What’s the worst coffee shop do you think?

[Soubriquet]

I needed to kill some time before my bus and the nearest shop was Starbucks.

I don’t drink coffee but I thought a cup of tea would be fine. Nope. It was horrendous. It was honestly the worst tea I’ve ever had in my life. I couldn’t drink it and I had to pay the pleasure of £5 for it!!

Next time, I would rather walk 10 mins to a greggs

Never had tea from Starbucks but I really don't like the coffee, it's always bitter, and the fake cream stuff they use is disgusting.

Yes always flies hovering over unwrapped cakes in costa

Costa's Flat Whites and Cortados are small and not wasteful.

Starbucks is grim, I can't see the attraction. Coffee #1 is the best of the chains, I think. They do their tea in teapots as well.

Costa is awful, their shops are always run down and feel grubby. Overpriced and not good coffee. I avoid chains but if I have to go somewhere, Pret coffee is nice and their filter coffee is cheap.

Starbucks coffee isn't great, it's very bitter and I don't enjoy the setting/atmosphere as much as I do other coffee shops. The chairs are never comfortable, the lighting too bright, it's more about the way it looks than the overall comfort and atmosphere.

ABS
Anywhere but Starbucks.

I’m not too keen when my coffee comes with a dose of politics. So I prefer Greggs!

We stopped going to Starbucks as their drinks taste babyish and they do silly juvenile concoctions. The students seem to like it there though.

Costa used to do a drinkable coffee, but it's horrible now, so we stopped going there as well.

We go to a couple of nice independent places or just make a coffee at home. Lidl do a nice ground French roast which is actually quite nice, so we just drink that if we haven't got anything else in.

I think most of the chain places must be using the sweepings up judging by the taste. Burned and rancid 🤢

My 3 go to places for a decent coffee at a good place:
. McDonald's
. Greggs
. Spoons
I haven't got expensive tastes to be fair! If I go to Costa or Starbucks I just have a mint tea but it seems so expensive for what it is.
I find Costa often smells very 'milky' & our local Starbucks is quite run down.

Starbucks, Pret, hideous coffee.

Pret coffee tastes horrible and burnt to me but clearly lots of people are happy with it!

I absolutely love the coffee from Notes.

They're all a rip-off in my opinion. Take your own flask!

Why is coffee such a rip off? We've just come back from Italy where a decent cappuccino anywhere costs you €2 tops

McDonalds and Greggs are better as they are consistent - they have machines that are well engineered and set up to make the right coffee for the right size cup.

The chains are awful - Costa serves brown dishwater and the serving sizes are ludicrous.

Caffe Nero tea always tastes a bit salty to me. They do the best hot chocolate though by a mile.

I try to avoid the chains, but yes, Starbucks is by far the worst. I would rather do without coffee! Costa and Cafe Nero are OK

Starbucks but Costa a close second

Worst for me is Starbucks. Tried it once and never again! Also, last time I was in (granted this was about 10 years ago) the gluten free snacks sat on a tray next to normal ones with normal tongs…so gluten free for people doing the ‘oh, I don’t eat gluten’ thing, but no use for coeliacs!
Costa is my choice in the cold months cause I like their hot chocolate best. Cafe Nero is my choice in warm months for their cold drinks. And I can get a prepackaged, coeliac friendly snack in both of them! I don’t drink coffee though so my decisions are not based on the quality of their coffee.

DP is the coffee drinker in the family and he will have coffee from Costa or Cafe Nero if he’s with me but if he’s on his own he goes to either the smaller chains, or independents.

Yeah, it was a huge treat when it first arrived.

The last one l went in was Manchester Piccadilly.

Huge queue for the one unisex toilet which had a giant turd in it.

Dirty coffee cup, dirty table. Litter on the floor. Haven’t been in one for 18 months now😷

@RaspberryWhirls why is that? Do you think the baristas are better generally and that's what makes the difference? Just interested because Nero has it's own roastery, I think, whereas the independents rely on their suppliers for beans (most of which probably supply Costa and Starbucks!!).

The food in Costa is awful and ridiculously expensive. Sugary, emulsified vegetable oil crap.

I like Nero best of the chains for both the coffee and the food.

Starbucks, solely because it is overrun with dogs.

I go to Costa, where they are banned.

Starbucks coffee isn't good, Costa is marginally better and Nero is the best of the chains but the tables are always dirty. I always try and find an independent if I can.