I grew up in the realm of the typical middle-class American consumer. This meant that at the age of 12, I started drinking coffee every morning, picked up in a jiffy at one of the many super-local Dunkin Donuts, all courtesy of my mom's pre-work purchase habits. When I would get to school, I'd set my iced hazelnut latte down and watch the perspiration drip into a ring on my desk as class progressed. In the hallways, I would compare coffees with my peers—we would babble about the corridor at 9 in the morning, scrambling to chat with as many peers as possible before our next class.

"What's a macchiato?"

"What do you mean they didn't put whip cream on top?"

"The salted caramel latte from Starbucks is to die for. My mom said the drive-through line was too long today though! Can I have a sip?"

There's this huge trend of people doling out about twenty dollars every morning to commercial franchises like Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts for coffee at to hand off to their family members or co-workers which is ridiculously expensive! But hold steadfast! There is a better way!

Americans are infamous for their coming of age habit of buying coffee every morning before work. This practice crosses the boundary of luxury into excess- we simply do not need to be spending so much of our resources on service-based goods. These service-based coffee drinks are made by baristas that are underpaid and overworked. As consumers, we have been waiting for someone to come along and re-evaluate what America's fast-food industry has done to our wallets and bodies- this is that calling.

I have been working as a barista for about four months now. I love coffee. Actually, I began as a volunteer, recently appointed as organization staff. No volunteer gets check-basis pay for their work at the organization (even though each volunteer does get an allowance for the delicious food served by the cafe). Before the perceived absurdity of volunteering for what is a very real, fast-paced job dawns on you, let me address a few things:

Getting a job as a Barista is hard. The job tends to be a huge segway operation for bartending, you're not allowed to work until you are at least 18, you get paid relatively low entry wages if hired (particularly if you are part of a corporate brand), and you are tasked with preparing each drink in an orderly, consistent manner- for every customer, per every request.

Baristas may get bitter. They fight for their positions- I've seen some über-serious coffee shop coworkers tell their team members misinformation about recipes to oust the unlearned link to a manager or to better hold their own job. It's a hard and fast world behind the bar, and if you can't hold your own, you'll probably end up moving on. Regardless of how drawn an employee is to the atmosphere of a cafe or the aesthetic of working as a barista, one may better fit as a patron who is cut out for a job that pays enough to afford those heart-warming lattes.

However, if you are passionate about craft coffee, and know how to be a pleasant, productive, and constructive coworker that is an asset to one's company of choice, you stay. And you love every minute. You count the seconds- tea by tea, pour over by pour over, milk steam by milk steam- while the hours lined up roll by snappy as ever. The experience I have received as a volunteer prepared me so thoroughly for my hired position; I have no regrets, regardless of the kinds of comments we volunteers received from customers who did not understand the exchange.

Understand that nothing makes me happier than buying a coffee on a bad day. A medium sized latte, about a 10-ounce drink, costs five dollars. It is the standard cafe order- perfectly proportioned espresso and milk of your choice, all steamy and sweet, sitting there in your mug, ready to be devoured. Sip, by sip, by sip.

Now, if you fit the bill of the standard American coffee consumer, you buy the drink anywhere from three to seven days a week. Maybe if you're picking up a beverage every morning, you choose a coffee instead of an espresso combo, which is typically three dollars compared to five- each dollar omitted saving two minutes of the barista's time. Time is equivalent to money behind the busy bar, but your money is just money, spent in whichever way you choose as fit. Maybe it is affordable for you to grab a latte or macchiato every morning before you head to your office. But maybe, just maybe, your time would be better well spent waking up a bit earlier to pull together your own drinks on short mornings.

If you're regularly driving your family to school and yourself to work, you're likely dropping a 20 at a drive-through window, while letting go of a sigh. You can picture yourself turning in your seat to hand back a latte to one kid while asking your son to stop squealing at his sister for holding his macaroni project too far out of his reach. You ask her to give it back; she acknowledges you with a quick look and continues to test your patience.

All in the last moment, your own tower of coffee and your daughter's regular cappuccino end up in your hands, bringing a little warmth to a car full of air conditioning and shrill toddler yells. You pass the cappuccino to your eldest daughter, sitting passenger side, who's staring down at her cell phone. She simply mutters, “thanks." You leave a dollar in the Starbucks barista's tip jar because you just saw her manager give a look that meant pick up the pace, now. The pressure is on, but you're driving on, away, rushing to the next destination in your morning routine.

I used to be that eldest daughter.

There has to be a better way for our families to wake up and meet the day. There has to be a kinder way to go about family shopping.

The twenty dollar coffee-shopper could afford to go on a flight within a four-month span- if they manage to cut back on their commercial coffee spending. Yes, we like the idea of purchasing- it releases a flood of dopamine in human's brains- but even at the rate of 25 dollars a week (that's about five lattes or seven large coffees), we are leading an unsuitable monetary lifestyle. Americans love to buy, and it's ingrained in our habit and culture. Spending above average on service-based goods detracts from money that can be spent on more pleasant experiences in healthcare, education, or adventures. When you hear high school students talk about who has Starbucks and who has Dunkin', you start to realize that the whole ordeal is about spending status and that that creates quite a strange hierarchy that really exists outside of their control. When you realize that you need the latte before work or class, you contemplate what that habit has truly become.

When the college student looks at their bank account on a Friday night before everyone and their brother is ready to hit the bar, they come to the disappointment that they don't have enough to afford their night out because they just had to have that latte before their class... three days in a row.

Healthy spending habits come with change, and they come with practice. You don't have to stop shopping for coffee, you simply have to change where you get it.

In Italy, the stovetop espresso coffee maker is called a Mokapot; in Cuba and Haiti, it is called a cafétera. You could invest in one on amazon.com for $18.25, and a bag of Cafe Bustello that yields about 24 shots of good quality espresso is only $4.

The coffee maker comes in three parts: the bottom water-holding chamber, the espresso grind catch, and the top espresso chamber. To make a solid espresso that only really costs a dollar with milk, go ahead and pop the smallest stove eye onto medium heat. Any milk will do! I think nut milks are so more nutritionally various and versatile. Half & half is pretty yummy if you are looking for a dairy option.

A quick fill of the bottom chamber of your cafétera with filtered water and of its grind catch with a cake of espresso (make sure to pack it down with the back of a spoon) lands you at a two minute prep time. Slide it onto the stove alongside a small pot filled with about two cups of milk; set a timer for ten minutes and find the espresso ready and the milk steamed. Combine first with a natural sweetener like honey or brown sugar, and you have a matching, if not surpassing drink, when comparing to your regular commercial coffee purchase. (Need more than two drinks at a time? Grab a second cafétera. It's worth it.)

We should save our hard earned spending cash for coffee shops that source locally and sustainably- ones that express the interest and love found in a community. Spending in small businesses directly invests money into your own town, compared to a corporate or franchise center. Americans vote with their dollar- who you choose to support financially is who sets an industry standard. Baristas deserve their fair wage and a comfortable workplace where they are respected, just as we customers do. Not to mention, small businesses bring vitality and variety to each town they are emphasized in.

Another huge advantage of making coffee at home and shopping at community cafes is that you know the exact amount and quality of sugar that goes into your drink. Your friends and family could now be saved from the absurd amounts of processed sugar found in commercial drink products.

Quality is within your own home; afford the time, and watch the pattern catch on. Let that robust coffee aroma fill your home, and get the chance to put your smile on before you walk out the door.