Ransom Riggs
In Praise of Cheap Coffee
by Ransom Riggs - February 14, 2008 - 10:46 AM

With prices for a simple cup of coffee approaching $4.00 at some national coffee-tailers — and my own addiction to espresso leading to a recent home appliance purchase that cost as much as a low-end HDTV (check it, sucka) — it’s high time to look back with nostalgic fondness at the cheap coffee of the past, some of which is still being served.

Where can I get this cheap coffee, you ask? If you live in Los Angeles, you’re in luck; there are several spots. A little Googling found a few more spread around the country — rare finds worth a visit if only to shake the owner’s hand and say, “thanks!” (By the way, if you can find a cheaper cup, let us know. We’re there.)

25-cent coffee

chloe.jpgThere are at least two places to get coffee for a quarter these days: McDonald’s, provided you’re a senior and can prove it, and a little joint in Phoenix, Arizona called Chloe’s Corner. (Unlike most cheap-coffee emporiums, where the price of coffee is a holdover from days gone by, Chloe’s opened recently, in 2005. It’s called retro-chic, apparently.) Pictured at right: not McDonald’s.

20-cent coffee

20-cent coffee is a little harder to come by: apparently, it’s not a number that appeals to restaurant owners. As of this Googling, however, there were just two places I could find that offered it: Ethiopia (where, like everything probably, the Macchiatos are cheap), and at Portland, Oregon’s Pearl Street Bakery — though unfortunately this seems to have been a temporary promotion (but I bet if you go there and guilt-trip them about it, they’ll cave and give you some 20-cent coffee anyway).

15-cent coffee

coffee.jpgAlhambra, California’s The Hat has been around since 1951, and their coffee has been $0.15 ever since then. (At right is a snap of their menu to prove it.) But what The Hat is really proud of is their pastrami (their website claims that Hat customers “consume 15 tons of pastrami every year”), and their over-the-top specialties like Pastrami Chili Cheese Fries with Pickles and Tomato special, which will not only blow your gut, but your mind, as well:

9-cent coffee

now_photo4.gifOne major benefit of living in Los Angeles is Phillipe the Original, now the oldest restaurant in the city (circa 1908) and one of several claimants to the title of “inventor of the French Dipped sandwich.” Their coffee is and always has cost just nine cents. I’ll let Pulitzer-winning food critic Jonathan Gold tell you more:

“Sawdust on the floors, clown pictures on the wall, long communal tables crowded with cops, politicians and recent parolees from the nearby county jail, Philippe is so much a relic of prewar Los Angeles that sometimes it feels as if it isn’t really a part of Los Angeles at all, as if it belongs to an older city without neon, chrome or arugula. The French-dipped sandwiches of lamb or beef are wet and rich, with something of the gamy animal pungency of old-fashioned roast meat. There is an oddly wonderful selection of wines by the glass — try the Silver Oaks cabernet sauvignon. And if you enjoy the sight of eyes bulging and nostrils flaring as people encounter depth charges of ultrahot mustard in their sandwiches, there’s even something of a floor show.”

ryan.jpg
Photo by Ryan of Losanjealous.

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Comments (27)

  1. Wall Drug in Wall, SD sells 5 cent coffee, as well as souvenirs to prove it.

    posted by Karla on 2-14-2008 at 10:50 am

  2. My wife and I were in Italy this fall, staying with a friend. We found a great way to make expresso really cheap. Click on my name above to find an $18.95 coffee maker that is simple to use and does a great job. I’ll post another comment with a link to a battery operated frother for $14.95.

    So for $35+tax and shipping, I bet I can make as good a cup of coffee with less hassel and less cleanup than the machine you bought. Sorry Ransom ;(

    posted by Stew on 2-14-2008 at 11:04 am

  3. sorry stew, I have that little machine you are referring to, and i also have a Francis X5. The X5 is incredibly superior and worth every penny :)

    posted by danielle on 2-14-2008 at 11:24 am

  4. Danielle,

    Glad to hear that its better with the Francis X5. Wouldn’t want to send Ransom off to a deep depression ;) .

    posted by Stew on 2-14-2008 at 11:32 am

  5. I love cheap coffee. Just think of all the people who get short-changed and exploited — from the grower to the storage guy at the docks to the truck driver to the teenage kid behind the counter who sells it to me. It makes it taste just that much sweeter. Mmmmm, mmmm.

