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Original poster

Is it normal to buy a coffee every day?

240 replies

MatchingStraws · 30/06/2021 21:55

DD is 14 and loves watching 'a day in my life' Tiktoks and Youtubers.

We have a regular debate over how aspirational their lives are. DD seems genuinely convinced that it is totally normally to buy an iced latte every day. Whereas I am huffing and puffing about how much that costs over a month Grin

OP posts:
Rainbowsew · 01/07/2021 17:07

It's been an eye-opener for me in the last 5 years I've been doing post graduate study at local uni and they have several chain outlets at these places and the students and lecturers were in there several times a day. When I was an undergrad in the 90s we went to they students' Union bar and the only coffee was instant in a polystyrene cup!

I don't know how the students afford it, it was my treat once a week on a PT course!

LightasaBreeze · 01/07/2021 17:17

The coffee isn't that nice and I'm not sure if its those dreadful takeaway or reusable cups that make it taste as it does, it always taste a lot better if you have it in a proper mug. I always used to get my free Waitrose one in a porcelain reusable mug so it tasted better. I find this happens in all the coffee shops with the taste so I'm sure it is the cup.

FindingMeno · 01/07/2021 17:19

I probably buy 3 coffees a year, even in non pandemic times.
Extortionate waste imo.

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General food
TotorosCatBus · 01/07/2021 17:23

Have you seen this?
www.pret.co.uk/en-GB/pretcoffeesub

I think that once your child gets a job and knows how much work goes into that £3 latte, they are likely to rethink things.

singlehun · 01/07/2021 17:24

It's over two weeks food shopping for me so no, definitely not.

I could afford maybe one every couple of weeks so definitely a treat.

DK123 · 01/07/2021 17:28

When I had a city job I'd get one at lunchtime if I really wanted to get away from my colleagues and it was too cold/raining to find somewhere outside to sit. I always feel a bit guilty when I buy a takeaway coffee, a lot of my colleagues bought 2 or 3 a day, which actually could equate to the price of a holiday over a year.
I now only get them in the services if I'm driving late at night and it's bad weather, so it's a bit nicer than having a can of Coke.

80sMum · 01/07/2021 17:38

Buying a daily coffee is definitely not the norm in my world. I might have a coffee/tea in a café if meeting up with a friend for lunch, but that's only about once every 6 to 8 weeks.

Most of the time we just make our own and have it in our houses/gardens.

I dread to think how much it would add up to over the year if I bought one every day!

Yaykyay · 01/07/2021 17:54

@Nowstrong

In Italy = yes In France = not automatic Iced Latte = never. It's not a coffee
How is an iced latte not coffee?

If it has espresso, which it does, I'd love to know whatagical process happens to make it not coffee?

Do you understand there's a difference between a frappe or frappichino and an ices latte?

00100001 · 01/07/2021 17:54

@Thewiseoneincognito

No it’s a complete waste of money. Once you add up the cost over a year you soon realise how detrimental to financial health it is.

Literally pissing money away that’s before considering the calories.

Well, any drink is a waste of money, surely? I mean you're literally pissing away money with squash, fizz, juice, tea , hot chocolate etc

(Except water obvs)

00100001 · 01/07/2021 17:56

@Nowstrong

In Italy = yes In France = not automatic Iced Latte = never. It's not a coffee
How is iced latte not a coffee??

It's literally coffee with ice cubes in it...

Unless you're one of those snobs that say latte isn't a coffee??

PromisingMiddleagedWoman · 01/07/2021 17:57

I buy a takeaway coffee most days, and so it’s normal for me.

I am lucky to have a certain amount of disposable income and this is what I personally choose to spend some of it on. It’s odd it’s always takeaway coffees that are mentioned as the barrier preventing young people saving, buying houses etc. Never six packs of beer, monthly hair cuts or many other things (which I don’t choose to spend my money on).

For me making a coffee at home just isn’t the same. I’m working from home at the moment and I enjoy getting out of the house, walking into town, seeing people etc when I get my coffee.

PromisingMiddleagedWoman · 01/07/2021 18:02

There’s definitely a subtle gendered/ageist element to the sneering at takeaway coffee as well. Spending £20 on some drinks down the pub - no issue. But spending £20 over a few days at a coffee shop on drinks - silly millennial who doesn’t understand how much their spending adds up to.

