Take-away coffee

[OnTheRoll]

Had a late night working util 1am, then was up at 7am to drop off DD to the train station and looking at a very busy day ahead. There is a Costa at our train station, I hadn't had any breakfast and for a few seconds I contemplated getting myself a coffee - to pick me up and to spare the effort of making one at home. I love take-away coffee, it always feels like a treat. Then I remembered that this coffee would now be in the region of £4.50. And decided that for this money, I can wait until I get home and make one there.
If this take-away coffee had been £3.00-ish like before I would not think twice. I can still afford it technically but just can't justify this cost for a cup of hot drink.
I wonder if coffee chains will feel the impact or if there are still enough customers paying these prices?

If you're in the South East or at a service station they can be around £4 as base price. If you have a dairy intolerance and need non-dairy milk that is extra. It easily comes to £4.50. Add more if you want a medium/ large rather than small.

I just can't stretch to it now, I take one with me in my travel mug and sit on a bench if I need a rest

I pay 2-3 times a week. I don’t drink i don’t smoke, don’t spend much on clothes etc - can still afford it so i do it. I also make coffee at home (i drink a lot of coffee) but it’s no where near the same as buying one. I also buy the cheap instant sachets of flavoured coffee too as it’s not all expensive but i like my take aways so i have them. £3 more a week - £12 more a month it’s not too big a hit yet for me not to pay it as everything has gone up!

On principle I will not buy from the big chains. I only support small, independent coffee shops. I hope Costa, Starbucks etc disappear of the face of the earth.

We just do Gregg's or McDonald's if out and about as I have tea, my husband has a black coffee and our children have water so it works out as under £5 altogether usually! Posh coffee prices are insane now.

The takeaway coffees at Costa, Pret, Starbucks are soooo shit. I can’t never understand how people can drink them. Get a decent coffee machine at home, with a frother if you like cappuccino and buy good quality coffee, way cheaper and nicer.
the young people (25-30 yo) working with me would get 2-3 takeaway coffees a day, plus lunch out, they are too lazy to do their own, but they are in full time salary, no kids, no mortgage, sharing in 5/6 to lower the rent. This is the target of these chains. And of course wealthy SAHM.

Well, I get a coffee out because I’m not AT home. If I was, I wouldn’t be buying a coffee 😆

(and no I don’t tend to take a flask, because I don’t care to sit on a park bench in the cold at 6:30am before I go into work)

I don’t understand - why can’t you have a coffee at home before going to work or drinking your coffee in a flask at work not on a bench?
said that - if you want to spend every morning £3 for coffee as you like it, good for you! For me it is very low quality product and actually it tastes crap. Luckily for costa not everyone agrees!

Even McDonalds has gone up in price recently, £1.59 I paid for a cappuccino last week at my local one. I still treat myself to a Starbucks Frapp occasionally, they are £5 nowadays so not cheap but I still pay it as a one off.

Not a coffee fan, but I rate Greggs tea!

We used to think nothing of going out for hot drink, or the pub, or to a chain restaurant but post pandemic & the COL has put paid to that.

I've noticed many more people taking their own food and drinks into work rather than buying it on the hop from a cafe or sandwich shop. I now go out on rare occasions and take food with me to cut costs. I take my own tea bags and milk into work and buy a big bottle of squash or pop to keep in the fridge, rather than buy cans each day from the local shop.

But I was in The Crypt cafe under St Martin's in Trafalgar Square recently and paid £11 for two cans of pop and a slice of cake for my daughter. Lovely place but it is very expensive. (DD rated the cake though!)

I took DD and her friend who was staying to Starbucks after a long drive from London to West Midlands after I'd collected her. They had caffeine free fraps and I had a latte to takeaway and it was £11! Also annoying on the services on the way there when I got charged by Costa for not having a cup. I get the environment and stuff but it wasn't cheap! And why wouldn't I walk around with a cup on a whim

Granted I'm not a regular at Costa but HOW MUCH?!

Luckily I don't like coffee but I can get a pint at Lord's for £6 🍺. Bargain

On the plus side a lot.of the meal deals eg tesco boots etc include those chilled coffees as a drink so that's a sarnie snack and coffee fir less than one coffee in a chain. Granted its not hot , but I think I can adapt

I’ve been thinking this too, OP.

I now spend less per week on coffee than I used to..at £2-£3 a pop, I’d think nothing of a couple of cups a day - sometimes 3.

now I just don’t do it- especially when a Sainsbury’s meal deal is still £3.50 ( though only has basic sandwiches now).

I’m now down to 1-2 a week.

though traditionally ‘small luxuries’ like coffee and lipstick see increased sales during a recession.

Tesco and Morrisons meal deals include hot drinks from the coffee machines too.

I don’t bother anymore. Nail in the coffin for Costa was when I went in for a gingerbread latte 2 christmases ago and she burnt the coffee and was shitty with me and I didn’t get the gingerbread man. Not been back since and won’t be!

to be fair we have a pretty fancy (free) coffee machine at work so I just tend to have those

my once a week weakness however is a southern fried chicken baguette with sweet chilli sauce. £4 once a week. I don’t think I can give it up

It’s just too expensive now isn’t it? Sometimes it’s not even that nice. Cakes are usually stale too. 😑 I’m going to just go out for coffee only when I’m meeting a friend.

I go to two indie cafes where a flat white in your own cup is £3.30, they have a loyalty scheme and they open at 7am.

I can only afford about one a week, but I like to support them as much as I can as they're owned by respectively a young couple with a little kid and a pair of friends who live very locally, and they both stepped up massively for the community in the pandemic.

I wouldn't shell out for Costa/Pret etc.

I wouldn't mind paying the prices if the coffee was worth it, but I never really enjoy Costa as much as I enjoy drinks in Nero, but Costa seems to be everywhere instead of places I prefer. I bought one of those peach and strawberry boosters with the peach bellini cake from Nero the other day, and it felt like a special treat, but Costa always seems like the same old mass produced unspecial things. They even stopped doing another choice of the coffee type.
Also whenever I ask for cream in Costa, they give me a non dairy light alternative instead.

Also Costa changed the loyalty to 10 cups of coffee instead of 8 before you get a free one, so at £4.00 for a small latte with cream, that's £40 you need to spend.

In my 20s and 30s I would have a coffee every single workday morning. Usually with food too. I’ve had about 3 this year. The cost is just ridiculous - and I earn a very decent wage.

I live in London and recently bought a small iced cappuccino for £5.80….

I've got a cafetiere and a bag of ground coffee at work so I save a lot of money this way.

I'm in London zone 2; where are you all getting charged £4–£5 for coffees?

I buy coffee from coffee shops all the time still. Love it