Filter Coffee Sachets or Ground Coffee: Which Is Cheaper per Cup?

What we compared

Offices, meeting rooms and hotel breakfast counters brew filter coffee in a jug machine, and the coffee arrives either as pre-weighed sachets or as loose ground coffee that someone measures by hand. Both are a filter grind, roasted to order, so the real differences are price, portion control and time at the machine.

The prices below were read from the Trade store on 16 October 2026. Coffee is zero-rated, so there is no VAT to add.

Format	Trade price	Cost per 60g brew	Per 125ml cup	Per 150ml cup
Filter sachets, 60g, box of 40	£50.28 per box	£1.26	10.5p	12.6p
Loose ground coffee, 1kg bag	£22.95 per bag	£1.38	11.5p	13.8p
Loose ground coffee, 6kg case	£124.00 per case	£1.24	10.3p	12.4p

Assumptions: one 60g dose brews a 1.5-litre jug, which pours 12 cups of 125ml or 10 cups of 150ml. Sachet price is Café Français Blend 60g sachets (£50.28 ÷ 40 = £1.257 each). Loose ground prices are All Day Blend ground coffee: £22.95 ÷ 1,000g × 60g = £1.377 per brew; £124.00 ÷ 6,000g × 60g = £1.24 per brew. Prices checked 16 October 2026 and exclude the cost of filter papers, milk and cups.

Sachets cost about the same per kilo as a case

A box of 40 sachets at 60g holds 2.4kg of coffee, so £50.28 is £20.95 per kilo. A 6kg case of loose ground coffee at £124.00 is £20.67 per kilo, and a 1kg bag is £22.95 per kilo. The portioning adds roughly 28p a kilo over the case price and saves about £2 a kilo against buying 1kg bags.

That surprises people who expect a convenience premium. On the Trade store a box of 40 is priced as a case, because it is one. The filter coffee sachets collection lists five coffees in 50g, 60g, 70g and 80g sizes, and the ground coffee collection has the same coffees loose, in 1kg bags and 6kg cases.

Where loose coffee quietly costs more

The table assumes whoever makes the coffee measures exactly 60g every time. In most workplaces nobody weighs it. A heaped scoop, a bit extra because yesterday's was weak, or a second brew made on top of a half-full jug all add up.

If the real dose is 70g rather than 60g, a brew from the 6kg case costs £1.45 instead of £1.24 (£124.00 ÷ 6,000g × 70g), and the £1.26 sachet is now the cheaper option. At 80g the loose brew costs £1.65. A sachet cannot be over-dosed, so its cost per jug is fixed on the day you order. It also leaves no open bag going stale on a shelf; our page on roasting to order explains why that matters in the cup.

A month of coffee for a 30-person office

Take an office of 30 people drinking two cups a day, five days a week, over a four-week month. That is 1,200 cups, or 100 jugs of 1.5 litres at 12 cups a jug.

Format	Coffee needed for 100 jugs	What you order	Monthly cost
Filter sachets, 60g	100 sachets	2½ boxes of 40 (order 3; 20 carry over)	£125.70 for 100 sachets used
Loose ground, 1kg bags	6kg	6 bags	£137.70
Loose ground, 6kg case	6kg	1 case	£124.00

Assumptions: 30 people × 2 cups × 5 days × 4 weeks = 1,200 cups; 1,200 ÷ 12 = 100 jugs; 100 × 60g = 6kg. Sachet cost is 100 × £1.257. Costs assume exact 60g dosing; see the over-dosing section for what happens when it slips.

The spread between cheapest and dearest is £13.70 a month. At that scale the decision is about who makes the coffee and whether you want the dose controlled, not the price of the coffee itself. For event volumes, our guide to how much filter coffee a meeting needs covers jug sizes and delegate numbers.

Which format suits which business

Sachets suit any site where several people make the coffee and nobody owns it: open-plan offices, meeting suites, hotel breakfast rooms, care homes and staffrooms. Match the sachet weight to the jug: 60g for 1.5 litres, 70g for 1.7 litres, and the larger sizes for commercial filter and bulk brew machines.

Loose ground coffee in a 6kg case suits a site with one trained person on the machine, scales or a fixed scoop, and enough throughput to use 6kg while it is fresh. It is the cheapest per cup on paper and the easiest to overspend on in practice.

A bean-to-cup machine is a different comparison: whole beans from a 6kg case at £124.00 cost about 16.5p for an 8g single-shot drink (£124.00 ÷ 6,000g × 8g). The cost-per-cup calculator lets you put your own volumes and dose against any coffee on the store.

Filter sachets vs ground coffee FAQs

Are filter coffee sachets more expensive than loose ground coffee?

Not by much. On trade prices checked on 16 October 2026, 60g sachets work out at £20.95 per kilo, a 6kg case of loose ground coffee at £20.67 per kilo and 1kg bags at £22.95 per kilo.

How many cups does a 60g filter coffee sachet make?

One 60g sachet brews a 1.5-litre jug, which pours 12 cups of 125ml or 10 cups of 150ml.

Which sachet size do I need for my filter machine?

Match the weight to the jug: 60g for a 1.5-litre jug and 70g for a 1.7-litre jug. Larger commercial bulk brewers take more, so check the machine's recommended dose before ordering.

Is it cheaper to buy ground coffee in 1kg bags or a 6kg case?

The case. A 6kg case of All Day Blend ground coffee is £124.00, or £20.67 per kilo, against £22.95 for a 1kg bag, so the case saves about £2.28 per kilo.

Can I use whole beans in a filter coffee machine?

Only if you grind them first. A filter machine needs a medium filter grind, so either order the coffee ready-ground or add a grinder set for filter.