Can we talk about Costa?

[Twitteratti]

I just don't understand why it appears to be so successful. Is it because in too many places there just aren't enough decent alternatives?

Someone on Coco Cola's board obviously thinks it serves decent coffee

I don't drink coffee. Dd and dh who do drink coffee prefer Starbucks and Nero (except there are not many Starbucks here). But Starbucks tea is AWFUL.

On a Sunday afternoon in Stockport only Costa and Macdonalds are open and Costa was a much pleasanter environment in which to sit.

Similarly in the little down dd's dance school ws based in only Costa and Macdonalds open after 4.00pm (although a Nero has since opened.)

I live just off a long road in London. The road isn't that busy pedestrian wise as the only shops there are the metro/local supermarkets mainly. The road mostly consists of house. Yet in the past year Costa have opened three coffee shops there! The furthest is only a 15 minute walk away! I think it's overkill. A vacant shop opened up opposite the nearest one. Guess who moved in? Starbucks! I like a nice coffee as much as the next person but I'm actually a bit fed up of them being everywhere.

I love costa especially there new blend. I much prefer it to Starbucks, which has a bitter aftertaste. I never add sugar to Costa but Starbucks and the independents I often need to add sugar as the coffee is too strong for my taste. Also they do the best toasties

Location, location, location. The market town in which I work has a Costa, Starbucks and Café Nero and two indies. The Costa is in the heart of the shopping precinct and always packed.

It's the same in the market town where we live and shop - Costa has the corner spot in the main shopping location and lots of my friends say 'let's meet at Costa' because everybody knows where it is, when its open and what it sells. Plus their Costa card helps keep brand loyalty.

The coffee is bilgewater. The tuna melt is passable but overpriced. In all, they're not my favourite chain.

I don't like Starbucks particularly. Costa is really variable considering that it's a chain and where Starbucks has trained all its staff to make coffee that I don't like, Costa has a few places where I haven't minded it much.
McDonalds coffee isn't dreadful and in China it was better than most of the hotels we stayed in.

Oh god Starbucks. Their beans always taste burnt to me.

My local Greggs make better coffee than my local Costa, I generally dislike Greggs so I was very and .

There's no other coffee available between home and either of my main work locations (or between locations themselves) so I buy coffee at Greggs.

Do all Greggs stores make good coffee or am I lucky?

Because most people in the real world just want a hot drink on their way to work or a sit down and possibly chat with friends and don't really mind where they do it.

When I'm on the road for work I use the out of town ones because I can park for free and then spend 3 hours on my laptop without feeling guilty. Indie coffee shops are usually in town centres where I'll have to pay to park, and I feel guilty about taking up a table for longer than I 'need' it. The indies often have shit wifi too.

In my own time it's indies all the way and Caffè Nero

Why is it that the cakes in Costa are so universally awful though?

They always have a nice big loo that you can take the pram in and a baby change, they don't mind you taking your own toddler food or sitting there for an hour breastfeeding. I'd feel bad taking up a table that long with one coffee in an independent.
Basically, they suit my needs.

I love Costa. I don’t go though as I’m always on a diet 😫

It's consistent, it's where I tend to be in terms of retail parks, the "little" town centre, the loyalty points come in handy when skint and in need of a hot chocolate and it does stuff I like to drink.

I'm not going to have some moral dilemma about being unable to track down some little artisan coffee shop when I need a drink - and our area is not exactly little independent coffee shop central unless you're wanting a mug of Nescafe with your bacon cob (we have dozens of "caffes")

Honestly coffee is coffee wherever you go.

That is so not the case. Costa coffee is like the water dead men lie in. The only chain that does a half way decent coffee is Nero.

However we have a number of great independents so I go to them.

Starbucks coffee is shit as well, but they do alright...

I like how they do little cakes big (like huge chocolate teacakes and jammy dodgers) and big cakes little (like mini Victoria sponges). It amuses me. I am easily pleased.

I did have an independent coffee shop I liked, but they changed management and they ruined their smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel by replacing the posh salty crisps that came with it with cheese Doritos, the rocket with limp iceberg, and the sesame bagel with plain bagel. So I will never darken their doors again.

Coca Cola see the fizzy drinks market shrinking & shrinking due to public awareness of sugar & the sugar tax. They want a brand that is already very well established to diversify their market & make them less reliant on their key product.

Really good gf brownies and as pp said, open earlier and later than independent places in some areas.

Twitteratti actually, our Costa is possibly the best I've been to, depending on the barista

They make the best hot chocolates

Really?!?!?! Every time I've bought one in various places, it's tasted of absolutely nothing - not horrible, just nothing.

If my choice is a Costa hot chocolate or none, I now always choose none. In the same way that I love juicy strawberries in season, and some varieties are even more delicious than others, but if the only variety on offer is Elsanta (the tasteless ones that they hot-house out of season), I wouldn't consider buying them for a moment.

I don't like coffee. So a Costa decaf latte is just about perfect, as it doesn't taste remotely like coffee.

Surely the obvious answer is because people like it? Everyone has different tastes. I’m not a huge fan but I assume the people who go every day enjoy it.

Costa are fab.
I used to work as an A&E nurse at a large city centre hospital and there was a Costa near our department.
One Xmas eve they donated all of the leftover cakes to the A&E and ambulance staff instead of throwing them out.
They also gave us soya milk free of charge when we had a lactose intolerant baby in and no suitable milk.

I like the consistency wherever I find a Costa (and I have found them in unlikely locations!)
I also like the calorie information being displayed and I can't find that in any independents around here, so it is Costa and Nero all the way.

I quite like them. Very annoyed about the sellout. But I do know what I'm getting, and they are open when I need a coffee. I've had a few Starbucks, but the name thing makes me cringe, and their product always tastes weak. Nero isn't so bad but there are fewer of them and the last time I went in, their loyalty scheme was still a bit of cardboard and a stamp.

We do have a fabulously brilliant indie which is open all hours and has great coffee but (and it's a big but) they are only accessible if I drive about 10 miles to the nearest large town - not walkable in the least. So it's only when passing/going to the cinema that we drop in.

I do avoid the Costa franchises though - the petrol stations, the hospitals etc - as they don't take the loyalty cards and the product is very variable there. And you can't often get skinny or double shot...