    I love the taste of exploitation in the morning.

    posted by swag on 2-14-2008 at 11:33 am

  6. Not neccessarily ;) At my house we have a Moka and an Espresso machine. The tast quality is a little different, the espresso seems to be a little smoother. Plus I

    posted by Ashley on 2-14-2008 at 11:34 am

  7. Between IT jobs I worked at Starbucks for about three months, and I’m not really sure where the “four dollars for a simple cup of coffee” idea comes from. Is it just a platitude people throw around? I guess it could be different in other markets, but at my store a Venti (20 oz) cup of whatever we were brewing that day was less than two dollars.

    Sure, you may pay four dollars or more for a Quad Venti Hazelnut Soy Latte, but that’s not exactly a simple cup of coffee, eh?

    posted by Ira on 2-14-2008 at 11:34 am

  8. Man, do I miss cheap coffee! When I was living on EIU’s campus in ’01, the Union had a little coffee stand run by dining services. If you brought your own cup, it was $.25. If you had no cup it was like $.75. And it was good coffee too; no special roasts, no blends, just coffee-flavored coffee. And cheaper pastries and bagels and such. It was nice.
    Then they decided we needed a “nicer” cafe – we had NO cafe for about 8 months of construction and then we had the new one. It offered Seattle’s Best and it was horrid, and expensive. I miss my old coffee stop…

    Okay, sorry to rant there, but it’s off of my chest at least.

    posted by kitsana_d on 2-14-2008 at 11:41 am

  9. Sykes in Kalispell, MT has 10 cent coffee. It’s a divey gross diner/ grocery store. Cheap greasy food. It’s awesome.

    posted by qt314159265 on 2-14-2008 at 11:53 am

  10. The Collins Street Bakery in Corsicana, TX has a 5 cent coffee…but the cup is a glorified Styrofoam shot glass. That didn’t stop one in my party from refilling his travel mug with the coffee…and then forgot to pay/donate the 5 cents. Oh well, we bought some pastries for the road.

    posted by Bob Jones, Esq. on 2-14-2008 at 11:54 am

  11. I grew up in Riverside, CA and we used to go to this small family restaurant hidden in the vineyards of Ontario, CA. Not only can you get 25 cent coffee, but you can get a pancake that covers an entire plate. My sister ate an entire one and won a bet in the process, but still can’t eat pancakes years later. I’m sorry I don’t have the name but maybe you being in SoCal you can find it easier than I can.

    posted by Tricia on 2-14-2008 at 11:54 am

  12. I’ve found that I like the Folgiers stuff I make at home in my little $12 coffee maker (that my parents bought for me). I would kill for a cappuccino machine though . . .

    As for cheap coffee you buy elsewhere . . . I’ve yet to find a good coffee shop here in San Antonio. I think you can buy it pretty cheap at any breakfast taco place, just not sure how cheap or how good. If anyone can point me to one, I’d appreciate it!

    posted by nutmeag on 2-14-2008 at 12:12 pm

  13. The Blue & White Carryout in Alexandria, VA can’t beat these coffee prices (I think they currently charge $.30 a cup) but makes up for it with the best fried chicken and half-smokes in the world.

    posted by Rachel on 2-14-2008 at 12:16 pm

  14. Typically I enjoy Fair Trade Certified coffee, but when you consider the added benefits of forced child labor, environmental degredation, and unsafe working conditions, I guess the 15-cent cup of coffee is a true bargain.

    Now if we can only figure out a way to get cheap gas for our SUV’s….

    posted by Florida on 2-14-2008 at 12:36 pm

  15. #14,

    I understand and agree with the spirit of Fair Trade certification, but it is about as inconsistent (and expensive) as organic certification. It costs a lot of money for an initial fair-trade certification and more money for periodic inspections to retain it. Many smaller farms and growing cooperatives simply can’t afford it, even though they would likely be found to meet fair trade standards if examined. And don’t forget, a big part of fair trade is the price buyers pay for coffee. I think currently the fair trade minimum per pound is $1.26. Starbucks, for one, pays at least this much for all its coffee, but because the certification is dependent on the relationship between the farm and the buyer (each has criteria to meet), Starbucks currently has only one Fair Trade certified blend.

    I would be suspicious that a lot of these five and ten cent cups of coffee are more ground chicory than ground coffee. But if you’re really that desparate for a cheap cup, cognitive dissonance will kick in and you won’t be able to taste the difference. :-)

    posted by Ira on 2-14-2008 at 12:56 pm

  16. I drink .10 coffee every single day — in my kitchen while I’m getting ready for work. And it probably still costs about .10 later in the day — when i brew up at work.

    posted by kaytrey on 2-14-2008 at 1:17 pm

  17. #15

    I think you get my point – while the “cost” of a cup of coffee may only be 10 cents on the front end, someone is paying for it on the rear end. And typically its not the restaurant who is eating that cost, but rather the farmer who is encouraged to produce more by clear cutting forest or dumping chemical fertilizers, instead of producing a more sustainable product (as in the case of shade grown coffee) or paying a fair price.

