 hot latte, it’ll figure to $43.50 for a gallon.
If you’re more into McDonald’s coffee, the average low cost is $1.49. It means the cost still is in a range of $7.45 to $7.94 per gallon. McDonald’s lattes average $3.29 so, figuring 6 cups, the cost would be just under $20 a gallon.
Drivers have to decide what they want to complain about paying…high prices to get somewhere or high prices to carry around a hot cup of coffee as they drive somewhere.