Coffee and tea can be inexpensive if you brew it yourself. Coffee even less so if you roast it. I've been roasting my own coffee for years now, started with a $100 machine which lasted about 4 years/100 lbs, and then I upgraded to a $350 machine. A pound of coffee costs between $4 and $7, and tastes comparable to something that a boutique roaster sells for $15/12oz. The upfront cost is relatively high, but if your enjoyment of coffee is encroaching into the realm of "hobby" then it's absolutely worthwhile.
I second this. Fresh coffee tastes awesome. I've been using a $100 roaster for a while now, only recently having got into the habit of roasting all the time (previously I'd get lazy and buy a bag at the store pretty often, which would break the habit). I need to roast every 3 or 4 days, but it only takes about 10 minutes. I don't think my roast quality is quite on par with the $17/12oz (aka $1.42/oz) bags from the store, but it's still damn good, and only like $5/16oz (aka $0.31/oz, 77% cheaper).
In India earlier, people in the South used to brew their own coffee at home, from coffee grounds / powder. There is a special steel utensil for it, with two vertical parts, one of which sits above the other. The top one has fine holes in the bottom of it. You put the coffee powder into the top, then pour some hot water over it, then wait for some time until it extracts the coffee into the bottom part. None of your fancy coffee machine stuff. They call it "decoction" :) Oldsters (and youngsters too) used to swear by it, and could not manage without their morning fix of a cup or two. Some probably still do. We had one of those utensils at home. Usually made with milk, BTW.
if you don't mind, can you share the brand of the machine, and your source for preroasted beans? i'd like to get into this too but am not sure the best approach
