Has Starbucks become too expensive in the UK?

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Throwaway9192387@reddit

For comparison a large decaf cap in denmark costs €6,6 we still have many customers

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Prestigious-Hyena146@reddit

Starbucks is utter garbage. They are past their best due date and the sooner they close down the better.

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JedsBike@reddit

Even buying and grinding my own beans at home has become prohibitively expensive. My wife said it was £4 for a Pret latte the other day. Just too much for a hot drink.

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OptionalQuality789@reddit

We buy 1kg of beans for about £26 online, delivered. 1 double espresso each in the morning. 18g. Bag last just shy of a month. That’s definitely not prohibitively expensive.

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antonylockhart@reddit

Just crush the beans with your bare hands and plop them right in a cup with some hot water? Bargain.

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OptionalQuality789@reddit

That was a funny joke. Well done mate.

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JedsBike@reddit

It is for me sadly. My wife drinks decaf - so it’s like, £50 a month. Just on coffee.

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OptionalQuality789@reddit

Well you both don’t need 1Kg a month? Or 1Kg can last 2 months for each of you?

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>My wife said it was £4 for a Pret latte the other day. Just too much for a hot drink. Is it though? Considering how much everything else costs, and that a latte takes a decent amount of work (much more than pulling a pint) is it really too much for a drink you might sit down and enjoy over twenty minutes or so?

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Ok-Spite-5454@reddit

I buy 1kg of beans at a time and it lasts about a month and a half if I drink twice a day. It costs £28, that's less than a pound for a cup if my girl maths is right.

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Lonely-Job484@reddit

So about 35p a cup? 2 a day x 6 weeks x 7 days is 84 cups out of that kilo of beans. Which sounds about right (11g a cup - a.bit much for a single espresso, arguably slightly light for a double)

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Ok-Spite-5454@reddit

Yeah roughly. There are days I drink only once too so that's probably the rough estimate. But yeah, I don't think brewing it at home yourself is expensive, unless you have to buy a new machine, which probably will pay for itself anyway.

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MudNext5256@reddit

Starbucks is objectively poor coffee. That is outright extortion. They do not deserve to be in business charging that, but people are obviously paying it, else they wouldn’t be.

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SeoulGalmegi@reddit

Yawn. So predictable. Anytime Starbucks is mentioned, this comment has to be appear. It's not third wave coffee, but it's not 'objectively poor'. There's a decent chance it will taste better than any other random cafe. They use mass, cheaply produced beans (as do most places) with very expensive equipment and a workflow optimized for consistency.

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MudNext5256@reddit

I’d argue that this contrarian response is equally, if not more predictable. I’m sorry, but cheap, over-roasted beans through an expensive setup are still cheap, over-roasted beans. Garbage in, garbage out. ‘Consistently’ made poor coffee is still poor coffee. If it’s better than a random cafe, that’s because the random cafe is also bad. There’s simply no excuse for Starbucks coffee to be so bad whilst also being so expensive. Give me a small independent business who actually puts some soul into their coffee any day.

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SeoulGalmegi@reddit

Lol Your response just absolutely shows I was right on the bullseye! >I’d argue that this contrarian response is equally, if not more predictable. Would you? Why don't you then? >If it’s better than a random cafe, that’s because the random cafe is also bad. Is this your position? That in the UK Starbucks is better than the average cafe. Are you agreeing with me here? >Give me a small independent business who actually puts some soul into their coffee any day. I mean, this isn't the normal competition though, is it? Fucking hell. You can dislike Starbucks, sure. But it's not 'bad' coffee, unless you're going to put your standard for coffee ridiculously high, in which case you should be pleased that Starbucks gets closer than most places.

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External-Bet-2375@reddit

I would say that Starbucks certainly isn't better than a random independent coffee shop in my town. If you are including greasy spoons and roadside burger vans selling plastic cups of instant Nescafé for £1 then maybe, but you're not going to those places expecting good coffee.

