How many watts does a coffee maker use?
A drip coffee maker draws **1000 to 1200 watts** while brewing, for perhaps five to ten minutes. Then it draws about **100 watts** to keep the pot warm, for as long as you leave it on. That second number is smaller and usually costs more.
Work it out with your own tariff
Minutes a day
Watts, from the label on yours
Your rate, cents per kWh
| Period | Cost | Time counted |
|---|---|---|
| One minute | $0.0058 | 1 minute |
| Your daily use | $0.0058 | 1 minute a day |
| A month | $0.17 | × 30 days |
| A year | $2.10 | × 365 days |
1875 W × 1 min ÷ 60 ÷ 1000 = 0.0313 kWh × 18.44¢ = $0.0058 a day.
Minutes are counted per day in total, not per use. If you use it three times a day for two minutes, that is six. The distinction matters because multiplying one use by 365 assumes you use it once a day, and most pages that quote a yearly figure never say which they did. 1000-1200 W is the brewing draw printed on domestic drip coffee makers. The warming plate is a separate and much lower figure — usually 60 to 100 W — and it runs for as long as the machine is left on, which is why the page treats the two phases separately. Rate defaults to 18.44¢ (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2026-05).
The warming plate is the expensive half
| Phase | Draw | Time | Cost a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brewing | 1000 W | 10 min a day | about $11 |
| Warming plate | 100 W | 30 min a day | about $3 |
| Warming plate | 100 W | 1 hour a day | about $7 |
| Warming plate | 100 W | 2 hours a day | about $13 |
Leave the pot on for two hours and the plate costs more than the coffee. That is the whole finding on this page, and it inverts the intuition: the big number on the label runs briefly, the small one runs all morning.
If you want to spend less on coffee electricity, the lever is not the machine. It is switching it off after pouring, or moving the coffee to a vacuum flask, which uses nothing at all.
Which figure the calculator below uses
The calculator takes the brewing draw, because that is the number printed on the appliance and the one people are looking for. The warming plate is not on the label of most machines, and 100 W is a typical value rather than a measured one — which is why it is in the table above with its assumption written out, rather than inside a calculator that would make it look precise.
Pod machines are a different shape
A pod machine has no warming plate. It draws more while heating — often 1200 to 1500 W — but only for thirty seconds or so per cup, and then nothing. On electricity alone it is the cheaper machine to run, which is not the same as the cheaper way to drink coffee.
What this does not account for
Two phases, one calculator. The figure below is brewing only. The warming plate is handled in the table above because its wattage is not printed on most machines and 100 W is typical rather than measured.
No source for either number. The brewing draw is on the appliance. The warming plate figure is a common value across machines, not a measurement we can cite, and it is presented as an assumption with the arithmetic shown so you can substitute your own.
Machines with a hotplate timer switch themselves off. Many switch off after 30 to 120 minutes, which caps the expensive half automatically. If yours does, use the shorter rows in the table.
Grinders, milk frothers and kettles are not counted. If your morning involves those, they are separate draws and this page does not include them.
Worth reading next
Sources
- 01Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.3 — average price of electricity to ultimate customersU.S. Energy Information Administration ·
How these figures are produced: see our methodology.
Figures are calculated from published wattages and a published tariff, both dated above. They are good for comparing devices, not for predicting your bill: your rate, settings and usage all differ.