Cutting your daily latte to save money has become a personal-finance cliché.
In fact, it even has a name, “The Latte Factor,” taken from a book by author David Bach, who notes that the advice really isn’t about the coffee drink.
“This classic snippet of personal finance advice isn’t specifically anti-Starbucks. ‘Lattes’ are a metaphor for the tiny expenses that leak money from our pockets, often without us realizing how much we’re spending,” according to Bach, speaking on the Afford Anything podcast.
The math makes sense: Save $6 per day for 365 days a year, and you have $2,190. Do that for 10 years at a 6% interest rate, and you will end with $32,787.90. Make it 30 years, and you end up with $185,715.67.
In reality, however, coffee is about more than just caffeine. For me, it’s a valuable daily ritual, and even though I have a high-end espresso machine and make coffee most mornings, I also go to Starbucks nearly every day.
And while I enjoy that part of my day, Starbucks is not my only choice for coffee. So, although I’m not going to drop my daily drink (usually an almond milk shaken espresso), I thought it was worth exploring whether there were better, cheaper choices that might bring me just as much joy.
Coffee prices vary by chain
I visited a number of chains to compare the price of a medium iced vanilla latte. It’s important to remember that prices vary by location and that even two stores in the same chain might charge different amounts for the same item.
A Starbucks spokesperson shared some color on those nuances in an email exchange with TheStreet.
“Depending on the market, pricing varies. There are many factors that contribute to pricing decisions, including various rising operating and occupancy expenses (i.e., labor, rent, local mandates and regulations, competition, distribution, marketing, and commodities, including coffee, but also other commodities associated with beverages, food, materials, and operations),” the chain shared.
An informal poll of my coworkers across the country showed some variation in prices, but the range was within about $0.75, and my price was actually on the higher end of the range.
There are also some situations where prices are out of the chain’s control.
“In airports, hotels, and certain other non-traditional locations, Starbucks stores are often operated by licensed partners rather than Starbucks directly. Those operators determine their own pricing, which may also reflect airport or venue-specific fees, surcharges, and operating costs,” Starbucks added.
Starbucks prices vary by location.Shutterstock
You can get a cheaper iced latte
For this test, I visited stores in the same South Florida market in an approximately 10-mile area. We ordered a medium iced vanilla latte as presented on the menu, which, in most cases, included whole milk as the default choice.
All visits were on Oct. 24, and calorie counts came either from the chain’s app, website, or in-store menu board. For the purpose of this comparison, we only went to chains where a person makes your coffee.
7-Eleven, Fresh Market, and other chains with machines that can make you a latte (albeit not an iced one) were not included.
Here’s how the chains stacked up:
Starbucks: $6.05, 190 calories
Dunkin’: $4.59, 170 calories
7 Brew: $5.20, 260 calories
Wawa: $2.99, 140 calories
McDonald’s: $3.89, 200 calories (McDonald’s calls its latte an Iced Vanilla Coffee and makes it with light cream rather than whole milk)
Taste also matters when it comes to coffee
While I could save significant money getting my daily iced latte at Wawa, I did not enjoy the drink as much as the Starbucks version. That, of course, is very subjective.
For many people, the cheaper options might make sense. In my case, the only iced latte I enjoyed as much as the Starbucks version was one at 7 Brew. Dunkin’ and Wawa were, in my opinion, fine in a pinch, while I simply do not enjoy McDonald’s coffee and find its sweeteners too sweet.
As someone who has written about money, investing, and personal finance for decades, the savings aren’t worth the sacrifice in this case.
That doesn’t mean cutting or substituting your daily latte doesn’t work for some people, but in my case, there are likely other areas of spending I could cut back on that make more sense than giving up something I enjoy at the place I most enjoy it.
Related: McDonald’s changes its discount strategy