Coffee prices

[Sharky]

Gone are the days at stopping at a farm house, getting beans and toast, pot of tea and a cake for less than £2

I must be older than you. Beans on toast used to be less than 2/-

 

[fossyant]

I must be older than you. Beans on toast used to be less than 2/-

It was decimal when I was born !

 

[Dadam]

Agree the coffee is the single only item worth darkening the door of a Maccies for. That and a cheeky McPiss!

My normal sub-basement level of inclination to go into Maccies is lowered yet further by the rise of touch screen kiosk or app ordering, which makes the usual impersonal transactional purchase of ultra processed muck almost completely free of human interaction. The next step in the capitalist dystopia now is no doubt scanning your implanted RFID chip to be served a portion of grey gruel from a spigot. Probably Soylent Green.

Greggs is good coffee too, and sausage rolls, and human interaction from people who seem to enjoy their job or at least put on the act.

 

[Dadam]

all of which takes an awful lot longer than pouring some filter coffee out of a jug
during which time the person behind me who just wants a scone and a bottle of coke is still waiting
Of course - adding extra staff would sort this - but in a lot of places this is not the case
and in anycase - the coffee is not better
so in effect you are paying for a performance art item - not the coffee

If you want some stewed coffee from the jug of a drip machine and you're in such a hurry I'm sure there are places that cater for you. But if I'm paying north of 3 or even 4 quid I want it freshly made thanks. They could happily serve the person with the coke and scone while waiting for the coffee to drip and in fact this usually happens in the larger chains. You order, pay and then wait for your coffee. They do usually have at least 2 staff to organise this but it's still doable by one person. It ain't rocket surgery.

In fact this happens in Greggs too.

 

[cyberknight]

Coffee and a cake from Cafe Velo or Cafe Unwind round here (Llanwit Major) usually £6-7 this year.

I generally go for teacake and a americano to try and keep it around that price, i do try to hunt out the cheap places but some places are trying to charge near enough £4 for a slice of cake !

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

The regular coffee & cake stops seem to have cottoned on to the fact that even if we are annoyed, we'll still pay £3+ for a cup of coffee (even a double espresso is nudging the boundary now) and £4+ for a piece of cake. It's annoying, but makes my regular bakery stops in France (1.30€ for an allongé and 1.50€ for a fantastic croissant) feel all the more delightful.

Perhaps we need a law like they have in Italy that you can get an espresso for 1€ if you stand at the bar... it is a human right, after all.

Oh, and Greggs coffee isn't too shoddy either. I'm told that their tea is good too, but I wouldn't know, as tea is the Devil's wee to me.

The places I stop are all independent but coffee and a cake is between £7.50 and £8. I am happy to support them but there will come a point where I can't justify the price sadly. I suspect many people will feel the same.

 

[Gwylan]

It was decimal when I was born !

It the equivalent of 10p. But sadly 10p does not have purchasing power it did.

I had a student job that paid 15p per hour. But beer cost less than 10p a pint.

 

[Gwylan]

Recently I was pleasantly surprised by the price and quality of coffee at 'spoons and free refills.

 

[vickster]

We often visit Pret a manger, for a coffee. But prices for an americano is £3.80 ISH and Latte's even more.

However, they do "filter" coffee for only 99p!
Not one that is clearly advertised, but is a bargain relatively. Sometimes, their filter coffee is empty and they give you an americano for the same price. An even better bargain.

Like to praise Pret's as well. As soon as it gets to 9pm, when the cafe closes, a man from the charity food kitchens empties the shelves of all remaining sandwiches.

Use your own cup, you get 50p off. Or have their membership for a fiver a month and all drinks are half price

 

[Drago]

Use your own cup, you get 50p off. Or have their membership for a fiver a month and all drinks are half price

Even then their profit margins are stupendous. The coffee drinking public are being well and truly bent over.

 

[Drago]

Recently I was pleasantly surprised by the price and quality of coffee at 'spoons and free refills.

But who wants to go to a pub with nylon carpet and plastic horse brasses?

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

It the equivalent of 10p. But sadly 10p does not have purchasing power it did.

I had a student job that paid 15p per hour. But beer cost less than 10p a pint.

The heady days of going to my local youth club with 20p in my pocket knowing I could buy the world, or so it felt! Kids today will never know that feeling 😂

 

[MadMalx]

Nelson ILP Clarion house does pints of coffee for 80p (presumably instant). The tea is excellent and 70p a pint.
That’s socialism for you.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Nelson ILP Clarion house does pints of coffee for 80p presumably instant). The tea is excellent and 70p a pint.
That’s socialism for you.

Never heard of tea/coffee served by the pint. Is it in a pint glass? I heard some places in Devon serving a pint of prawns

 

[MadMalx]

Never heard of tea/coffee served by the pint. Is it in a pint glass? I heard some places in Devon serving a pint of prawns

China pint mug. I’ve used one off and on for years (saved walking up & down stairs in shared accommodation days, 40+ years ago). Maybe it’s a northern thing?