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.

MacDonalds tea and coffee is better. Cafe Beto is full of dogs and I’m allergic so MacDonalds drive through us better for me.

Yeah the food at Starbucks and Costa in particular has really gone downhill, everything is so stale and dry. A few years ago the fruit toast at Starbucks was really good, moist and juicy, but I had one recently and it was like stale cardboard.

The coffee at Costa has always been absolutely shite but Starbucks used to be OK - however lately the coffee has started to taste burnt. I still like the odd pumpkin spice latte from there during Autumn but I have to ask for half the amount of syrup they usually use because otherwise it's disgustingly sweet.

One chain I am really pleasantly surprised with is the Pausa cafés at Dunelm!! The cheese scones there are really nice and the coffee isn't bad at all, plus for every £4 quid spent you get a free, fairly substantial kids meal so it's excellent value for money. (The cakes are definitely still mass produced but at least they taste nice).

I remember when Starbucks opening was a sign of a nice area!

I think Costa is the worst of them. It’s just nasty now.

They are so drab and skank with their dried-out industrial brownies. Come out feeling more more depressed than when you went in

All the chain coffee shops are ridiculously overpriced. Nowadays even the local café or the local supermarket can supply a decent bean-to-cup coffee and cake ir scone at a fraction of the price. I only use Costa etc if there's no alternative.

My gripe about both the chains and the 'posh' coffee shops have cakes that I really don't want to bother with. Rock hard, massive, dry, crummy scones (what happened to light and fluffy?), with nasty grey bits in the middle, dry brownies and slices that look like you could bounce a ball off them, gigantic sponge type cakes with questionable flavourings, that are full of big holes (my domestic science teacher would have had a word about texture)? I usually resort to a toasted teacake, on the grounds that they can't get much wrong with that, although I have been served burnt ones more times than I care to remember.

You're right, @slownova, there's no pleasure in going out for elevsens any more.

Starbucks in the 90s was cafes in nice buildings, moody lighting, jazz soundtracks and comfy sofas which felt like a bit of a novelty in high street cafes. The muffins were a huge treat. It was very exciting to have one open in your town.

The two Starbucks near me now are concrete buildings in the car parks of shopping centres. No music, striped benched seating.

They are two different things really.

For me it’s the price. £4.30 for a small and very mediocre iced vanilla latte at a grimy Costa in a shopping centre. Daylight robbery!

We stopped using Costa, Starbucks before the craze for dogs came in. Thank goodness. They can have dogs or us (which may explain some price rises ....)

I didn't know that they weren't. You don't need to take a dog inside, there are generally dog exercise areas and some have decent picnic areas. You can leave a dog in the car for a few minutes while you go the loo and "grab" a coffee (apparently you can't buy a coffee anymore, you have to "grab" it but again that's a discussion for a different thread!).

The one I like is Cartgate picnic area on the A303. But sadly I believe they want to turn it into a trashy service area :(

You don't need to take a dog inside

From occasional walking past, and threads on here, it seems they are compulsory in some stores. No dog. No coffee. 🤔

I think I’ve had 1 Costa in the last 3 months, and that was because I needed the loo. I’ve saved the nearest pret loo code in my phone for emergencies. In fact every time I use a loo that has a code, I add to the list in my Notes app.
We have a coffee/sandwich van that visits work, has an app with loyalty. I probably get a dirty chai about 2-3 times a week and it’s cheaper and nicer than a chain cafe. Plus handy if I forget to bring lunch.

I agree with the boards going too fast as well, so check the menu or pre order on my phone. But I’ve saved loads of money since work relocated out of town, as there’s literally nowhere to go.

Yeah this is why I’m not thrilled about some of the nicer coffee shops either. I think it’s partly to do with the way some of them leave their bakery stuff uncovered behind the glass screen. This makes the cakes etc go harder faster. As an amateur baker I feel I can and do a better job at home.

To be fair all the supermarkets appear to have signed up to "Free the bread".

My suspicion that it's because people struggle with lids may be too snarky.

For those complaing about chocolate, I thought I would let you know that Lindt chocolate is available mail order. I have found it a game changer. Yes I could go mad, but have been restricting myself to Lindor bars - which are not available locally. I find a single bar satisfying because it is so chocolatey. I generally buy 2 boxes at a time and save postage.

Surprisingly, my chocolate consumption has reduced because a single bar, twice or three times a week is plenty. I was buying much more Cadbury or Galaxy stuff, so it's actually cheaper per hit!

I still mourn the loss of Lindt dark chocolate bars with raspberry fondant. They do one now that has raspberry bits instead, which just isn't the same: they stick to your teeth. The fondant just felt so luxurious.

I’ve noticed the seating has gotten worse too. There is a Starbucks near me that looks like it has comfy seating but you sit down with a thud as it’s surprisingly rock hard. I assume it’s to discourage people from staying

Lindor is full of palm oil though sadly.

This is the blurb:

"Lindt & Sprüngli uses palm oil in limited amounts in its products.

The company has been sourcing 100% RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil since 2015.

It also uses the "Segregated" traceability model for all products produced in Europe, ensuring the palm oil is physically traceable throughout its supply chain.

You can consider Lindt's Excellence or new Vegan Smooth ranges as alternatives to the Lindor range if you want to avoid palm oil."

It's actually used in the truffle, rather the chocolate, so I'm comfortable that they use palm oil from sustainable sources.

The coffee is awful in these places (Neros slightly better) and the cakes and other food ghastly.

I’m afraid the sustainable palm oil designation is a bit of a fig leaf - there are lots of concerns about the genuine level of compliance with the agreement.

I absolute hate Costa Coffee (it always has a burnt after taste to me). In our local town, I will use any small chain cafe (independent business) over the bigger chains and in our massive well known town, I will go to M&S because the cakes/food taste marvellous (and if I'm paying for coffee and cake it may as well be half decent in size & taste).

This I think is the documentary @SerendipityJanementioned

Personally I am getting coffee from McDonalds at the moment if I am in need of coffee when in town.