Rex Patrick. All I want for Christmas is a good coffee

What should we do? Will I buy myself a quality coffee machine, or will I continue to enjoy the morning social scene while sitting at a coffee shop and drinking a barista-made beverage? The decision is more complicated than you think. Rex Patrick explains.

First of all, I am not a ‘coffee fanatic’. I’ve been through worse than most when it comes to coffee. Submerged in a submarine for weeks, the product contained long-shelf-life UHT milk and instant coffee mixed with enough sugar to make it drinkable. After 11 years of service, I feel like I have the right to drink good coffee.

Second, if you’re after a poignant read about coffee options, move on to the next article. I don’t do soft pieces. This article will present the sparkling facts.

costs

A really good, highly automatic countertop coffee maker can cost over $4,000. Therefore, economic evaluations are essential.

If I factor in the beans, water, filters, milk and cleaning products, drinking two coffees every morning for a year (about $2.80 a day, or $1,000 a year), and the cost of the machine, the annual price of homemade coffee is $5,000.

While the average cost of a cafe coffee in Australia’s major cities is $5.50, the cost of drinking two cafe coffees a day is $5015.

So even after the first year, there are breaks.

After that, my home coffee maker saves me about $4,000 a year.

But it’s not just about cost. There’s more to it than that.

social benefits

Extroverts can’t stay at home just to save money. And introverts can’t do that either.

I’m an introvert. As a former senator, I can of course speak in front of a large crowd or on television or radio, but when it comes to choosing the venue for a freedom of information request or reading a law textbook over most social events, I will choose the former.

But I enjoy ‘people watching’; I observe how people around me talk, act, dress, and interact with each other. I don’t even mind chatting with a local from time to time.

It’s worth something, especially for some who work from roaming. One of the reasons I set out was to work in a different cafe with a different view every day.

Working from circulation. Transparency warrior Rex Patrick is on his way.

Quality, variety and reviews

A home machine may involve the purchase of a coffee bean, which ultimately doesn’t do it for you. Sure, you won’t buy those particular beans again, but unless you’re prepared to throw it away (or give it away), you’ll be stuck with it for a while.

Compare this to the variety, quality and flavor randomness of the cafe selections. This isn’t such a big deal if you live in one place and know the cafes in the area, but it can be a problem if you travel all the time. Internet ratings on coffee shops can help with this. And if you visit a ‘shocker’ you can move on.

I’ve also been told that there’s a difference in taste between coffee handed to you by a barista and coffee you’ve put the effort into grinding, pressing, and steaming. But maybe I can’t really go there in this article; This involves ‘touchy-feely’ which I vow to avoid.

But it is true to say that a cafe coffee shop does not require any cleaning effort. However, depending on the cups, there may be recycling/waste disposal issues.

Off Grid

Another problem for me is being off the grid at times; This means taking up residence for a few days on the banks of the Murray River (if you’re in SA) or the Murray River (if you’re in Victoria), or stopping in the middle of nowhere to enjoy the solitude and beauty of the outback.

If you don’t have a coffee maker, you’ll have to go without your coffee maker unless you want to go back to instantaneous time (sorry, I can’t go back to those submarine days).

“Isn’t this just making decisions for you?” you can say. “There must be a coffee machine!”.

But missing out on a daily fix has its challenges, but wouldn’t a little abstinence make your next cup of coffee better?

Other matters

There are other pros and cons that affect the choice.

Contributing to local employment can make you feel better.

Cafes are mom-and-pop businesses mostly staffed by high school and college students. This is a plus that is hard to ignore for cafe coffee.

Space for a good coffee maker can be another issue, especially in an RV, and being a good home barista can also be a learning curve.

Oh, everything is so difficult.

Plunge

I’ve been on the road for over 60 days and I’m avoiding making a decision.

Then it’s time to face the music…

I won’t buy the nearly fully automatic $4,000 coffee maker…

Instead, I’ll go back to something more affordable, maybe in the $1,000 to $2,000 range, that I can grind, compress, and steam. The lower cost of capital means I can balance solitude and sociability on a reasonable budget.

My coffee connoisseur daughter, who works as a barista at a trendy cafe in Sydney’s QVB, is with me this Christmas. So I’m waiting for Boxing Day when he will help me buy a new machine (hopefully it will go on sale), set it up and teach me the ropes over the next week or two.

There will be no further discussion on this issue for me.

And the biggest compensation paid to Robodebt victims is… Scott Morrison!

Rex Patrick is a former South Australian Senator and formerly a submariner in the armed forces. Known as an anti-corruption and transparency warrior, Rex is also known as “Transparency Warrior“