Coffee on the go!

[Teebs]

speedyguy said:

sinizter said:

Costa or Nero if I can get them. They deliver their drinks with consistent flavour and quality.

On the other hand, Starbucks can't deliver the same drink in the same place, made by the same "Barista" and get it to taste the same.

I will have a coffee in any place that serves coffee if need a coffee. But I prefer Costa and Nero. They also have a decent loyalty program.

I just go where the wife wants for coffee but try to avoid starbucks at all costs as generally sitting in a McDonalds car park amongst all the s***te is generally preferable and cleaner than many "starbucks caffs" from loads of experience

Totally agree, the large one in York is disgusting.

[raf_gti]

I was going to start a new thread but I may as well stick my question in here.

What makes a good coffee?

I've only recently started to drink a lot of it, I have a Nespresso machine which is taking a hammering and I also seem to spend a lot of time in Costa et al.

Using Costa as a baseline how do those often talked about Italian coffee's differ?

[jamiebae]

Nero, then Starbucks for me. McDonalds can be good but is pretty variable which is incredible as they have bean to cup machines and the throughput is so high they can't have time for the beans to go off

[sherman]

jamiebae said:

Nero, then Starbucks for me. McDonalds can be good but is pretty variable which is incredible as they have bean to cup machines and the throughput is so high they can't have time for the beans to go off

It is more probably the dimwits behind the counter not knowing how to clean the machine properly though rather than foosty beans.

[grumbledoak]

Pret is generally pretty good, and half the price of most of the others. Cafe Rouge is next. Costa or Nero if I must. Starbucks is uniformly crap.

It does come down to the Barista, though. Making good coffee takes a bit of art and care.

[daveparry]

To be fair I think the only thing that makes a coffee a good coffee is the person drinking it and the same goes for Beer, lager or wine really. My favourite is Costa but even Wild bean make a good coffee first thing in the morning (BP garage just before the M25 heading North on A3)

raf_gti said:

I was going to start a new thread but I may as well stick my question in here.

What makes a good coffee?

I've only recently started to drink a lot of it, I have a Nespresso machine which is taking a hammering and I also seem to spend a lot of time in Costa et al.

Using Costa as a baseline how do those often talked about Italian coffee's differ?

[dmitsi]

I'm very lucky that my home town has a high population of italians. There are three places with great coffee, a couple of ok places, and then the rest of the high street ste mentioned already in this thread.

There is another new cafe just opened, they use lavazza and the espresso is pretty good, the guy who owns the places seems to be getting better at making it. I only drink espresso or americano so I think it's easier to notice the poor quality stuff. Most of the high street ones do seem a rip off. My favourite cafe charges me £1.00 for espresso and will usually give me another for free if I want it.

[bazking69]

Yikes, some of you guys must spend a fortune on fast coffee. A coffee out at any of the named venues in this thread is usually an occasional treat, not a part of the daily routine!

[Silver993tt]

Symbolica said:

daveparry said:

Costa
Nero
Coffee Republic
Wild Bean
Starbucks

None of those places makes anything that could be remotely described as good coffee. Walk into any street cafe in Italy and you can get an amazing cup for about 50p, yet in the UK you can pay £3+ and still get absolute garbage

Yep, always amazes me why anyone would go into these places and pay 50p let alone up to £4 for a load of artificially flavoured foam. It's not as if you get any service either unlike on the continent where you pay less than £1.50 for a top coffee served at your table by a waiter/waitress.....and that's in the perceived 'expensive' eurozone.

I would have thought that without any service and minimal overheads, the beverages in the 'chain' coffee shops should cost well below 50p per large cup considering the content, volume and mimimal staff they employ.

Edited by Silver993tt on Monday 26th July 20:30

[KB_S1]

There is a place in Glasgow called Tinderbox that does great coffee.
Of all the brand chains I have found AMT to be the best.

Starbucks - do they intentionally burn the coffee every time?

I had an amazing find at the weekend whilst attending the Wickerman festival.
There was a pie stall that served illy coffee. It was very very good and at £2 for a decent sized americano, excellent value for a closed site event.

Oh, they served brilliant pies too!