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SeoulGalmegi@reddit

No, I'll happily taken them out of the equation. I'd say Starbucks is better than average when compared to all of the places in the UK that grind beans specifically for your drink.

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External-Bet-2375@reddit

Hmm, I disagree, but maybe I just go to better than average coffee shops and don't go to all the worse than average ones.

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SeoulGalmegi@reddit

I mean, probably?

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External-Bet-2375@reddit

But why would anybody NOT do that?

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SeoulGalmegi@reddit

Because unless you know a place it's difficult to know? Because people don't have the same taste in coffee? Because people aren't always choosing a place based on the quality of the coffee?

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External-Bet-2375@reddit

I dunno, you can usually tell from the outside whether it's a place that is serious about coffee or just a convenient cafe to get a hot beverage on the way to somewhere else imo.

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SeoulGalmegi@reddit

Maybe you've got a better eye than me, but I've had very mixed results. Often Starbucks *is* better.

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MudNext5256@reddit

I have to say you’ve come in pretty hot here. My standard of coffee is pretty high tbh, which is why I don’t drink coffee out that much unless I can find a decent spot (though fortunately I have a few of those around me). I’m not going to respond to each of your points as frankly I have better things to do than argue with strangers on the internet - all I’ll say is that I stand by my original point, and that there’s a reason you see this response come up whenever people mention Starbucks.

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SeoulGalmegi@reddit

>I have to say you’ve come in pretty hot here. Not as hot as McDonald's drive-thru coffee circa 1994! My standard of beer is pretty high, which is why I find most of the offerings at pubs pretty uninspiring, go to a few select places and generally prefer to drink at home these days. I wouldn't call all the macro layers etc. objectively bad beers - just perfectly reasonable beers in a style I'm not particularly keen on these days. Starbucks hate seems as predictable and, with regards to the quality of beverage at least, as unreasonable as Wetherspoons hate >I’m not going to respond to each of your points as frankly I have better things to do than argue with strangers on the internet Fair enough. I'm satisfied I've said what I wanted to, so you can have the final word if you wish. Have a great day!

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LegitimateDraw3902@reddit

Yep, I’m far more offended by the coffee than the price. Cannot understand why anyone drinks it, regardless of price.

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DaveBeBad@reddit

The wife prefers it to almost every other coffee shop she’s staged me in. And that is too many. She thinks Costa tastes like burnt grounds - and often makes her ill.

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Dimac99@reddit

If my only choice is Costa then I order decaf because their regular always tastes burnt. A trained barista friend reckoned they weren't flushing their machines enough or something, I can't quite recall now, but that was his educated guess as he had only worked at independents.

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mylittlemudkip@reddit

Burnt yet weak. Costa is the worst of the three major chains IMO.

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alrighttreacle11@reddit

Costa gives me a headache and makes me feel sick I like cafe nero

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Immorals1@reddit

Shit robusta beans do that. Higher on the caffeine, whilst also being worse coffee that arabica beans

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DaveBeBad@reddit

Apparently the coffee is too strong in Costa and that why you get headaches.

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situatzi6410@reddit

I mean, most folks aren't getting any richer. I believe some cafes are going to have to close.

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iffyClyro@reddit

Train station branches are more expensive, London is generally more expensive as well. I haven’t bothered with Starbucks ever since the whole debacle about them not paying tax. Long story short, the hospitality sector depends on cheap labour. Minimum wage has risen significantly over the past decade, well in excess of average wage growth. A pint, a coffee, a night in a hotel these are all things that have had to become more expensive in order to pay minimum wage workers a decent wage. If £6.00 for a pint is what it costs to make sure the lad pulling said pint isn’t earning poverty wages, I can live with it. If you want to save money on coffee out and about get Three+ or get the Meerkat rewards thing. Coffee out and about will always be expensive.

