Made at home, a mug of coffee costs anywhere from 6.1p to 77.7p this month, depending on how you make it. Instant is the cheapest. A Nespresso Vertuo mug pod is the dearest home option, at about 13 times the price of instant and three times a mug from a bean-to-cup machine on supermarket-grade beans. We priced 13 ways of making a cup on Amazon UK on 18 September 2026, with electricity at the rate that applies from 1 October.
Prices last checked 18 September 2026 · next check 1 October 2026 · desk research by Jacob Whitmore
The short answer
At two cups a day, instant costs about £45 a year, a bean-to-cup machine on budget beans about £118, Nespresso’s own Original pods about £348 and Vertuo mug pods about £567. A £295 bean-to-cup machine pays for itself against Nespresso’s own pods in under a year. Against £9.99-for-40 compatible pods it takes over two and a half years. Prices checked 18 September 2026.
How this index was made: desk research by Jacob Whitmore, no tasting and no lab. Every price below was read on 18 September 2026, from Amazon UK for coffee and machines and from nespresso.com for Nespresso’s own capsules. The index carries no affiliate links. It is rechecked when the energy price cap changes and when a basket price moves by more than 10%.
The index
| # | How the cup is made | What we priced | Per cup | Per year, 2 a day | Machine or kit | 3 years, kit included |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Instant | Nescafé Gold Blend 190g, £5.75, 1.8g a cup | 6.1p | £44.51 | Kettle you already own | £133.54 |
| 2 | Bean-to-cup, budget beans | by Amazon House Blend beans 1kg, £11.06 | 16.1p | £117.78 | De’Longhi Magnifica S, £295.23 | £648.57 |
| 3 | Cafetière, ground coffee | by Amazon Caffè Intenso ground 1kg, £13.66 | 19.8p | £144.35 | Bodum Caffettiera 1L, £11.59 | £444.65 |
| 4 | Bean-to-cup, Lavazza beans | Lavazza Qualità Rossa beans 1kg, £16.87 | 24.3p | £177.16 | De’Longhi Magnifica S, £295.23 | £826.71 |
| 5 | Tassimo, black coffee | Kenco Americano Grande, 80 for £18.99 | 24.4p | £178.03 | Tassimo Suny, £39.99 | £574.08 |
| 6 | Filter machine, ground coffee | Lavazza Qualità Rossa ground 1kg, £17.29 | 24.9p | £181.45 | Morphy Richards Equip, £29.99 | £574.34 |
| 7 | Nespresso Original, compatible pods | L’OR Espresso, 40 for £9.99 | 25.6p | £187.06 | Essenza Mini, £113.99 | £675.18 |
| 8 | Dolce Gusto, flat white | Flat White, 48 pods for £13.55, one pod a drink | 28.9p | £210.82 | Mini Me, £45.00 | £677.46 |
| 9 | Nespresso Original, Nespresso’s pods | nespresso.com, 39p to 55p a capsule, middle price 47p | 47.7p | £347.85 | Essenza Mini, £113.99 | £1,157.53 |
| 10 | Dolce Gusto, latte macchiato | Latte Macchiato, 48 pods for £13.55, two pods a drink | 57.1p | £416.89 | Mini Me, £45.00 | £1,295.68 |
| 11 | Tassimo, latte | Costa Latte, 40 drinks for £26.81 | 67.7p | £494.03 | Tassimo Suny, £39.99 | £1,522.08 |
| 12 | Nespresso Vertuo, mug pods | nespresso.com, 69p to 85p a mug capsule, 77p used | 77.7p | £566.85 | Vertuo Pop, £94.00 | £1,794.54 |
| 13 | Café flat white | Our assumption of £3.50, not a measured average | £3.50 | £2,555.00 | n/a | £7,665.00 |
Per cup includes 0.65p of electricity for heating the water, explained in the method. Prices are for the pack sizes named, read on Amazon UK or nespresso.com on 18 September 2026, and they move often.
What the numbers say
The pod you compare against decides whether a bean machine pays off
The July version of this page said a bean-to-cup machine pays for itself against pods in about 18 months. That depends entirely on which pods. On budget beans at 16.1p a cup, the £295.23 De’Longhi Magnifica S covers its price difference over a Vertuo Pop in about five and a half months at two cups a day, and over an Essenza Mini on Nespresso’s own 47p capsules in about nine and a half. Against L’OR compatible capsules at 25p it takes 31 months. Against a Dolce Gusto flat white at 28.2p it takes 32. Against Tassimo’s Kenco Americano Grande it takes over four years.
Switch the bean machine to Lavazza Qualità Rossa at 24.3p a cup and the gap to compatible pods all but closes. At 1.4p a cup it would take about 18 years to earn back the machine. It still wins on Nespresso’s own capsules, in about 13 months.
