To no longer enjoy going to starbucks, costa or cafe nero?

[slownova]

I was in town early this morning as I was at the Gym and then had to pick up on item from a shop that wasn't open until 9.30am. Years ago I used to love popping into starbucks or costa for tea and a bit of cake but I had a look in both and the cakes just looked a bit grim to me. In the end I just wondered round till the shop I wanted opened and then I went up the road to have a nice pot of tea and a homemade scone.

I still enjoy going to a nicer café with home baking and good quality tea but the appeal of places like starbucks, Nero and Costa as totally evaporated for me. I used to love getting some seasonal pumpkin loaf or ginger bread with thick buttercream icing or some kind of gingerbread / black cherry / peppermint hot chocolate but I just don't like it anymore. I also can no longer stomach hot chocolate and a cake and would have tea and cake or a hot chocolate preferably a dark chocolate one on it's own.

I do still sometimes go to costa etc if I'm meeting a friend or with my niece and there isn't anywhere else to go and sit but all the glamour it gone.

Why is that? Am I just getting old? My teenage niece still loves to go to Starbucks. I find it so expensive for what you get and the cakes aren't nice and I can make much nicer at home myself and I have better loose leaf tea which I can break out if I want a treat.

I think with eating out in general there's been a lot of corners cut. It's often not worth the money or the calories.

We have a few pretty good independent cafes in our small city which is brilliant as a lot of the centre is very worn down. The chains are just looking grubbier and tired around here.

@u3ername I agree with you, when I lived in London years ago I used to go to my therapists on Tooley Street and then come out and go across the road to Cafe Nero and sit in there to journal and have my tea and bit of cake to process it all. I felt like I was in a Woody Allen movie or something, I guess it did feel kind of cool. Now it is just dingy and a bit grim.

Yes,totally agree!

I don’t want extortionate, sugary, boring crap served on dirty tables I can make far better at home for less and I also don’t to spend money on American companies either. Costa is owned by Coca Cola.

Would so much rather buy a decent flat white from an independent company.

Ditto food from restaurants!

I love Costa hot chocolate. It’s my favourite and I think the best. It’s my one vice. We do have Perkbox vouchers so I save 10% every time.

have tried making it at home, using the Costa hot chocolate but nothing we do comes close.

argh. I wish I could make it at home to save money but my DH tells me not to worry as I don’t really “waste” money on anything else.

And yes yes re the Costa boards! I thought it was just me. 🤣 I would never go in by choice but had to meet a friend there. Commented on the board situation and she told me you have to read the menu on your phone before coming in!😳

McDonald's do better coffee than most chain coffee shops.

I've never really used them. To me it's a waste of money when I could go home and have cake there much cheaper.

Never enjoyed chain coffee shops overpriced boiling hot coffee !! I prefer independent ones myself tbh ! (Minus Greggs no queuing quick coffee and sausage roll when in a rush )

It tells you a lot when even the birds wont eat the cakes from Starbucks, Costa and Cafe Nero.

They taste fake. Far too sweet with that syrupy after burn in the throat. Give me a homemade cake with real butter, sugar and eggs any day of the week.

"Not worth the calories" is such a good way of looking at where you eat out IMO.

@CaptainSevenofNine If its something you enjoy that's great, I'm envious and wish I still enjoyed it but I'm not keen on the hot chocs from there anymore as I find them too sweet. I do love the Hotel Chocolate 70% dark hot choc but only if I make it myself at home. It's always too cold in the HC cafe's.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3dpjvy5em1o

I never go in them. Would rather save the calories for something else/nicer

Rapid price rises in recent years have taken the shine off for m.

I live in a place with independent coffee shops that charge the same as the chains but serve tastier hot drinks and cake so I try to use them instead.

I quite like the drinks at all of them. But I agree, they're expensive!
I'm not really much of a cake lover. I'd much rather have a tuna panini or a chesse toastie. The sausage bap from Starbucks is lovely.

I completely agree with you. I try to avoid the big coffee chains. I always thought that Starbucks coffee was awful, but didn't mind the others. Now, I'll actively seek out smaller, independent coffee shops wherever possible, they are usually a much nicer experience.

They all taste the same too. I meet said friend now and again in Costa and tried a couple of seasonal options over the years . The drinks are just the same- massively over sweet with a slightly different artificial tang syrup. The mark up must be insane .

As I said, I’d much rather have a really good cup of tea or flat white in an independent ( preferably more ethical) cafe and save the calories for an interesting really well made pastry or piece of cake.

I generally don’t go because I resent paying the over inflated prices and the cups are so big.

That said, we called into a Tim Hortons near Chester a couple of weeks ago and other than using paper cups for inside customers, which I hate with a vengeance, it was decent coffee and the sandwich was quite good.

If I’m going to treat myself, I want a proper cup or mug and a proper plate and cutlery for my food, wooden cutlery is utterly vile.

I've never liked them. The cafe equivalent of white sliced. I hunted out three decent cafes in the nearest town to me and always go to them.

I think they underestimated that so much of their success was based on being fashionable at the time. They don’t feel new or exciting anymore.
There’s a high street near me which is failing and they’ve closed 2 costas there in the last 2 years, people who do go into town are heading to the independent places instead. The one at the out of town shopping place is rammed as there isn’t much competition, I’d rather go to the Greggs though. They have been refurbishing some of their places to make them more attractive to sit in.

The veggie breakfast bun thing has 2 tiny slices of mushroom and a spinach leaf in it. There is never anything different.

I agree. The prices put me off, especially when I can go to Asda and buy a whole carrot cake for less than what I'd pay for a slice of it at Costa. The Asda cake tastes better too. 😋

I like the coffee in costa and Nero. The coffee in Starbucks tastes horrible and bitter to me. I don’t tend to get food as it’s overpriced and not great.

@SerendipityJane Interesting article. I do quite like a matcha latte but I've never had one I didn't make myself. We don't have a Black Street or a Black Sheep Coffee here, we don't have a pret or an itsu or a Leon although I think their are still some in the closest town. I do think the cafe chains could use a shake up as they have become old hat and no longer offer what most people want.

I wouldn’t spend a lot of money on a cup of tea. You can have tea at home which tastes the same.