    As for cheap products, we only need to look at our recent problems with Chinese products to remind us that cheap isn’t necessarily so.

    I know we’d much rather bury our heads in the sand and act like it doesn’t exist, but for sake of the world’s underclasses, pay the frigin’ dollar.

    posted by Florida on 2-14-2008 at 1:40 pm

  18. Isn’t cheap coffee sometimes a loss-leader though? Not at a coffee shop, bu at a restaurant, where the primary product is food? I think that’s more probably the explanation for 10-cent coffee more often than not.

    posted by Sara on 2-14-2008 at 2:06 pm

  19. What is this presumably anti-Starbucks propaganda I keep seeing about 5- and 6-dollar cups of coffee?

    > With prices for a simple cup of coffee approaching $4.00 at some national coffee-tailers

    WHERE are you buying a $4 cup of coffee? The biggest coffee at Starbucks in Manhattan is still below $2.50, I’m quite sure. It’s no $3 or $4 anyway. If you’re buying something that costs $4 or more, it’s not coffee. It’s an espresso drink.

    posted by Jeff on 2-14-2008 at 2:37 pm

  20. Oh, Ransom, can you return it? You can get it through illyusa.com for $150, with a commitment to buy a few cases of espresso, which you will run through so quickly.

    posted by 5263 on 2-14-2008 at 3:14 pm

  21. The I-90 corridor in South Dakota has another unique waterhole with nickel coffee: Al’s Oasis in Oacoma. They once had monster pies there too, but I haven’t stopped there lately.

    The D&E restaurant in Pierre, SD used to get 15 cents for coffee but it was included in the $3.27 for a 5 course club steak meal including a dollop of ice cream. The place was a mecca for cross country bicyclists, but a 40 year accumulation of grease made for a pretty spectacular explosion and fire.

    posted by Tom on 2-14-2008 at 3:14 pm

  22. woa. a-mazing! Those pastrami chili fries just blew my mind! you think he made it bigger since he was being filmed?

    wait. who cares. shove.it.in.my.belly

    posted by northofnorth on 2-14-2008 at 4:01 pm

  23. What blew my mind about the pastrami chili fries was the number of food-handling regulations that were being broken.

    posted by Jess on 2-14-2008 at 5:42 pm

  24. I grew up near The Hat in Alhambra (there are a few, but the Alhambra site is the original) and I’ve eaten there quite a bit. I’ve never noticed their coffee prices, but I have enjoyed some of the best pastrami ever. Those fries are bit over stuffed, but not too far off the mark–portions are pretty large at The Hat.

    posted by Tomas on 2-14-2008 at 5:58 pm

  25. I’ve tried the Wall Drug coffee, and at a nickel, you get what you pay for. The joe at Al’s Oasis isn’t too bad though. I’m driving by there tomorrow; maybe that’s where I’ll stop for lunch — Best Buffalo Burger anywhere! Tom #21: I remember the D&E in Pierre from a junior high civics class trip. I didn’t drink the coffee, but I remember spending less than $2 and walking out a very full 14 year old. That’s saying something.

    I like a good stiff cup of coffee, but the stuff that my coworkers brew at work is more like tea. I’ve become sorta hooked on Taster’s Choice Dark Blend; it’s got a really good flavor, you can adjust how strong you want it, and it works out to cost about 25 cents a cup.

    I recently bought some coffee concentrate packets from http://www.javajuiceextract.com/ and that’s kinda ok as long as your mug isn’t too big, but a little spendy.

    posted by Dave on 2-14-2008 at 9:17 pm

  26. MY GOD!

    posted by Mrs. Riggs on 2-15-2008 at 7:29 am

  27. My favorite cheap coffee is the coffee that they frequently have available for sampling at Whole Foods Market, for free. Next best is the free coffee sampling at Publix Greenwise Market.

    BTW, I checked out the illyusa offer. The “commitment to buy a few cases of espresso” comes out to over $600 worth of espresso. But it is still a great deal if you are serious about your espresso.

    I also have a stovetop espresso maker, and it is not bad, but no comparison to what you get with a quality machine. I bought a used Saeco Vienna for $120, and have not touched my stovetop espresso maker since.

    posted by Harold on 2-15-2008 at 10:20 pm

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