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External-Bet-2375@reddit

"If £6.00 for a pint is what it costs to make sure the lad pulling said pint isn’t earning poverty wages, I can live with it." The problem though is if too many people stop buying the pints because they can't afford it or don't think it represents good value for money compared with other things they can spend £6 on then that lad is out of a job and not earning any wages at all, and the hospitality sector disproportionately employs young people so they are the ones who will mostly lose out from that.

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iffyClyro@reddit

There are cheaper pints though and minimum wage doesn’t change. If £6.00 is too expensive, Wetherspoons will do.

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External-Bet-2375@reddit

But Wether spoons isn't a nice experience because to get points that cheap they have to have an industrial level of throughput and keep staff numbers to a minimum meaning long waits at the bar etc whenever it gets busy. If that's the option I'd rather just have a nice beer at home, and even if people do choose spoons then that's still all the people employed in other pubs, bars etc out of a job.

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iffyClyro@reddit

That’s simply your personal opinion. Plenty of people still enjoy a nice pub, plenty of people enjoy Wetherspoons. Personally I only ever had a beer if I’m out at the pub but notice I’m not bemoaning people that drink at home?

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External-Bet-2375@reddit

It's a fact though that the hospitality sector is losing jobs. I enjoy a nice pub, but not at any price, and imo Wetherspoons is not a nice pub.

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Kolo_ToureHH@reddit

My local Starbucks (in a town in the outskirts of Glasgow) charges £3.75 for a flat white. In my experience, even the independent coffee shops are now charging somewhere between £3.45 and £3.70 for a flat white these days.

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terryjuicelawson@reddit

That is a chain coffee shop in a London train station, and you got a large coffee. A fiver is about right I'd say. People can say what they want about Starbucks quality but they pull from an espresso machine and theoretically make the cappuccino correctly, those recommending McDonalds they dispense it automatically like from a vending machine so I think value there is pretty poor even if price is lower. Ultimately make a flask of coffee at home for pence, forget the milky breakfast drinks, and you are all set.

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Embarrassed_Park2212@reddit

I still remember when I could buy 2 drinks and still get change from a £5.

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Global-Mix-3358@reddit

Last June?! You really took your time calming down enough to write about it on Reddit...

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TheBeAll@reddit

It’s an AI generated post

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Sendmeaquokka@reddit

I went to Mexico in January and it wasn’t far off the same price as in the UK. Ridiculously expensive for poor coffee.

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MangoonianLord@reddit

Costa Coffee? More like costa paycheck.

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MoraleCheck@reddit

Starbucks? More like steal-your-bucks.

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DanielReddit26@reddit

Black sheep? More like oh-that's-expensive-sheep I dunno, never been. Just wanted to play your game too.

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MangoonianLord@reddit

Black Sheep? More like bankrupt Bo Peep.

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DanielReddit26@reddit

It's wooly expensive. It certainly doesnt cost mutton It costs a leg and a lamb Etc

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Guilty_Struggle_6089@reddit

Costa fucking fortune

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Academic-Chocolate57@reddit

Costa Lot

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high_plains_grifter_@reddit

Costa-n arm and a leg

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Speedboy7777@reddit

Starbucks has always been the most expensive and shittest coffee of the big chains. Nero is far better, or even Costa.

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ReditMcGogg@reddit

As someone who understands the quality of a well run local cafe, I have never understood the appeal of any of these hot water chains….

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Els236@reddit

Costa and Starbucks don't make coffee in my opinion. They're there for the Instagram Chai-Gingerbread-Matcha-Cold-Brew-Cream-Deluxe or w/e the new flavour of the month is. Basically, a teaspoon of actual coffee (if you're lucky), then half a cup of syrup and some ice and milk. That'll be £5.80 please and thank-you. The ones that do do coffee are Nero (only some blends are drinkable though imo) and Pret, but both of those, even in my area (not London), you're looking at £4.20-£4.80 for a latte or flat-white now. Personally though, I either get pre-ground coffee in bags from Tesco (£3-4 or so for their own-brand stuff), or buy big bags of beans on Amazon and grind them myself. Works out to probably less than 20p per cup and tastes better than Costa/Starbucks.

