--- title: Friends: The Real Reason Monica's Apartment Is Purple description: After 10 seasons of Friends, it was probably difficult for most fans to picture Monica's apartment painted any other color than purple. canonical: https://time.com/5209157/friends-monica-purple-apartment-reason/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-21T17:02:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:03:33.955Z og:title: The Real Reason Monica's Apartment Was Purple on Friends og:description: The color choice wasn't always set in stone og:url: https://time.com/5209157/friends-monica-purple-apartment-reason/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d1162918f8de109/69892b8aab6d7740a86b22b4/friends-apartment.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Friends - Season 1 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Real Reason Monica's Apartment Was Purple on Friends twitter:description: The color choice wasn't always set in stone twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d1162918f8de109/69892b8aab6d7740a86b22b4/friends-apartment.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 01:24 video:published: 2018-01-18 section: entertainment topics: Friends, Central Perk, coffee consumption, Kit Lovelace, fan analysis, coffee spending, Phoebe, tipping, cost estimate, TV sitcoms genre: explainer, pop culture tones: playful, lighthearted, humorous, curious emotions: amusement (high), nostalgia (medium), curiosity (medium) sentiment: positive audience: Friends fans, TV sitcom viewers, pop culture enthusiasts, general audiences people: Kit Lovelace, Phoebe, Chandler, Monica, Joey, Ross, Rachel, Gunther organizations: GEICO, Coinage products: Friends transcript_source: automatic transcription transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # The Real Reason Monica's Apartment Was Purple on _Friends_ > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: How Much Money Did Each Character on Friends Spend on Coffee [Watch (HLS stream): How Much Money Did Each Character on Friends Spend on Coffee](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5kcbriTH.m3u8) (1:24)  _Published 2018-01-18. How Much Money Did Each Character on Friends Spend on Coffee_ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary The video examines how much money the main characters of Friends spent on coffee at Central Perk over the show's 10 seasons. It relies on a count by superfan Kit Lovelace, who rewatched all 236 episodes to tally cups consumed by each character. The video then applies an assumed price per cup plus a tip to estimate the total spend. It closes with an adjusted figure for today's economy. ## Key points - Kit Lovelace rewatched all 236 episodes and calculated the characters' caffeine consumption, finding they drank over 1,150 cups in total. (00:16) - Phoebe drank the most coffee, 227 cups, nearly one per episode. (00:27) - The rest of the ranking: Chandler 212 cups, Monica 198, Joey 191, Ross 188, and Rachel 138. (00:32) - Based on a bill Monica receives, one coffee and a scone at the cafe costs $4.12. (00:43) - The estimate assumes about $1.50 per cup plus a 20% tip for Gunther. (00:50) - The Friends coffee total would be over $2,070. (00:55) - Phoebe's coffee habit accounted for nearly a quarter of the total, at $400. (00:55) - In today's economy, the group would have spent around $3,340. (00:55) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:16] Central Perk and the coffee question. The video introduces Central Perk as the gang's second home and notes the characters spent a small fortune on coffee over 10 seasons. - [00:16 to 00:43] Cups consumed by each character. Superfan Kit Lovelace's count of 236 episodes yields over 1,150 cups, with Phoebe leading and Rachel last. - [00:43 to 01:24] Estimating the total spend. Using a $1.50 cup price and a 20% tip, the video totals over $2,070 and about $3,340 in today's economy. ## Key quotes - [00:27] Narrator: "Phoebe drank the most, consuming 227 cups, nearly one per episode." - [00:16] Narrator: "One Friends superfan, Kit Lovelace, rewatched all 236 episodes and calculated their caffeine consumption." - [00:55] Narrator: "Phoebe's caffeine addiction accounted for nearly a quarter of it at $400." - [00:55] Narrator: "In today's economy, everyone's favorite BFFs would have spent around $3,340." ## Questions this video answers - How many cups of coffee did the Friends characters drink in total? [00:16] - Which Friends character drank the most coffee? [00:27] - How many cups did each of the main characters drink? [00:32] - How much does a coffee and a scone cost at the cafe, based on Monica's bill? [00:43] - How much did the Friends characters spend on coffee overall? [00:55] - How much would the Friends coffee total be in today's economy? [00:55]  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Mar 21, 2018 5:02 PM UTC How Much Money Did Each Character on Friends Spend on Coffee  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Mar 21, 2018 5:02 PM UTC After 10 seasons of [_Friends_](http://time.com/5192289/friends-fan-theories/), it was probably difficult for most fans to picture [Monica’s apartment](http://time.com/4476290/friends-fest-engagement-monica-chandler/) painted any other color than [purple](http://time.com/5195377/google-doodle-william-henry-perkins-purple/). But according to production designer John Shaffner, that unique lilac shade wasn’t always set in stone. While speaking to [_Great Big Story_](https://www.greatbigstory.com/stories/the-man-who-designed-the-set-of-friends), Shaffner revealed that he had to work to convince producers that purple was the right choice for the iconic New York City set—which would house every main character except Ross at some point in the series. “Everybody was really anxious about it,” he said. “Until I painted the little model purple.” Shaffner went on to explain that he was drawn to the attention-grabbing hue because he knew it would draw viewers into the sitcom. “Color is really important in terms of establishing the show identity,” he said. “When you switched to _Friends_, you saw that it was purple and you stayed tuned.” Watch the full video below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5209157/friends-monica-purple-apartment-reason/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5209157/friends-monica-purple-apartment-reason/"},"headline":"The Real Reason Monica's Apartment Was Purple on Friends","datePublished":"2018-03-21T17:02:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-12T09:03:33.955Z","description":"The color choice wasn't always set in stone","url":"https://time.com/5209157/friends-monica-purple-apartment-reason/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Friends","TV"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d1162918f8de109/69892b8aab6d7740a86b22b4/friends-apartment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d1162918f8de109/69892b8aab6d7740a86b22b4/friends-apartment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Friends - Season 1","caption":"Friends - Season 1","creditText":"Reisig & Taylor/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5209157/friends-monica-purple-apartment-reason/","name":"The Real Reason Monica's Apartment Was Purple on Friends"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How Much Money Did Each Character on Friends Spend on Coffee","description":"How Much Money Did Each Character on Friends Spend on Coffee","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/5kcbriTH/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-01-18T20:44:31.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5kcbriTH.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5209157/friends-monica-purple-apartment-reason/","duration":"PT1M24S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5209157/friends-monica-purple-apartment-reason/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```