Advanced options
Kettle cost assumes boiling one mug's worth (~0.045 kWh): overfilling the kettle is where tea money actually leaks: boiling double costs double, every time, and most people do. The teapot-for-two halves the bag cost, and the year figure explains why every British office runs on a rota and a tin.
What The Cup Of Tea Cost Calculator Works Out
- Per cup: teabag plus milk plus kettle electricity. A big-brand bag is about 3.5p, a splash of milk about 3p and boiling one mug's worth (0.045 kWh) about 1.2p at the current Ofgem price cap unit rate, so the national cuppa costs roughly 8p fully loaded.
- Your habit per year: the per-cup cost multiplied by your daily cups x 365. The national average of three to four cups a day compounds to GBP 100 to GBP 120 a year, about 1,500 cups.
- vs cafe tea: what the same cups would cost bought out at GBP 2.20 each, minus your home cost. The same 1,500 cups bought in cafes exceed GBP 3,000.
- Electricity unit rate (advanced): the kettle cost defaults to the current Ofgem price cap unit rate; edit it for your tariff. The cap period and rate are shown alongside the kettle result for reference.
- How much you boil (advanced): one mug's worth, two mugs or a full 1.7 litre kettle (about 0.19 kWh). Overfilling is the national default and the one genuine leak in tea economics: boiling a full kettle for one mug costs four to five times as much, every time.
- Teabags per cup and your teabag price (advanced): a teapot amortises one bag across two cups, builder's tea uses two, and you can type the exact pence per bag from the box (price divided by bag count). Blind tests are crueller to premium bags than their drinkers expect.
- Overfill penalty (advanced): the extra electricity per year if every cup came from a full kettle rather than the amount you actually boil. The fill-what-you-pour habit saves more than any teabag downgrade.
- Whole household per year (advanced): multiplies the habit by the number of tea drinkers, which is why every British office runs on a rota and a tin.
- Biscuit bill per year (advanced): biscuits per cup at your price each (a digestive is about 5p to 7p, a chocolate one 10p plus). The biscuit, not the tea, is usually the habit's real budget line.