Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 70 total)
  • Costa (lot) Coffee
  • Just a mild and fairly pointless rant, but I feel the need to share nontheless…….

    Called in at a Service Station on the M18 yesterday for a piss and fancied a coffee. I was under no illusion that a Costa in the services wasn’t going to be massively overpriced, so that I can sort of live with, however…….

    Please can I have a Large White Coffee, with a ‘Double Shot’, I asked – double shot, usually means an extra expresso in a normal strength coffee, or so I’ve been led to believe…….

    So, do you want 2 shots instead of 4? was the reply.

    Slightly confused, I decided to simplify things and stated that I just wanted a white coffee, but extra strong.

    So you want two extra shots of expresso, I was asked – I said yes, as by now I just wanted a bloody cup of coffee. That’ll be a pound extra – ok, fine.

    So, with my bill for a cup of coffee now standing me £3.79, I thought the trivialities were finally sorted – oh, how wrong could I be…….

    So you want a Massimo Americano with 2 extra expresso’s?

    Blood starting to boil, I repeated my request for a strong white coffee, whatever name that might be marketed under.

    Finally the stupid cow saw fit to actually make my drink, but couldn’t actually complete the task without turning round and asking me, not once but twice (as she forgot what my response was the first time) – do you want milk in that???????????????

    Yes please, was my rather resigned answer – the mind boggles as to what other method she had up her sleeve for making it white…….

    druidh
    Free Member

    Milk?

    In Coffee??

    Are you a girl?

    cinnamon_girl
    Full Member

    I avoid those places like the plague! Too much unnecessary choice. 🙄

    Some time ago I started a thread about the self-heating tins of coffee, will see if I can find it.

    Would definitely be cheaper!

    cinnamon_girl
    Full Member

    Black tea in Scotland isn’t it druid?

    druidh
    Free Member

    I had a Costa Gingerbread Latte today 😳

    ernie_lynch
    Free Member

    Finally the stupid cow …….

    She might have been new to the job, she might have had domestic issues on her mind, her mother might have just died, she might have suffered from a temporary ear infection.

    It was only a cup of coffee.

    Was it nice……..did you enjoy it ?

    ernie – no, the skill she displayed turning a simple request into an over-complicated cup of what still turned out to be a white coffee can only have been developed with years of training.

    Oh, and the burning desire to be an awkward ****.

    It was ok, but I realised I’d only drank about a quids worth when I tipped the cold remains away today.

    esselgruntfuttock
    Free Member

    Was it nice……..did you enjoy it ?

    For £3.79 I’d have expected a multiple f**king orgasm.

    Are people completely round the bend or what? £3.79 for a coffee!!! I hope you never complain about the price of…..anything really.

    Swelper
    Free Member

    Flask of coffee anyone…..nice n hot….milk no problem

    http://storage.fantasticmedia.co.uk/Thermos_section.pdf

    BigJohn
    Full Member

    I know quite a lot about coffee, and make my own at home with our Gaggia Classic machine. I’ve been a fan of proper espresso since before it was fashionable in the UK (i.e. since the early 1970s).

    But I’ve got absolutely no idea what all those stupid names for the stuff, written on the walls of British cafes, mean. And neither, I suspect, does anybody working or drinking in those places.

    To my shame, I have once had an espresso in a Costa Coffee, and one in a Cafe Nero. I have never been to any other chain, and I hope never to again. Just drink tap water during the day. You can’t go wrong.

    My Mom swears that (many years ago) she once asked for a coffee without milk at a self-styled high class hotel. She was told “we don’t serve coffee with milk – you’ll have to have it without cream”

    chewkw
    Free Member

    Milk in coffee … LOL!

    How MUCH! Bloody hell … £3.79 does that come with gold dust?

    I never drink at those “fashionable” coffee houses.

    Hairychested
    Free Member

    I bought an electric mug you can plug into the ciggie lighter socket at Mountain High for under a tenner. No muppetry allowed when we talk coffee.

    _tom_
    Free Member

    The costa in our tesco is quite cheap and tastes good enough.

    ooOOoo
    Free Member

    I think people are happy to pay these prices becsuse it makes them feel they are in Sex And The City or something

    Oggles
    Free Member

    She’s not a stupid cow, she’s a ‘Barista’. 🙄 Although from experience they do mean the same thing!

    zokes
    Free Member

    £3.79 for a coffee!!!

    Don’t buy coffee in Perth (no, the other one) then! $8.00 a cup in some places 😯

    delusional
    Free Member

    To be fair here, you did order a “white coffee” (which would normally indicate a filter coffee) and then ask for “double shot” which would indicate an espresso based drink… no wonder the poor girl working there was confused and confirmed your order a couple of times.

    I think the reason people have this belief that coffee is so expensive is because they’re ordering espresso based drinks, without really understanding the level of skill required to make one properly**
    If you just want a cheap, basic coffee it maybe worth just ordering a filter coffee in future. You’ll probably find it a lot more reasonably priced for your expectations 🙂


    **By which I don’t mean to imply that the standard of training and materials supplied to the employees of most coffee chains is likely to make one properly.

    beagle
    Free Member

    ^ Agreed. I also think the standard of Costa at motorway services is appalling compared to the ones on your high street, which themselves are very average. That, along with the price gets my goat! I’ll try and stop at Starbucks on the services for their freshbrew filter stuff – I appreciate that’s not always possible!

    hels
    Free Member

    For future reference – what you want is a “Flat White”.

