Food and Drink
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Have we fallen out of love with coffee?
Coffee is a topic close to my heart. Without it, I’d be a wreck. I’d be the same man who started in the North Belfast News in 1998 – unable to cope with the hectic demands of life. Until, that is, I was given a cup of black coffee a week into my NBN experience.
After throwing up in a small toilet at the top of a building at the corner of Cliftonville Road/Antrim Road where Foxy’s hairdressers was (the coffee had Poitín in it), and trying some more with no liquor, I was hooked. And suddenly, working 36 hours in a day was possible.
Fast forward more than a decade and coffee is now part of my daily routine. We had a coffee van arrive round our office for about nine months, but it has since stopped. How I miss those espressos. I’ve since heard from one of our photographers here that a guy who runs a different van, but same franchise, in another part of the city is stopping. Have we fallen out of love for coffee?
Certainly we’re moving away from paying every day for premium coffee. When the coffee man started here he appeared to be right when he said that even with a credit crunch, people weren’t awfully concerned about spending between £1-£2 on a coffee. It was pocket change. And I was one of those people. I didn’t mind, I still don’t. But this story suggests that cash-strapped workers are shunning high-street coffee shops and opting for vending machines.
Well for them. I’d rather do a Bear Grills and drink my own piss that drink from a vending machine. Sure, the average cost in a machine is 50p, whereas the average shop coffee is about £2. But, here’s the kicker, if I was to drink instant coffee in the office during the day I’d have about half a dozen cups. One double espresso in the morning keeps me satisfied until I go home. False economy anyone?
And coffee shops in the US are trying to clear out the dead wood – getting rid of those laptop users who order one coffee and sit using free Internet access all day. The Wall Street Journal has a great article on this, which you should be able to see until Mr Murdoch’s payment curtain comes down. Will this leave coffee shops the room to try and entice customers back who are only in to get a quick coffee and out again? Who knows?
What I do know is that anyone like myself who likes good coffee will always end up paying for it. Whether that’s enough to sustain coffee vans or coffee shops around the country, I don’t know.
20 Responses to “Have we fallen out of love with coffee?”
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coffee phantom said on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 10:46
costa’s sales have gone up and McD’s put there 7% increase down to improved coffee.
Dont pay for bad coffee, pay a fair price for a well made cup.
And what is well made? If you like the taste, the smell and the look, and the person who makes it looks like they care about what your getting, then its well made.
John Ferris said on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 10:49
True, I see that Wetherspoons now claims to be one of Britain’s biggest coffee chains.
free coffee said on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 12:59
forget about paying for coffee,if you are ever in the town shopping call into the crown bookmakers beside whites tavern and just to the left of the door is a FREE coffee machine.Not great but FREE!
John Ferris said on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 13:04
Ha ha, free coffee… now there’s an offer.
free coffee said on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 13:47
and tea and drinking chocolate…and latte etc…. not just plain old coffee
John Ferris said on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 13:51
If only I could go into a betting shop without wasting my money I’d give it a go…
koffee man said on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 14:21
ah come on, you dont get a bit of crack with machine coffee, and coffee number 11 was always free!
John Ferris said on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 14:28
Ha ha. That is true. As I said, I will always be out buying Espressos if someone comes along.
koffee man said on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 14:42
“CALLING ALL COFFEE VANS, BMG IN NEED OF FIX”
ha ha ha
albarin blanco said on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 15:04
Isnt it all about the tea in a coffee shop or the scones or the bowl of pasta or the ice cream or the fair trade organic poor me chocolate bar or the coke or the fruit juice.
I dont believe sales are actually going down but that coffee is such a diverse product it can sit comfortably in many other arenas and therefore the sales opportunities are being diluted via many competing sales platforms.
koffee man said on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 15:43
yep your right albarin, a good coffee is there to get people to the point of sales and then flog them something they didnt want in the first place.
Now that people dont buy the muffin, or juice made from fruit that has had a wonderful forfilling life before being squshed and added to a bag of sugar at £2:80, alot of these business struggle. I know as mine fell flat on its face!
Still the only thing on earth that is bigger than coffee is OIL, and thats a fact! I love the stuff
albarin blanco said on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 16:32
I see koffeeman sorry to hear that. Whats so nice about this oil stuff then – never tasted it myself
koffee man said on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 17:37
ha ha albarin, the oil stuff doesnt taste great, its quite crude ha ha
albarin blanco said on Thursday, August 13, 2009, 9:36
Ha Ha Koffeeman crude with high notes of kerosene no doubt. Anyway i think Mr Ferris should take note of your last quip being a strong contender for the monthly Rum giveaway.
John Ferris said on Thursday, August 13, 2009, 9:43
Good point Albarin. He’s moving further ahead of the pack what with him bringing us in a big bag of ground coffee and all…
albarin blanco said on Thursday, August 13, 2009, 9:45
STOP PRESS STOP PRESS Page 16 of the telegraph today has found the Scientist who is now suggesting that the Great British Cup of Tea is what 70% of us turn to in troubled times. Given where the bankers have put us all in the last 2 years here surely is the reason why coffee is goosed.
koffee man said on Thursday, August 13, 2009, 11:56
not at all, the other 30% are drinking coffee and getting things done, not sitting around feeling sorry for ourseleves with a tea drinking bunch of bankers!
John Ferris said on Thursday, August 13, 2009, 12:28
These puns are getting too much ha ha.
Is there really any way you can make a coffee drink/latte that tastes like Starbucks? | Coffee Barista said on Monday, September 14, 2009, 9:46
[...] | Food and Drink [...]
koffee man said on Thursday, September 24, 2009, 18:56
Sure get some crap coffee, an auto foamer for the milk, lash it together and add the contents of a sweety shop. Charge £3 and ask “is there anything else with that”
or is that a bit harsh?