Costa Coffee

[big-all]

you carry on enjoying your choice as will i

[Chippo1]

Myself and the architect (she who thinks she must be obeyed ) usually opt for a locally owned establishment and lately that been the Lemon Tree in Ely , nice coffee and the Bread Pudding with clotted cream mmmm and other nice things to including lots of Italian deli stuff.

Those other buggers are tax evaders to !

[chrrris]

I've never been in any of the chains.
Never been in a MacDonalds either.
I went in one burger place, can't remember what it was but one of the chains, and was disappointed by the burger.
So I go to one of the caravan type places if I'm looking for a burger when I'm out.
TBH, I can feel my pockets getting deeper and my arms getting shorter every time I walk past those coffee places.

I've only ever been in a Costa Coffee once. I met a mate there in a train station for a quick catch up (it was early morning, and a pub didn't seem right, even if we could have found one that was open).

I ordered a "Large Cappuccino". The f**king thing came in a soup bowl! And that's not an exaggeration either -- the "cup" was so big it actually had a handle either side to enable it to be picked up. I drank most of it, but it was so strong it made me feel weird for hours afterwards.

Those places are definitely not for me either. A greasy spoon cafe, or the burger van in Wickes car park is more my thing too.

[wine~o]

Never been in. But then I don't drink coffee.

[Job and Knock]

Those other buggers are tax evaders to !

That's Starbucks. Until recently Costa were owned by Whitbread and made a point of publishing their annual tax returns to show that they were on the level. Now they are owned by Coca-Cola, who knows?

[arco_iris]

I go to one of the caravan type places if I'm looking for a burger when I'm out.

In my limited experience, though, "burger vans" must use the cheapest flat tasteless mechanically reclaimed meat burgers they can get in quantity from cash'n'carry, bulked out with don't know what, cheap processed bread rolls with no butter or if you're lucky, a smear of marge. Yuk, avoid the lot of them, Macs & BKing all taste EXACTLY the same no matter where. At least the independent outlets vary in both taste and ambience.

Only been in a Costa once, about 15 years ago, had the soup bowl version, then last year I had to meet a professional advisor in a roadside Starbucks (that was formerly a Little Chef, seventy units got taken over). Coffee was so flippin' hot, & the mug full to the brim, that basically the meeting was pretty much over before I'd even started mine (she got there before me and had a cardboard takeout container).

Avoid.

[Rorschach]

I had my first cup of "real" coffee in a long time this week, met a friend and got a free coffee with the 02 app (I am rarely near somwhere to take advantage of this).

The coffee was very nice, but would it have been worth the £3.50 odd if I had to pay for it? No, I would have rather gone to the pub where I could have had a pint or more of excellent beer for that price, or for that matter several cups of reasonable coffee from their machine.

I am quite happy with my instant coffee at home, or tea. Cheap, tasty and easy to make. Everyone to their own of course and nothing wrong with drinking what you enjoy.

[dewaltdisney]

I think the point I was making originally was not about coffee, I think it is largely overrated and smells far better than it tastes. It was more about where you go to have it and the loyalty points I was cheated out of. As I am not that bothered about the actual drink it is more a case of finding somewhere nice to sit for a spell in a comfortable atmosphere with a pleasant ambiance.

McD;s coffee and chocolate are one of the best but the clientèle you have to mix with are not. Because of the price Costa and the like are not in the main having the chavs and riffraff coming in. You even need a purchase receipt code to go into their loo.

It is the same as having a meal at home and one at a restaurant, you could do it all at home, cheaper etc but a restaurant is part of a social experience to be enjoyed. To a degree having a drink out is much the same on a smaller scale.

So, and I accept everyone has a different feel about this, I was just thinking what was the thought pattern to take you in somewhere for a coffee?

DWD

[Dave54]

I go to one of the caravan type places if I'm looking for a burger when I'm out.

In my limited experience, though, "burger vans" must use the cheapest flat tasteless mechanically reclaimed meat burgers they can get in quantity from cash'n'carry, bulked out with don't know what, cheap processed bread rolls with no butter or if you're lucky, a smear of marge. Yuk, avoid the lot of them, Macs & BKing all taste EXACTLY the same no matter where. At least the independent outlets vary in both taste and ambience.

Only been in a Costa once, about 15 years ago, had the soup bowl version, then last year I had to meet a professional advisor in a roadside Starbucks (that was formerly a Little Chef, seventy units got taken over). Coffee was so flippin' hot, & the mug full to the brim, that basically the meeting was pretty much over before I'd even started mine (she got there before me and had a cardboard takeout container).

Avoid.

I pick and choose. Have a look to see what's coming off the griddle. Some are decent, some are rubbish as you say. As I said I was disappointed with the burger from one of the chains. That's a while back.

[Argyll]

I drink a lot of coffee regularly from MacDonalds drive throughs. I used to save up the wee stickers on the cups but discovered you can buy the stickers on ebay for about £3 for 60. That's about 30p a cup.

Seeing as it's a global company I don't lose any sleep over it

[Job and Knock]

I do not go into these poncey coffee shops that often, it is usually when Mrs D wants a drink when we are out

TBH I feel the same about a lot of pubs these days.... Poncey, overpriced watering holes for hipsters. (that's what too much working in a city centre does for you)

[Dave54]

I do not go into these poncey coffee shops that often, it is usually when Mrs D wants a drink when we are out

TBH I feel the same about a lot of pubs these days.... Poncey, overpriced watering holes for hipsters. (that's what too much working in a city centre does for you)

It's the same everywhere though. The little "drinkers pubs" have either gone, or become "gentrified"
Living down here, most of the pubs cater for what they think the tourists want.
That seems to be mostly something that looks like a restaurant with a bar.
Here where pubs are fairly thin on the ground anyway, there are two local villages that have lost their pubs in the last three years or so.

[ayjay]

Pubs are now just restaurants that also serve draught beer,(if you're lucky).

The world is run by accountants, and if something doesn't turn a quick profit then it's not on the shelf.

I rarely visit a pub now since the smoking ban. Before the ban, I've been in pubs with a decent ventilation system and you wouldn't know that anyone was smoking in there, there's no reason why that couldn't be done everywhere and it may just stop so many closing, (10,500 since year 2000).

[Argyll]

I've been in pubs with a decent ventilation system and you wouldn't know that anyone was smoking in there,

I assume you're a smoker then? Reason I ask is only a smoker would say that.

[kellys_eye]

'Bought' coffee is a spur-of-the-moment thing - it would be far too expensive to make it a regular thing so the cost, on that basis, is offset as a social expense and little thought put into it.

Other than Wetherspoons - which we use for meals rather than drinks - I can't even recall when we were last in a pub for a pint, it must be literally decades ago, they've become that vanilla there's really nothing in it for us. I suspect many are of the same attitude?

Getting VFM is hard work now - as mentioned, the world is run by accountants and atmosphere isn't something you can sell, it has to be created and it's the people that make it.