How much electricity do a coffee maker and an espresso machine use?
Drip coffee maker 33 kWh/yr, espresso 24 kWh (ADEME medians). Yearly cost at UK/US tariffs and per-brew estimate.
- Electricity per year
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- Per month
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- Per brew
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Measured benchmarks (yearly cost at your tariff)
- Drip coffee maker (33 kWh)
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- Espresso machine (24 kWh)
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Defaults: median annual use metered by ADEME (Panel Elecdom, July 2023 – July 2024) — drip coffee maker 33 kWh (11 units), espresso machine 24 kWh (33). Middle half: 19–43 kWh for drip, 12–33 kWh for espresso. Brew mode: kWh/yr = watts × minutes ÷ 60 ÷ 1000 × brews/day × 365 (nameplate power, so an upper bound). A drip maker’s keep-warm plate can use as much as the brew itself. Results are indicative estimates based on the values you enter. Always check your appliance labels, your tariff and the manufacturer’s data.
- In ADEME’s metering, a drip coffee maker used a median 33 kWh a year (11 units) — about £8.69 at the UK price cap or $6.04 at the US average.
- An espresso machine: median 24 kWh (33 units) — about £6.32 / $4.39 — often less than drip thanks to shorter cycles.
- A drip maker’s keep-warm plate can use as much energy as the brew itself if you leave the carafe on it.
- For context, a median [kettle](/en/cost-to-boil-a-kettle/) uses 32 kWh/yr: morning coffee is a small bill item unless usage is heavy.
Choose drip or espresso (ADEME medians) or enter heating power and brew time. The calculator shows yearly and monthly cost and — in brew mode — the cost of one cycle.
Metered use in real homes
| Appliance | Units metered | Median | Middle half | Mean | Median cost, UK cap | Median cost, US average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drip coffee maker | 11 | 33 kWh/yr | 19–43 kWh | 34 kWh | ≈ £8.69 | ≈ $6.04 |
| Espresso machine | 33 | 24 kWh/yr | 12–33 kWh | 25 kWh | ≈ £6.32 | ≈ $4.39 |
| Kettle (benchmark) | 38 | 32 kWh/yr | 16–54 kWh | 39 kWh | ≈ £8.42 | ≈ $5.86 |
The drip sample is small (11 units): the median is still the best summary, but the 19–43 kWh band shows how much habits matter (pots per day, keep-warm). Espresso is better sampled (33 units) and sits a little lower.
Drip vs espresso: what drives the bill?
Nameplate power (often 900–1,500 W to heat water) matters less than how long the heater runs and whether a keep-warm plate stays on:
- Drip coffee: a 5-minute brew at 1,000 W ≈ 0.083 kWh (≈ 2.2p at 26.32p/kWh). Leaving an 80 W plate on for 30 minutes adds ≈ 0.04 kWh — almost as much again.
- Espresso (portafilter or bean-to-cup): short cycles; many machines then drop to low standby. That helps explain the lower ADEME median despite high boiler/pump power.
Brew mode estimates kWh = watts × minutes ÷ 60 ÷ 1000, times brews per day — useful for comparing habits, remembering that nameplate power is an upper bound.
In the kitchen, a small item
Next to an oven (109 kWh median), an induction hob (94 kWh) or even a microwave (29 kWh), the coffee machine is secondary. Coffee plus a kettle (32 kWh) is about 56–65 kWh/yr depending on type — roughly £15–17 at the UK cap or $10–12 at the US average.
Four simple habits
- Switch off keep-warm as soon as you pour (or use a thermal carafe).
- Heat only the water you need — the same habit as with a kettle.
- Descale regularly: scale lengthens heat-up time.
- Power off bean-to-cup machines that otherwise sit in preheat all day.
For every metered appliance, see the ADEME open data table.