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SeoulGalmegi@reddit

>Costa and Starbucks don't make coffee in my opinion. That's a weird opinion.

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pleasestopthechaos@reddit

Why buy Starbucks when they do t pay tax. Parents British. Choose an independent first

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SeoulGalmegi@reddit

>Parents British. What?

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flyingmooset@reddit

A flat white at Greggs is £2.40…

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_-id-_@reddit

It's also not a real flat white. You get what you pay for.

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SeoulGalmegi@reddit

Right. What do they have? A bean to cup one button machine?

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badgersruse@reddit

Bad coffee, but you are paying for the comfortable seat and space. Having said that, buy from a British company, not american.

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Spottyjamie@reddit

Its dearer than non chains in my town and the coffee is not as good by a mile However… Its open before 8am/after 3pm and open sunday-wednesday which a lot of non chains in my city arent They have branches out of town so i can walk to one, nearest non chain to me involves a bus ride

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waxfutures@reddit

I went in there at the weekend for the first time in years, £17.60 for three coffees. That's probably a good enough answer, and a good enough reason to never go back.

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Why_you_so_wrong_@reddit

No wages have stagnated in a lot of sectors while prices continue to rise. If you work in a sector where wages continue to rise then spending a few hundred quid a day is no big deal.

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Pirsuit@reddit

Were you expecting a good deal at a popular London train station?

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ahoneybadger3@reddit

40 years old in 2 days and never once been to a starbucks. Went to costa once as it was the only place open and I didn't know what to order so got a black coffee.

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Riverview1957@reddit

They are on the way out. People are fedup with their poor quality coffee and inflated prices.

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_easypeeler_@reddit

Starbucks is shit. The McDonalds of coffee.

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Silver-Article9183@reddit

I will take a Costa at a push, it's just okay as far as fresh coffee goes. Starbucks can get in the bin. It's for the person who wants fresh coffee but has no idea what good coffee tastes like. Too expensive, watery shit.

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EvilTaffyapple@reddit

I get a large 5-shot oak milk latte for £4.40. Not unreasonable at all.

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assorted_chalks@reddit

Is there anything that _isn’t_ too expensive in the UK?

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Tollowarn@reddit

It's always been too expensive, along with all coffee shops. Maybe it's just me but I have never felt the need for a hot drink while out and about. Sure as heck not going to spend several quid on a cup of over priced coffee. There's good coffee at home.

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MercatorLondon@reddit

Coffee cost exactly the same as before. The Pound is just much weaker.

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Immorals1@reddit

No, coffee prices have gone up tons. Fuel costs have gone up, weather has effected crops and trumps shitty tariffs have also heavily effected costs.

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Pineappleberry495@reddit

Coffee is literally a modern day scam. Not only is it obscenely expensive, they fucking give you far less of it.. Each year the cups get smaller and smaller.. it will be £1 per sip soon enough If you've just woken up, best to drink a glass of water. Your body will thank you. If you're out and still want a coffee, I usually go to Greggs or Mackie's. They serve the same watered down crap, but with starbucks you're paying silly money for the ''brand'' (whatever the f that means)

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Fairtogood@reddit

I’ve stopped. It’s too much for a coffee.

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MercatorLondon@reddit

Same. When espresso went over £2.50 I stopped buying coffee. I still wave at the cafe owner whenever I pass his shop.

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SpareSurprise1308@reddit

£5 for a large coffee in london sounds pretty normal.

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ChunkyLover500@reddit

Starbucks sux. The coffee isn’t good. It’s ridiculously overpriced and there are many better options.

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bertiebasit@reddit

When they asked for £3.65 for a medium take away tea in Manchester Oxford Road - I turned round and walked out. Straight to Greggs …£1.40

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DameKumquat@reddit

Stations always charge a premium compared to just outside. Starbucks has always had crap coffee and specialise in sugary coffee-flavour milkshakes, essentially. It amazes me they're still in business.

