Why your Starbucks coffee is not as expensive as you think

Starbucks may cost more for a cup of coffee than other coffee chains and fast food restaurants, but there’s a legitimate reason to head there. It’s one of the cheapest places for your caffeine fix.

Move over Costa, McDonald’s, Tim Hortons, and everywhere else selling coffee. Starbucks is actually one of the cheapest places to get your caffeine fix. I know exactly what you’re thinking: “But it’s the most expensive place to buy a cup of coffee.” Well, Starbucks believes it’s about the quality and not the quantity.

Sure, one cup of medium coffee—just a bog standard Americano—is going to cost you more in Starbucks than anywhere else. According to Quartz, a 16-ounce cup of Joe in New York costs you $2.65 in the coffee house but will cost you as little as $1.19 in McDonald’s. So, why should you head to somewhere more expensive?

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Starbucks’ coffee has far more caffeine than anywhere else. That $2.65 cup is giving you more than 300mg of caffeine. Meanwhile, McDonald’s $1.19 cup gets you roughly 150mg. When you look at the caffeine amounts, you’re getting your money’s worth in the Starbucks one.

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Not sure it all stacks up yet? Quartz broke it down further by going to milligram of caffeine per dollar. Your expensive drink offers 124.5mg per dollar, while you’re getting 121.8mg per dollar for the McDonalds. 7-Eleven’s coffee is the only one that beat Starbucks by the milligram, offering 129mg per dollar for a cup, and you’ll pay $2.17 there.

Dunkin’ Donuts turns out to be the worst for your caffeine fix, offering just 100mg of caffeine for your dollar. So if you’re looking for quality in your caffeine fix, you’ll want to skip the donut chain.

Of course, this is just in New York, but you’ll see similar results everywhere else. Before you start telling someone to skip the Starbucks because somewhere else is cheaper, think about the quality.