[Parsnip]

£3 for coffee is annoying, but at least you feel you are getting something for your money - roasted beans, big shiny machine with lots of buttons, silly name for your beverage etc.

What does piss me off is charging that for tea. Tea is water mixed with a bag - I make it all the time at home, I know it doesn't cost £3.

[Silver993tt]

Parsnip said:

What does piss me off is charging that for tea. Tea is water mixed with a bag - I make it all the time at home, I know it doesn't cost £3.

Nor does coffee. How long do you think it takes to pay off a 'big, shiny coffee machine' when charging £3-4 a cup?, probably a couple of days.

[Parsnip]

Silver993tt said:

Parsnip said:

What does piss me off is charging that for tea. Tea is water mixed with a bag - I make it all the time at home, I know it doesn't cost £3.

Nor does coffee. How long do you think it takes to pay off a 'big, shiny coffee machine' when charging £3-4 a cup?, probably a couple of days.

But my point is that I don't have a big shiny coffee machine or the inclination to freshly grind the beans myself. I do however have a kettle and a packet of Tetley.

[sherman]

Parsnip said:

Silver993tt said:

Parsnip said:

What does piss me off is charging that for tea. Tea is water mixed with a bag - I make it all the time at home, I know it doesn't cost £3.

Nor does coffee. How long do you think it takes to pay off a 'big, shiny coffee machine' when charging £3-4 a cup?, probably a couple of days.

But my point is that I don't have a big shiny coffee machine or the inclination to freshly grind the beans myself. I do however have a kettle and a packet of Tetley.

Well make your tea in your own house, put it in a flask and take it with you when you go out.

[Silver993tt]

Parsnip said:

Silver993tt said:

Parsnip said:

What does piss me off is charging that for tea. Tea is water mixed with a bag - I make it all the time at home, I know it doesn't cost £3.

Nor does coffee. How long do you think it takes to pay off a 'big, shiny coffee machine' when charging £3-4 a cup?, probably a couple of days.

But my point is that I don't have a big shiny coffee machine or the inclination to freshly grind the beans myself. I do however have a kettle and a packet of Tetley.

but at £3-4 a cup you'll have spentthe same as buying a coffee machine in not a lot of time

Just at 1 cup a day that's over £1000 a year - think about it.

[KB_S1]

Silver993tt said:

Parsnip said:

Silver993tt said:

Parsnip said:

What does piss me off is charging that for tea. Tea is water mixed with a bag - I make it all the time at home, I know it doesn't cost £3.

Nor does coffee. How long do you think it takes to pay off a 'big, shiny coffee machine' when charging £3-4 a cup?, probably a couple of days.

But my point is that I don't have a big shiny coffee machine or the inclination to freshly grind the beans myself. I do however have a kettle and a packet of Tetley.

but at £3-4 a cup you'll have spentthe same as buying a coffee machine in not a lot of time

Just at 1 cup a day that's over £1000 a year - think about it.

10 cups a day at £3 each for a year to pay off a good full size coffee machine.

[Silver993tt]

KB_S1 said:

Silver993tt said:

Parsnip said:

Silver993tt said:

Parsnip said:

What does piss me off is charging that for tea. Tea is water mixed with a bag - I make it all the time at home, I know it doesn't cost £3.

Nor does coffee. How long do you think it takes to pay off a 'big, shiny coffee machine' when charging £3-4 a cup?, probably a couple of days.

But my point is that I don't have a big shiny coffee machine or the inclination to freshly grind the beans myself. I do however have a kettle and a packet of Tetley.

but at £3-4 a cup you'll have spentthe same as buying a coffee machine in not a lot of time

Just at 1 cup a day that's over £1000 a year - think about it.

10 cups a day at £3 each for a year to pay off a good full size coffee machine.

you wouldn't need a commercial sized (or priced) coffee machine to produce the volumes drunk at home. There are perfectly good quality coffee machines that produce top quality coffee for £1000. They simply won't have the volume throughput of the commercial models.

[wiggy001]

Pret when out and about, Nespresso at home because I'm lazy (but I do really like Nespresso coffee, especially the Lungo range)