Finding an alternative to Starbucks in Edinburgh

After many years, my relationship with Starbucks has faltered. A recent 6% increase in the price of a cappuccino was the last straw. £2.45 was a lot, but £2.60 was a step too far. So I have been trying out other local coffee places. It took a couple of weeks to go through all the options within walking distance of my office, but here is how it went.

Pret-A-Manger £2.25

Very fast service. Accepted my contactless American Express card. Coffee different to Starbucks but of similar quality. Not labelled as Fairtrade so probably isn't.

Greggs £1.80

Very fast service. Did not accept my American Express card, but offered me a cake for 20p extra. Coffee is OK, but not as good as Starbucks. Definitely Fairtrade though.

Costa £2.35

Very fast service, good coffee. Accepted my American Express contactless card. Not clear if Fairtrade.

Social Bite £2.10

Pretty slow service, but the coffee was good. No contactless card option and coffee not Fairtrade as far as I could tell.


I am not sure which one is the best option. The best compromise is probably Costa.

Starbucks Price Increase for Loyal Customers

The price of coffee as a
commodity rose and fell
 during 2011

Starbucks has restructured its UK Starbucks Rewards Card programme and removed the "tall filter for £1" part of the offer. Now, customers will pay £1.50 but receive a free coffee for every 15 purchased. Customers on the old rewards card scheme have been put on gold level meaning they retain the other free extras they used to get, but my guiess is that most regular customers will now be out of pocket with, what is in effect, a 40-50% price increase.

My initial obserrvations is that Starbucks has got quieter at peak times in the morning and afternoon.

The price increase has been caused by sharp rises in raw coffee prices and reflects price increases by Starbucks in other markets recently. Prices for coffee peaked in October after a sharp rise over the summer, prompting retailers to increase prices Prices have since fallen back to a lower level. It remains to be seen how Starbucks will react to the price fall.

Is our coffee culture just drug abuse by another name?

Feeling the necessity for a caffeine hit even earlier than usual I headed out to Costa at 10:30 this morning. I don't think I am addicted to coffee as I don't feel a craving for coffee if I don't get it,  but I do think that my (ab)use of caffeine is not far off that of people who snort the odd line of cocaine to get themselves going. For me its about helping my creativity when I have a lot of writing to do. Coffee has the ability to kick start my creative thinking.

This reminds me of when I was at the height of my religious fervour and attending the most bizzare pentecostal church imagineable (including animal noises and women re-enacting labour and childbirth). I was never that much into it and it wasn't long before I realised it was all preposterous, but to do my duty as good happy clappy person I was forced to take two double espressos before the Sunday service. Its interesting how many churches these days involve coffee in their evangelism work so maybe I was just setting a trend with my use of mind altering substances.

So is the coffee culture a social habit or a clinical addiction? I think that, like the coffee of the 1970's, its half and half. Some people like to watch the world go by and some like to be seen. According to an architect friend this is why coffee shops all have big windows. To some it will be a true substance addiction, but I have yet to see mid afternoon queues at Tesco for pro-plus tablets.