I’d bet my money on most people choosing Starbucks. At first glance, their coffee prices are indeed more expensive on a per-cup basis – albeit slightly. A grande (medium 16 oz.) coffee at my local Starbucks costs me $2.10 compared to a medium coffee at my local Dunkin’ Donuts (14 o.z), which costs $2.05, or a medium coffee at McDonalds (16 oz.), which costs $1.49.
However, price itself is not the right measuring tool. You must know how much caffeine you pay for, don’t you?
So we’ve compared these companies’ prices not only on a per-cup basis, but by using in the metric that really matters – the amount of caffeine in each cup.
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You’ll be surprised by the results.
It turns out that coffee drinkers only get about half as much caffeine in a small (10 oz.) Dunkin’ Donuts coffee as compared to a tall (small 12 oz.) Starbucks coffee. That means you’d have to order a second small at Dunkin’ (or more realistically, up your order to a much larger size) just to get the same pick-me-up. Not so cheap anymore, is it?
Also, keep in mind that a small cup of coffee costs $1.75 at both Dunkin’ and Starbucks. The same price but an even more severe difference in terms of caffeine content. McDonald’s also has Dunkin’ beat as far as cost per milligram of caffeine is concerned, offering slightly less caffeine than its competitor, Starbucks. But we should note that McDonald’s coffee is also cheaper coming in around $1 for a small cup (12 oz.) cup of coffee.
What this means is that your morning jolt from Dunkin’ Donuts – despite its image of affordability – actually costs you quite a bit more than an identical wake up buzz from Starbucks and especially McDonald’s.
So the clear winner is this survey is“Mickey D.” Who’d have thought?
But the real winner is you as a CaffeinAll customer, as you get to spend only 9 cents for the equivalent of 1 cup of coffee….
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