Reply With QuoteFree wifi is why they are in there. Plus, you can nurse a coffee for an hour.
Is Starbucks to coffee what Superdry is to fashion?
I’m sitting in Starbucks with my 7yr old son while the wife and daughter are prom dress shopping.
Looking around it’s mainly filled with youngsters/students sitting cross legged on the sofas and chairs tapping away on lap tops. Hardly any older generation in here. I’m 48 and I think I must be the oldest in here.
Free wifi is why they are in there. Plus, you can nurse a coffee for an hour.
What freaks me out is a Starbucks drive through located on a industrial estate in Aberdeen, it's just off the main road south out of the city. Every time I've gone past it's got a line of half a dozen cars or more, like WTF are folks addicted to this overpriced crap or what?!!
It’s a style statement: “I’m so busy - I have to drink coffee while driving/walking”
and
”Ooh - I just can’t function without my first coffee!”
All overpriced crap at the end of the day.
A friends gf used to manage a Costa, I couldn't believe the prices for what you got!
Cheers,
Neil.
A fool and their money are easily parted
I used to drink expensive coffees all the time - on expenses - some other fools money
Gray
The worst coffee chain imo. Tastes like nats pee. Weak and wobbly.
Never drank coffee thankfully, my daughters who are 9 and 11 love Starbucks already........even though they don't drink coffee either🤔
It’s definitely a place for the kids to be seen - generally not drinking coffee, but the other McFlurry-esque crud.
Their coffee is also not particularly good, but that doesn’t seem to affect the stores much!
They were a bit of a vanguard for the re-birth if coffeeshop in the UK 20 years ago or whatever, but now they’re just another duff high-street fashion brand
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We are basically becoming the 51st state aren't we...Originally Posted by jaytip
Coffee, in the loosest sense, as conspicuous consumption.
Here in Seattle its ground zero of coffee consumption. Not just Starbucks who are based here but quite a few others. Coffee shops are on every. single. corner. You'll find starbucks branches across the street from each other. In addition to independents as well.
The menus are vast and the different configurations of drinks are endless and range from plain drip to concoctions of many thousands of calories.
I think its an American reaction to a lack of pubs. Imagine if all the pubs in your town/village/high street were coffee shops, thats what its like here.
I openly tell anyone who will listen that I am too tight to pay for anything from a coffee shop be it a drink or their overpriced pastry products.
I’d rather buy a bag full of almond croissants from Aldi and gorge on them at home.
If people say it’s for convenience, f*ck convenience. Not having a coffee until I get home won’t kill me.
It’s an Americanism that I hate, along with Black Friday and the overboard celebration of Halloween.
Unfortunately my boy loves their hot chocolate.
Most coffee lovers will avoid Starbucks in the same way most red meat aficionados avoid McDonald’s.
It’s just a place on the High Street for kids wanting increasingly more complex chilled drinks and grans wanting a ‘milky coffee’ and a toasted tea cake.
Caffè Nero is the only acceptable chain coffee provider.
I believe coffee shops are the 2000’s equivalent of what McDonalds was in the 80’s and 90’s. at some point the bubble will burst and they will not be as popular as they once were. People will find a new cool place to hang out.
I'm useless without the first coffee of the day. Unfortunately the coffee doesn't make much difference.
I'll pay £3.50 for it if the dude has a great big beard and probably go to £4 if he's got a waxed moustache or waistcoat as well.
Drive through coffee joints becoming popular
Good place to while away an afternoon reading a book and nursing a coffee... of course one could go to the local library for that too (and at less cost!)
Caffe Nero offers a far superior high st coffee IMO.
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Juan Valdez FTW
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
It's a sad fact that a large number of pubs have closed. Away from the centre of town, the local pubs are nearly all gone. In the centre of town, you probably wouldn't want to go in many of the pubs; they're youth ghettos only suite for getting totally wankered on Saturday nights. I think we must be getting towards pub / coffee shop parity.
I've only just started drinking coffee at 44 yrs old. What I do know is every time I walked past a Starbucks or costalot all I could smell is fish for some reason. I still don't go in them now and much prefer a fresh ground one at home
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Is Cafe Nero considered that much better than Starbucks? I've tried them once - the coffee was nice but the seats were more comfy in SB I think...
tbh I hate the high street chain outlets but, if I must, then it's cafe nero.
BUT why do I have to keep on telling them, every time, to use a proper espresso cup! They insist on pulling the espresso into a cup the size of a pint glass :-( :-(
Last edited by solwisesteve; 1st April 2019 at 12:15.
If I have to go to SB, my drink of choice is hot chocolate. They find it difficult to +&#@ up an instant drink made from powder. It's not very good, but it's on a par with the stuff I use at home, whereas their tea and coffee is generally unacceptable...
I prefer Costa
Oh dear :-(
Well you get a BIG mug.
I did, for a time, find a Costa where they would make the effort to make my espresso as I wanted it...ie, short, strong and not too hot. But it didn't last as the staff turnover was too high.
