Not to understand the appeal of Starbucks, Costa, etc.?

[Nataleejah]

What is the thing with them?
Drinks are nothing special, food is not the freshest, yet you pay for a coffee and a sandwich just as much as for a decent restaurant meal.
Or it its an adult version of a "happy meal" ?

Again please, maybe. I do what I can like every one. I'm currently running a local campaign group already to stop unconventional gas extraction so I am tryingto make a difference.

I also try in my day to day life all the time to challenge and change my habits. Which is difficult, but doable with effort.

But I'm not perfect.

Campaign wise t's always better to start with yourself, then your local community then build up. You're right, I do feel passionately about this so I might get in touch with my local coffee shops and see if they would start a local reusable cups scheme.

Depressing that some people don't even know or care though.

Ho hum

I am not well travelled but the small amount of travelling I have done saw street food being things like grilled fresh fish or a freshly made rice dish. I don't think Greggs has offered us anything bar a future of coronary heart disease.

In my town you can't go to an independent, we have no independent places in the town, same for restaurants only the curry houses and kebab vans/shops are independent in the main area.
So I guess the reason people go there is its all there is.

But maybe they should go without as they are so lacking in imagination (not a hot drink drinker so it didn't affect me)

Space unicorn, it is just incredible that someone can write that in 2016 isn't it.

The year the Great Barrier Reef died

Incredible

I do not have a reusable cup, I did once many moons ago on my desk at work, it's was from Starbucks, the cleaner chucked it in the bin! Now when I frequent such a place I sit down to drink my coffee. I do not personally enjoy a coffee whilst walking, shopping etc and when driving I like to just drive, not eat or drink.

For all the slagging off Starbucks, one thing they do do is offer discount if you bring a reusable mug, and they sell them for a quid. Mine was more than that though as it's a wanky hammered copper one.

Mine was the quid one. Hence the cleaner thought it was a crappy paper one!

Or it its an adult version of a "happy meal" ?

Thanks for that, made my day.

I used to think they were ok, would mainly go to meet up with friends as they seemed to like them. The espressos are decent but since living in a culture where a large cup bucket of watery coffee is a social faux pas, they are no longer my first choice destination when back in blighty.
SleepFreeZone Coffee prices will hike up dramatically, but it's unlikely that coffee will be mass produced as it requires very specific environmental conditions. It certainly can't be grown everywhere. It will probably become the drink of the rich in Europe, but here in South America it's still everyone's cup of tea

MorrisZapp I remember Seattle Coffee Co, mentioned it on page 1 and still have one of its mugs

And to answer your question, there weren't the options before Seattle appeared.

Meh! I love Starbucks PSL so will have one every couple or 3 weeks. The food is overpriced and nothing special though. The DDs like the caramel/chocolate cream too.

Costa is a bit shit round here.

There is a fantastic Italian independent about 2 miles away run by very charming men. Sadly, I'm not often in that area.

It's an expensive business, coffee.

We should be glad of all the variety, in the early 70's my highlight was the Wimpy on Saturday afternoon for coffee, I'm sure only choice was white or black. Me and my friend also had a slice of the Black Forest gateaux and cream, a real treat. The Wimpy was the only place which had any resemblance to the places nowadays and it was the place to go in the 70's.

I don't drink coffee, but Costa's coolers are gorgeous.

The best travel cup I've ever found is the stainless steel Starbucks tumbler - utterly leakproof (I just chuck it in my handbag), and keeps my tea/coffee piping hot for literally hours.

19Hannah To be honest I care more about where my energy is coming from without a coffee than where the energy to make a bloody cup comes from!

don't you care about the environment? I'm absolutely appalled by this kind of attitude

Ah Wimpy. I used to love a bender in a bun.

When I was thinking about street food, it was more pie, mash and liquor, Victorian stylee or a pukka pie in the 70s! (not very well travelled!)

I am really shocked that in this day and age people aren't even pretending to vaguely care about the environment and the non-renewable resources we are blasting through at a rate of knots. I tried briefly to eliminate one-use plastics from our lives and fucking hell it is basically impossible. It has made me really conscious of the waste we generate and how we dispose of it (and how unnecessary so much of it is!)

It's a coffee or tea when you're out and about. Convenient and not overly expensive if it's nearby and you need a drink to take away. YABU they're popular and not everyone orders lunch in them. Each unto their own

i like the anonymity as well- you can go and sit and not be bothered by anyone. There never used to be any where to go like that - i don't remember any independents around (bar your quaint tea rooms selling nescafe)- a lot of them grew up following the chains which were the ground breakers.
I like the coffee- most other cafes I don't risk the coffee; the independent coffee houses here (which really tend to be small chains) have decent enough coffee but still expensive

When people compare costa and starbucks it just makes it obvious that it's fashionable to slag off starbucks, which it is, and I won't defend them, but Costa do good coffee and their Cortado is better than the Indie Macchiato I sometimes get. Stop trying to be a hipster and just think about whether you actually fucking enjoy it or not.

I agree wrt the anonymity. The indie Italian place I go to, owner knows my life story and gave me Pecorino on my birthday. Lovely. But you want anonymity sometimes.

Fucking hell the Great Barrier Reef has died?

SuperFlyHigh I'm not sure when you went to Thornton Heath but there is a new-ish Costa across the road from the world's most depressing Tesco's. I'm in your neck of the woods and we're definitely blessed with a full complement of indie/ chain coffee shops!

Very nice, I've been trying really hard too the stop using single use plastics and I've come to the conclusion you have to change one thing at a time and wait until it becomes a habit before tackling the next. Otherwise it's too difficult and you give up.

So I changed to carrying a metal flask of water with me always and never buying drinks in plastic bottles. 2years in it's now such a habit that I can't believe I ever used to spend money on water or other drinks!

It is possible, it just requires effort and patience.

Free reliable wifi. Loads of single tables and don't mind you taking your time.

I like characterful independents if I'm meeting someone but if I'm checking my emails and writing up fine notes between meetings then Starbucks is the best location for me.

sleep free zone, pretty much :-(

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/14/great-barrier-reef-pronounced-almost-dead-by-scientists/