Bean-to-cup vs pod coffee machine: the five-year cost

Coffee machines are the clearest case in the kitchen of a low purchase price hiding a high running cost. A pod machine costs £60 to £150. A bean-to-cup machine costs £250 to £600. Over five years, the pod machine usually costs more.

The running cost

Pods cost 30p to 50p each from the brand, less from compatibles. Two cups a day is 730 pods a year, so £220 to £360 a year. Beans cost £15 to £25 a kilo for good coffee, and a kilo makes 120 to 140 cups, so two cups a day is roughly £100 a year. The gap is £120 to £260 a year, which pays back a £300 price difference in under two years.

Where pods win

Speed and no cleaning. Consistency, if you don't want to think about grind or dose. Small kitchens. Occasional drinkers — at one cup a day the payback stretches to four years and the convenience starts to win.

Where bean-to-cup wins

Taste, once you've dialled it in. Milk drinks, on machines with a proper steam wand or a good automatic frother. Waste: no capsules. And the machine's lifespan — a decent bean-to-cup from DeLonghi, Sage or Philips lasts eight to ten years with descaling; pod machines are cheaper to replace than repair.

What to look for in bean-to-cup

A ceramic or steel burr grinder (not blades). Adjustable grind. A removable brew unit you can rinse. For milk: a manual steam wand if you'll learn to use it, an automatic frother if you won't. Ignore the number of "drink presets".

Timing

Coffee machines are a Christmas gift, so the run-up to December is the discount window, with January clearance after. DeLonghi and Sage both drop £100 or more on mid-range models in those weeks. Outside them, watch a model and buy on a dip.