The question becomes...where would you buy a take-away espresso? I'll start with Knot Pretzels at Clapham Junction station, on the footbridge above platforms 9 and 10.
Utter rubbish, you mean?
I bloody love them.
Eggnog latte at Christmas, yum.
Sadly since this is a forum dedicated to luxury trinkets I cant get on the extortionate slash conspicuous consumption bandwagon.
I pass through Clapham Junction at least twice a week these days, so will give this a try. Thanks for that.
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I had the misfortune to purchase a cup of coffee? from a costa whilst attending the local hospital, one taste and I took it back and returned it the “barista?” and asked him to bin it, I had to explain that even in a drink fuelled state I had managed to produce such a cup of mud, Refused the money back, that wasn’t the point, it was undrinkable, it would have put more people in hospital beds than plague. First and last visit to one of these places. Never again.
You think Superdry is what all the kids are wearing?
Their marketing must work then!
https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/...-2014040785462
I've also left the coffee they've just presented to me for them to dispose of. To give them their due, they offered to make me another 'the way I like it', but I've come to realise that..given their training, the machine they use and the company's coffee...that simply isn't going to happen. Only if I'm very lucky can I get something palatable in any of the chains. Of them all, as noted above, Nero comes closest. But then I am fussy...
Me too, a nice way to while an hour away if I have my iPad with me. Beats shopping with my wife and daughter anyway.
All the chains use bulk roasted commodity coffee of low quality and over roast it, that’s that particular burnt ashy smell in their cafes, it’s even noticeable if somebody is drinking their coffee sat near you.
They often scald the milk so it loses its sweetness too but that’s the baristas fault not the mediocre coffee.
The only chain that uses good coffee is Harris and Hoole owned by Tesco but that was set up by somebody in specialty coffee for them.
They use Union coffee now which is not as good as what they had before (I’m trying to remember which roaster it was) they have one at Victoria too. But still some of the best train station coffee out there.
For anyone who uses Euston there is a donut stall tucked down near platforms 1 and 2 that does good coffee (volcano roasters) called dumdum donuts. 🍩
I like how Costa offer customers a special blend which is smoother blah blah blah. Yes ok go for it. Thats an extra 20p. I am already paying plenty so just give me the old rough coffee.
I like my coffee too and will always try and visit a local speciality coffee joint if possible, but when there is only the option of the big three I will only go to starbucks - the reason being is that unlike costa and nero they have automated the coffee making process so that its very reproducible drink to drink and day to day. My problem with the costa and nero is that they need to know what they are doing with grind and the coffee puck prep process - which invariably they don't so the coffee is too variable.
Happened to be heading through Clapham on way to Victoria this morning and had a few minutes spare. Decent enough cup. Thanks for the heads up.
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Strange that Costa gets so much grief. Of all the common chains it’s my favourite. At least it tastes like coffee although my Jura machine does a better job imo.
Never buy a takeaway though. Who wants to suck coffee through a little slit? Sod health and safety.
Spring Espresso in York. The best espresso I've had outside my own kitchen!
I find a good judge is to watch
a) what the customers are drinking and
b) how it's pulled
If lots of pensioners drinking frothy milk piled with various pudding ingredients then walk away or settle for water. Anyone that drinks 'coffee' that is so polluted with sweet milk and bits of chocolate or marshmallows then, seriously this is someone that doesn't actually like coffee... they want a milk shake. If the person making the coffee doesn't clean the portafilter out and doesn't know how to use a tamp then, again, go for a glass of water.
Chains are there because we Brits are afraid of the unknown.
Winchester High Street has one of the best coffee shops in the country - Caracoli - which frequently wins awards. The quality of the drinks is leagues ahead of any chain, and the prices are about the same.
That doesn't stop the most popular coffee shops within 20 metres being Starbucks and Nero.
There are, thankfully, still independents and small growing local chains - 3 or 4 shops - that don't burn the roast scold the milk and slop slop in your direction. They also tend to charge a more reasonable exorbitant fee than the big girls
Gray
It is PickleB who gets the thanks.
Never been in one so can't comment on how they taste. I can't Bring myself to pay more than £1.50/£2 for a hot drink. I know someone who worked in one and the profits are huge.
If your comparing companys I would say there more like pandora. When I see people queuing to purchasing that stuff ...well.
Yes what is is about over roasted coffee? We were in Filmore & Union at the weekend... only the second time we've been there but it seems to now be the 'place of choice' for SWMBO. So popped in for a coffee. I thought I'd try an espresso... just so I know for future. Anyway it tasted like charcoal... so it'll be fruit juice next time.
Thankfully i pass them all by as i drink American style instant coffee in the Douwe Edgberts tradition o/w cheap and cheerful and i actually like McDonalds coffee ( i feel so much better for coming out)quite honestly some of the prices are outrageous and the quality especially in restaurants leaves a lot to be desired i rather boiling water and a nescafé sachet.
Round here the price seems to be about two quid for a double espresso. Considering the staff, premises, rates, etc.... I don't think that's too bad.
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