    This is a double shot Americano with milk in, but not uber milky like a latte or cappucino, so you can drink it after midday.

    They understand when you ask for a Flat White in Edinburgh now, but it may take a while to seep out to the provinces.

    £3.79 though was the water shipped in from Fiji ??

    spooky_b329
    Full Member

    This is probably a good time to ask…when you order a Cappuccino, obviously they froth the milk, but is it normal for the froth to take up a third of the cup. The last time I discovered enough change in my wallet, I walked out thinking ‘this cup feels a bit light’, sure enough, a few gulps later I was left with a load of froth.

    So now I get Lattes (or flat white) as you seem to actually get a full cup.

    Garry_Lager
    Full Member

    A babychino is 50p at costa – great for the bairns. Hot milk, chocolate on top and a marshmallow on the side 🙂

    hora
    Free Member

    Costa services on the M60/M62 -I asked for a double Maciatto (sp?) basically a single with an extra shot . They charged me for two Maciatto’s. I asked why?! They pointed out its 2x. I pointed to the board that it says ’40p extra shot’ and they said ‘no it doesn’t apply’.

    Asked for the manager and he repeated what the staff member said.

    I asked others in the queue (as I thought I’d finally lost my marbles) but the whole queue agreed with me that it was bizarre.

    The Manager relented but I imagine its the Franchise owner(s) pulling a fast one.

    duntmatter
    Free Member

    Niche coffee, anyone?

    TooTall
    Free Member

    spooky_b329 – Member

    when you order a Cappuccino, obviously they froth the milk, but is it normal for the froth to take up a third of the cup.

    Yup. 1/3 coffee, 1/3 milk, 1/3 foam. Standard cappuccino.

    Legoman
    Free Member

    I stopped at Costa on the M4 Reading services early-ish one morning.
    Stood at counter for a few minutes while a couple of girls pottered about with the coffee machine and till, neither spoke to me or even made eye-contact.

    Eventually I asked ‘are you open?’

    to which one of them replied…. ‘I don’t know’

    Okaaaay… bye then!

    TooTall
    Free Member

    People working in motorway services in ‘not-as-sharp-as-you’ shocker.

    Bless you all and your special cotton socks.

    joolsburger
    Free Member

    djglover
    Free Member

    Customer in not having a clue what he’s talking about shocker..

    iDave
    Free Member

    Let’s hope some expensive coffee doesn’t spoil your entire Christmas idyll….

    ditch_jockey
    Full Member

    Here’s a tip – the prices are all on a big board on the wall. If you don’t want to pay the price, don’t use the shop and make other arrangements for hot drinks.

    boblo
    Free Member

    @BigJohn. Was your ‘Mom’ in America during this debacle?

    hora
    Free Member

    I imagine if services were allowed to they’d charge you £1 to use the toilets.

    Thank **** they have to provide this service FOC as part of their site/duty.

    philconsequence
    Free Member

    cuppacappycappacheeenoooo is indeed 1/3 1/3 1/3, lahhhdeeedahtay is usually a shot of expresso then the rest hot milk, sometimes topped with a small bit of steamed milk.. but not traditionally with the little dash of steamed milk if i remember correctly.

    asking for what is a flat white with extra shots will confuse anyone working in a coffee vending establishment… I’m assuming you went in fully dressed and not dancing to songs nobody else can hear whilst wearing a camp-bed as a hat? If you did then its the barristers fault for not realising your mentally unhinged and just pouring you a glass of tap water and calling it holy water, then asking you to leave quietly.

    you silly poor people, dont you know your overpriced hot drinks?

    anyway, i’m off to sit in starbucks pretending to write something interesting on a Macbook through my thick rimmed glasses with no lenses feeling superior 😆

    boblo
    Free Member

    philconsequence – Member

    <snip>
    anyway, i’m off to sit in starbucks pretending to write something interesting on a Macbook through my thick rimmed glasses with no lenses feeling superior

    I’m sitting at home having revved up the Rancillio peering at STW through thick lensed glasses and feeling slightly inferior….

    geoffj
    Full Member

    What’s an expresso?
    Sounds like something you’d get told about at a breast feeding support group.

    MrSmith
    Free Member

    i’m sitting at home having loaded up the Gaggia with some of square mile roasters Finca bourbon Chimaltenago from Guatemala.
    i’m typing this on a macbook pro but i don’t wear glasses.
    feeling slightly smug but only about not having to buy crap overpriced coffee from a motorway services.

    thebunk
    Full Member

    Am guessing that TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR has never had to work day after day after day in a petrol station serving overpriced caffeine flavoured water to chippy blokes that can’t read a big sign, with descriptions and prices, and everything.

    Give her a break, is all I’m saying.

    traildog
    Free Member

    I think it’s a bit much calling her a stupid cow. She obviously wasn’t clear what you wanted and there was a break down in communication. I’m not surprised she was confused though, as I’m still not quite clear what you were after. Are you asking for 2 extra shots on top of your coffee or your coffee made with two shots? Sounds like you basically bought two drinks in one, which is why it’s expensive and you are probably still totally wired from it, which is why you are so worked up about it all and calling people just trying to do a days job stupid cows…
    Costa put 2 shots in most of their drinks anyway.

    GlitterGary
    Free Member

    The Co-op are doing big jars of Nescafe for £4.

    boblo
    Free Member

    geoffj – Member
    What’s an expresso?

    It’s a veeeery fast Espresso… 🙂

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