My coffee addiction began at a fairly normal age, in high school. School was starting two hours late one Monday, so in turn I stayed up an additional five hours. With just a few hours of sleep, my friends dragged me to the local coffee shop, where I had my first coffee: A small cup of black hazelnut coffee.

And I hated it. It was bitter and burned my tongue.

Yet a half-hour later I was more alert than ever, and thus began my lifelong fondness for coffee. During high school, it was easy enough: My mom would make a big pot in the morning, ready for me when I came downstairs. In college, things became a bit more complicated, though I was able to find a $20 individual coffee maker that served its function fairly well. For grounds, I mostly bought Eight O’Clock, which was just about the cheapest coffee I could find, at something like $4 a pound.

After my wife and I got married, I was the happy recipient of an espresso maker, thanks to our gift registry. While I loved the espresso, it was somewhat of a hassle to make, the machine took up a lot of our counter space (I still needed the regular coffee maker as well), and broke within a year.

You can probably spot the trend by now. As I’ve grown older, and my income has increased, I’ve moved up in both coffee makers and coffee beans. At the moment, I’m at a pretty good place: Both at work and at home, I have a Keurig K-Cup coffee maker. It’s pricey (about $150), but it makes a single cup of coffee in thirty seconds, allows for a different flavor each cup, and takes literally three seconds to clean up.

But still, I find myself drawn towards that twin-finned mermaid. Part of it is the experience - the clean store, the friendly baristas. Part of it is the good quality coffee. And part of it, at least recently, is the free iced coffee every Wednesday. So I often find myself standing in line for my $4 cup of coffee.

Except, of course, coffee doesn’t cost $4 a cup at Starbucks. It’s about $1.75. Sure, some of the more complicated drinks reach that range, but I think it’s unfair to say that you’re spending $4 every time you walk in the door at Starbucks.

So here’s example #493 of taking breaks from frugality to enjoy life. I figure I deserve a nice fresh cup of Starbucks coffee at least once a week.

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