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Relative-Tea3944@reddit

If I'm going to do it I'll go to an independent but it's still 3.80 for a flat white. Starbucks and Costa are disgusting, id rather buy a filter coffee from Greggs or pret for £1-2. the taste is similarly bad but atleast you don't get slapped by the double disappointment due to price

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OrangeTractorMan@reddit

I mostly just use a French Press and have good quality coffee for cheap without a machine or anything. Really recommend it for anyone else who love coffee without wanting it to be their whole personality. But when I do go out for Coffee, I only go for independent cafe's, or if I go for a chain - it's Greggs nearly *every time.* Their coffee isn't artisinal but what chains really are anymore, Starbucks just isn't that far ahead in quality to be so far ahead in price. I enjoy a Greggs Coffee, and even more so when I can have it with something to eat with another person and spend less than a tenner. Starbucks, I'm lucky to get two drinks for a tenner. McDonald's coffee is even enhoyable these days, I don't know how we've got to this point but unless you're a proper coffee snob - enjoyable coffee is everywhere now. And if I'm going to go for an overpriced Coffee, I'm going for a Costa anyway. Because sitting in a Starbucks feels like sitting in a waiting room for a childrens hospital.

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nfurnoh@reddit

Dunno, never been.

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Optimal_Collection77@reddit

We spend less on coffee but if I can find a Vietnamese coffee, I'll happily spend over a fiver

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Flugelhaw@reddit

I never enjoyed the taste of Starbucks coffee. I'd prefer some generic instant coffee. Other brands like Costa have been better, and some independent shops have been better yet. Of course, you have to be going to a place near them to be able to make the realistic decision to visit them. So Starbucks tends to do well because there are branches all over the place, even if they don't have the best coffee, and even if they don't have good coffee at all (my point of view), but they might still be in the right place to give you some kind of coffee in the moment that you need some kind of caffeine, so many people still give them business. Cost is one small part of it. Being in the right place for all the right times is very much a large part of why they are still in business.

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dinkidoo7693@reddit

Always a bit more expensive in stations, motorway services or airports, tastes slightly better than costa

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sesameprawntoast50@reddit

Yeah....Also don't come at me for this but the caramel frappe at most cafes taste the same as Starbucks. You've got to be on some other level of Starbucks fandom if you disagree. On another note, costa's prices are also getting pretty high :(

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-info-sec-@reddit

What's the difference between McDonald's and Starbucks coffee?

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situatzi6410@reddit

About £3, really.

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Ok-Opening9653@reddit

I’d rather fall asleep on a train than go into one of them costa even worse

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DigitalStefan@reddit

Starbucks *started off* too expensive.

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Kind_Shift_8121@reddit

It’s stupid expensive and it’s really not great coffee. If I’m buying coffee out I will either go to somewhere that I know does great coffee, or I will get it Greggs with a discount from my car insurance. Anything in between is just a scam.

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Ok-Hovercraft9348@reddit

They're all too expensive. I only get Costa coffee from supermarket machines with a meal deal

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BeginningOk6744@reddit

Personally I haven't bought a coffee out in years as it feels like a waste of money. Helps that I'm not a coffee connoisseur by any means- but buying nice-ish quality instant coffee and keeping it in the cupboard is enough for when I feel like having a coffee every few months!

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flyawaywithme21@reddit

Yes entirely, I bought an Americano two weeks ago (an AMERICANO) espresso and hot water for £4.20 a few weeks ago. I felt robbed 😭

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Ok-Case9095@reddit

Black Sheep Coffee costs an arm and a leg but it's good stuff.

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HotelPuzzleheaded654@reddit

Always has been lol. Coffee prices in this country are mental considering how bad it is compared with places like Australia (their coffee is great)

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UKMoneyBlueprint@reddit

Nope not for me. Even in the north of England it’s outrageously overpriced

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