Made at home, cold brew costs about $0.92 in ingredients at May 2026 national average supermarket prices. That figure is arithmetic, not vibes: every price below comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics average price tables, and every step of the math is shown so you can rerun it with your own numbers.
What cold brew costs to make at home
| Ingredient | Cost | The arithmetic |
|---|---|---|
| Ground coffee, 44 g | $0.92 | 44 g x ($9.511 / 453.6 g) [1] |
| Total per drink | $0.92 |
The build we costed is a 12 fl oz glass of ready-to-drink cold brew at an effective 1:8 ratio (concentrate brewed strong, then diluted): about 44 grams of ground coffee per serving. That is an assumption, clearly labeled: if you pull a bigger dose or pour more milk, scale the lines above. Ratios follow the free brew ratio card, and the method itself lives in the cold brew makers we recommend.
The math, line by line
Coffee: the BLS average for 100% ground roast coffee is $9.511 per pound (453.6 g), which works out to 2.1 cents per gram. 44 grams costs $0.92.
Water, and the ice in cold drinks, round to zero on a per-drink basis. Electricity, filters, and descaling solution are real but small; the coffee cost calculator has fields for them if you want the full picture. A teaspoon of sugar adds about 1 cent at the BLS average of $1.034 per pound.
What moves the number
Beans. The BLS series tracks supermarket ground coffee. On specialty beans at $20 per pound (our assumption for comparison, not a BLS figure), the per-gram cost rises to 4.4 cents and the same drink costs about $1.94. Still a fraction of any cafe menu.
Milk. The costed price is the BLS average for whole dairy milk. Oat, almond, and other alternative milks vary too much by brand for a single verified national figure, so check your carton: price per fl oz is the carton price divided by its fl oz.
Your dose. Every gram of coffee is about 2.1 cents. Dose changes are linear: dropping the dose by 2 grams saves 4.2 cents.
Home vs your cafe
A daily home cold brew runs about $27.60 per month in ingredients. We do not quote a national cafe price because no chain publishes one and menu boards differ by city, so bring your own: punch your local price into the coffee cost calculator and it will show your monthly spread and how fast a machine pays for itself. For the annual view of the habit, see what a coffee habit costs per year.
What other drinks cost at home
Same math, different builds: iced latte, pour over, drip coffee. All of them start from the same 2.1 cents-per-gram coffee price, so the ranking is really a ranking of dose and milk.
FAQ
How much does cold brew cost to make at home? About $0.92 in ingredients using May 2026 BLS national average grocery prices and the standard build on this page (44 g of coffee). Pricier beans move it: the same drink on $20/lb specialty beans is about $1.94.
Is making cold brew at home cheaper than buying one? Almost always. The ingredients cost about $0.92 at average supermarket prices. Compare that against whatever your local cafe charges with the free coffee cost calculator, which also runs the payback math on your gear.
What does a daily home cold brew habit cost per month? About $27.60 in ingredients ($0.92 x 30 days) at average supermarket prices, or about $58.20 on $20/lb specialty beans. Gear, water, and power are extra; the coffee cost calculator lets you fold those in.
Sources and method
Prices are U.S. city average figures from BLS Average Price Data for May 2026, fetched at publish time; they move monthly and vary by store and region. Recipe quantities are stated assumptions per the build above, not measurements of any cafe's drink. This page prices ingredients only and is not financial advice.
- [1] BLS Average Price Data, Coffee, 100%, ground roast, all sizes, per lb (453.6 g), U.S. city average, May 2026: https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/APU0000717311
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