Milk drinks in a pod cost twice as much, because they use two pods
A Dolce Gusto latte macchiato uses a coffee pod and a milk pod, so the same £13.55 box makes 24 drinks where a flat white box makes 48. Tassimo’s Costa Latte works the same way: 40 drinks from a pack that holds 80 discs. If most of your cups are lattes, look at rows 10 and 11, not 5 and 8. None of the other rows include milk, which you would add yourself.
Filter coffee costs more than our July figure
An earlier version of this page, dated 23 July 2026, put filter coffee at 8p to 10p a cup. That was wrong for a full-strength mug. At the Specialty Coffee Association’s recommended ratio of 55g of coffee to a litre of water, a 250ml mug takes about 14g, which is 24.2p of Lavazza ground coffee before electricity. Filter only drops towards 10p if you use half that amount of coffee.
Electricity barely moves the ranking
Heating 250ml of water from 15°C to boiling takes 0.0247kWh, which is 0.65p at the October to December 2026 cap rate of 26.32p a kWh. Machines use more than this, for warm-up and standby, but none of the makers here publish an energy figure per cup, so we have not guessed one. Even at several times the water figure, electricity is a small share of every row except instant.
How we built it
| Basket | 13 ways of making a cup, one widely sold coffee for each, plus the cheapest mainstream machine for each system |
| Prices | Amazon UK and nespresso.com, read 18 September 2026, cross-checked against Amazon’s product API the same day |
| Dose | 14g of ground coffee or beans for a 250ml mug (SCA ratio of 55g a litre). Instant at 1.8g, Nescafé’s own single-serve portion. Pods at one per drink unless the drink needs two |
| Electricity | 0.65p a cup: the energy to heat 250ml of water by 85°C, at 26.32p a kWh (Ofgem cap, 1 October to 31 December 2026). Standing charge left out |
| Year and 3 years | Two cups a day, 730 a year. The 3-year figure adds the machine price once |
| Left out | Milk, descaler, filters, water, repairs, and the kettle for rows 1 and 3 |
Drinks are not all the same size. A Nespresso Original capsule makes a 40ml espresso or a 110ml lungo, a Vertuo mug capsule makes 230ml, and our 14g dose makes a 250ml mug or a double shot for a latte. We compare the cost of one drink as each system sells it.
What would change these figures
Coffee prices matter far more than electricity here. A 10% rise in bean or pod prices moves every row except the café by up to 7.7p a cup. Using 10g in place of 14g cuts the coffee cost in the bean and ground rows by 29%. Buying Nespresso capsules in the 39p range, or compatible pods on multibuy, narrows the pod rows. The next scheduled check is 1 October 2026, when the electricity rate changes. The rate rises from 26.11p to 26.32p per kWh on that date, which moves each cup by well under a tenth of a penny.
Common questions
How much does a cup of coffee cost to make at home in 2026?
From 6.1p for instant to 77.7p for a Nespresso Vertuo mug pod, on prices read on 18 September 2026. A bean-to-cup machine on budget beans comes to 16.1p, and a cafetière on supermarket-grade ground coffee to 19.8p.
Is it cheaper to use coffee beans or pods?
Beans are cheaper than Nespresso’s own capsules at 47p and Vertuo mug capsules at 77p. They are close to compatible Original pods, which were 25p each in a £9.99 box of 40, and to Tassimo’s Kenco Americano Grande at 23.7p.
How long does a bean-to-cup machine take to pay for itself?
Against Vertuo mug pods, about five and a half months at two cups a day. Against Nespresso’s own Original capsules, about nine and a half months. Against compatible pods at 25p, about 31 months, and only if you buy budget beans.
Why is filter coffee dearer here than in other guides?
Because we dose it at 14g a mug, the Specialty Coffee Association’s ratio of 55g a litre. Our July figure assumed about half that, which makes weaker coffee.
How much electricity does a coffee machine use per cup?
Heating the water for a 250ml cup takes about 0.025kWh, or 0.65p at 26.32p a kWh. Machines add warm-up and standby use on top, which their makers don’t publish per cup.
More from this index: when a bean-to-cup machine pays for itself against each pod system, the cheapest bean-to-cup machines and which RRP discounts hold up, and for businesses, whether to lease or buy a commercial coffee machine.
Sources
- Amazon UK product pages for every coffee, pod and machine named in the table, read 18 September 2026.
- Nespresso UK, Original and Vertuo capsule pages, read 18 September 2026.
- NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto UK coffee pod range page, for pods per drink, read 18 September 2026.
- Specialty Coffee Association, brewing best practices (Golden Cup ratio of 55g a litre, plus or minus 10%), read 18 September 2026.
- Ofgem, energy price cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026 (electricity 26.32p a kWh), announced 26 August 2026.
This is general information about household costs, not financial advice. Look Into is published by Whito Ltd.