Datasets:

JOHNISKING
/

ai-coffee-break-cache-cost

wait_min int64	rep int64	actual_gap_s int64	turn1_cost_usd float64	turn2_cost_usd float64	turn2_first_call_cache_read int64	turn2_first_call_cache_write int64	turn2_first_call_cache_write_1h int64	turn2_cache_write_total int64	turn2_cache_read_total int64	turn2_model_calls int64	cache_hit bool
0	1	0	0.3439	0.0409	41,765	589	589	1,431	84,119	2	true
4	1	240	0.3649	0.0418	42,578	498	498	1,390	85,654	2	true
6	1	360	0.3757	0.0424	42,983	471	471	1,339	86,437	2	true
15	1	900	0.3929	0.0397	43,372	462	462	1,259	87,206	2	true
30	1	1,800	0.3749	0.0439	42,923	515	515	1,440	86,361	2	true
55	1	3,300	0.4162	0.0454	44,393	521	521	1,506	89,307	2	true
65	1	3,900	0.3785	0.2547	15,925	27,660	27,660	28,510	59,510	2	false
0	2	0	0.3218	0.0371	41,107	404	404	1,045	82,618	2	true
4	2	240	0.4003	0.0427	43,887	435	435	1,354	88,209	2	true
6	2	360	0.3462	0.0414	41,897	520	520	1,368	84,314	2	true
15	2	900	0.3714	0.0416	42,780	543	543	1,395	86,103	2	true
30	2	1,800	0.3579	0.0426	42,348	472	472	1,371	85,168	2	true
55	2	3,300	0.3476	0.0396	41,973	482	482	1,323	84,428	2	true
65	2	3,900	0.3677	0.2506	15,925	27,261	27,261	28,111	59,111	2	false

The coffee-break tax: what your next Claude Code message costs after a 0 to 65 minute pause

Claude Code (Opus 5.5) builds a game, waits 0 to 65 minutes, then gets a small change request in the same session. Up to 55 minutes the next message cost about $0.04 (one-hour prompt cache); after 65 minutes it cost about $0.25.

Page with method, findings and limitations: https://tokensave.app/data/ai-coffee-break-cache-cost
Zenodo (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23489501 (record https://zenodo.org/records/23489502)
GitHub: https://github.com/johnisking/token-cost-by-language

Measured 2026-10-20 by TokenSave. License CC BY 4.0. In raw logs the PC user name is replaced by USER.

Citation

TokenSave (2026). The coffee-break tax: what your next Claude Code message costs after a 0 to 65 minute pause [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23489501

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