I reckon everyone on this thread who buys a daily coffee knows roughly how much it costs. Telling me I spend £50 a month on coffee is no surprise to me - I like coffee, I have the money and I’d rather have the coffee rather than save £50!

MostIneptThatEverStepped · 01/07/2021 18:15

I'm a big fan of the Pret £20 a month subscription. I was definitely paying a lot more than that!
Just about the only thing I'm looking forward to about going back to the office is going to Pret regularly again.

People need things to look forward to. I don't smoke, I've given up booze and I never really eat out. Let me enjoy my measly £20 a month on flat whites 😂

IndigoApple · 01/07/2021 18:18

@PromisingMiddleagedWoman well said! Laughing at everyone doing the maths as if we don’t know how to.

PromisingMiddleagedWoman · 01/07/2021 18:22

@IndigoApple Indeed! I wonder if there’s anyone out there thinking to themselves ‘oh my god - until I read this thread I thought my daily coffees were costing me £5 a month. Turns out I was wrong…’

transformandriseup · 01/07/2021 18:22

When I was working in the office I used to begrudge paying for milk occasionally so it is not normal for me as I just couldn't afford it.

When I was a teen about 15 odd years ago I used to have a coffee/hot chocolate in a cafe with my friend one a week but it was just a regular cafe and not Costa/Starbucks etc.

elp30 · 01/07/2021 18:30

My son works at Starbucks and he has the early shift. There are always at least four cars awaiting him to arrive and turn everything on at 4:45am for his 5am start. He says it's always the same people and they easily spend $10 a day on coffee and a snack.

He's been working there while he studies for his nursing degree. That finishes in December and I'm so not ready to pay for my own coffee!

RubyFowler · 01/07/2021 19:07

I don't go past a pret on my way to work. Otherwise the £20 subscription would be very tempting indeed.

Sometimesonly · 01/07/2021 20:04

I get an espresso after lunch almost every day - was nice when I was working from home to actually see someone real once a day! That is only 1 euro 20 though. I don't in the UK because it's expensive and I've never had a good espresso in the UK

AlGorithim · 01/07/2021 22:08

Re. the cups, I’d actually like to see disposable cups pretty much banned even if they are recyclable. Coffee shops should give a discount to people bringing their own cups in and charge a premium for a disposable cup.

I take part in a regular litter pick in a national park where there are three separate takeaway cafes and we pick up more coffee cups than anything else. People get a coffee/tea and go on a walk, drink it but don’t want to carry the empty cup so they just drop it, assuming that someone else will pick it up. Then they try and justify it by saying there should be more bins.

purplecorkheart · 01/07/2021 22:19

Yes when I was working in the City in my first job but still living at home. It was pretty normal. It was a tiny coffee shop that had a large walkway to it. If you were going to order something different from what you usually ordered you used a different entrance. Otherwise if you used the main door by the time you got to the top of the queue your usual was ready for you.

coodawoodashooda · 01/07/2021 22:20

Yeah the money is crazy.

ElderMillennial · 01/07/2021 22:25

What's "normal"?

There will be who do this and people who don't.

When I worked in the city centre I used to have phases of buying starbucks regularly. Sometimes it would be daily. I tried to limit it to a couple of times a week due to the cost but I spent a lot of money on hot drinks and buying lunches.

DukeofEarlGrey · 01/07/2021 23:27

I agree with you both - it’s normal and it’s expensive.

I think it’s quite nice that teenagers have coffeee places to hang around in now. When I was a teenager they weren’t yet a thing and there wasn’t really anywhere for us to go.

BarbaraofSeville · 02/07/2021 03:32

Re. the cups, I’d actually like to see disposable cups pretty much banned even if they are recyclable. Coffee shops should give a discount to people bringing their own cups in and charge a premium for a disposable cup

Sadly I think covid has undone a lot of good work on reusable cups and other single use plastics, as I get the impression that they won't fill reusable cups now - do any coffee shop regulars know if this is the case?

I have coffee out so rarely that I'm out of touch.