to be fed up of coffee shops never giving me what I've ordered?

Smaller independents are the way to go for decent coffee

The best and the worst coffee I've had has come from small independents. Chain coffee is never nearly as good as the best but is always drinkable (for me). I've had some truly terrible coffees from independents.

Oh dear!! 😃

@BrightOrangeDahlias

It is always sad I feel when cafes [etc] run out of things. Surely it would be simple enough to slip out to a local shop and buy some. I had a protracted correspondence with an M&S cafe which had run out of stuff. There was plenty in the M&S food hall but they "were not allowed to buy any"! Brilliant management?

It's often worth while writing to their head office who may send a voucher.

Costa is the Weatherspoons of cafes, grotty, overpriced and not what it once was. Starbucks can be marginally better, depending on where you are, and the chai is nowhere near as tasty as the US version (though likely less sugary!). Smaller independents are the way to go for decent coffee… And large chains that trade on their reputations and regularly scam their customers by charging for products they can’t supply (akin to buying fish and chips without the chips 🤦🏻‍♀️) don’t deserve our custom. Make a NY resolution to go local and drink quality coffee in 2025!

Ditto when you ask for kids temperature or not too hot and it comes steaming as it it was heated on the surface of the sun!!

This. I now take a thermos mug with my own coffee in it. I don't like having to pay the best part of a fiver for a lukewarm drink in a small cup. I'll only buy coffee out if it's part of socialising.

@AsTheLightFades

Off topic of course but DGM [long ago] was always confused by scalds and scolds. Always threatening to scald me!

It might be reasonably priced but at my local Greggs it's like tepid dishwater!

the local indies are no better!

no costa or Starbucks in the village...localist (driving distance) are variable.

My bugbear is that they only ever have one toilet, so you have to use the same one as all the smelly boys.

Sure, but drinkable for me is an extra hot. Standard ‘drinkable’ is when I would pour it away and start again. So I wouldn’t be drinking the supposedly nice tasting drink anyway.

Yes!! I hate it. They don't even give you a small discount for not having the fancy bits that make the drink special!

The only place I'll get coffee these days is Greggs as part of the breakfast deal - £2.75 for a sausage bap and coffee, extra 50p for the fancier seasonal ones. Basically buy a relatively reasonable priced coffee and get free breakfast!

This Soooooo much pisses me off too! Everytime I buy some festive or seasonal type drink it always has the bits missing too.
I now ask before I buy if everything comes with it…

Just take it back or refuse to pay for it.
I had a cappuccino at a NT cafe a few weeks ago. It was pretty much hot milk and water. I just went to the counter and said I'd like a shot of coffee as it taste of nothing. They asked if I like a fresh one, I said another shot would do. No quibble, didn't attempt to charge me more. At 4 quid I expect to get what I paid for.

Our local Costa are good at letting you know if not available. You can take it with bits missing or choose something else. I would be very disappointed at no cream on a Christmas coffee!

as it's happened quite a few times, I'd ask them to check if all the ingredients are in stock before you order.

"I'd like to order your nutty latte with creamy squirty blob and chocolate sprinkle hearts (made up drink!) but can you check you've got all the ingredients before I order".

if you were to take it to the limit on your consumer rights, you'd say they're breaching regulations by advertising a product that they can't supply, and try to take your money but fob you off with a lesser quality product.

if you can be bothered you could write to Starbucks/Costa HQ and highlight that their shops aren't able to supply the drinks according to the publicity and are therefore breaching the Trade Descriptions Act (1968) by misleading the consumer. I bet they get away with daylight robbery!

Where there's a blame, there's a claim. People will sue for all sorts, including this.

No, a latte is a milky coffee with foam on top (normally a centimetre or so). Not half a cup of foam.

Isn't that what a latte is meant to be though? If you just want a coffee with lots of milk ask for an Americano with extra room for more milk.

Well yes, agreed, but the point is if someone does ask for it extra hot (which is an option at Costa etc), then it should be served extra hot.

The worst thing is when you pick up your latte and it's so light that you know at least half of the cup is foam. By the time you drink it, the foam is gone and your cup is half full. Such a waste of money.

I only ever get Costa/ Starbucks at services when there's no other option, but it's become such a rip off that I'm going to start taking my own in a thermos.

It's just the units on the thermometer. At Costa the milk is steamed or frothed by the barista using a milk thermometer. Starbucks is done by a machine to a set tempreture.

Coffee isn't supposed to be 'extra hot'. It's supposed to be a drinkable temp when it's made, or the milk is scalded. They're trying to give you a drink that doesn't taste shite.

Yeah cos that tastes so nice out of a flask…🤔🙄

Why on earth are they working in Fahrenheit?