I read an anecdote claiming Theodore Roosevelt drank 3 gallons of coffee a day while in office. Whether this is true or an exaggeration, how much would that have cost in today's dollars? I imagine that it would have been very expensive back then.

by Occams-shaving-cream

Based on the approximations I could find, one pound of beans makes 2-3 gallons of coffee depending on strength, today a pound of decent coffee costs about $10. So to do that now would be $3,650/year. I can only imagine that a century ago it was much more expensive to obtain and transport coffee from the growing regions, I am curious how much it would cost to drink that much coffee back then.

angrynerdist84

Now I never heard if Teddy drank 3 gallons of coffee a day, I've seen 1 gallon. However, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics- https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-2/average-food-prices-a-snapshot-of-how-much-has-changed-over-a-century.htm Coffee cost about .30 cents per pound in 1913. Sorry I couldn't find prices for coffee in 1900, its not that they aren't out there I just couldn't find them from a reputable source.

By your estimation, 1 pound of beans makes 3 gallons of coffee. That would be about $109.50 per year in 1913 dollars.

It looks like in 1900 the U.S. gov had a budget of about 588 million. I don't not think $109.50 would be that big of deal https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals