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Starbucks Vs Costa

Poll

Starbucks Vs Costa

Which is Better?
Original post by Taran001
Which is Better?


Starbucks :smile:
For a flat white... Costa.
Reply 3
Avatar for M14B
M14B
18
Both are disgustingly expensive.
I always go to a local cafe
Reply 4
Avatar for katie.99
katie.99
Starbucks but i get a frappachino the cold drinks in costa are disgusting, they're not mixed well
Costa. Starbucks is meh - tastes cheap and crappy.
(edited 8 years ago)
Costa have some nicer food, however I much prefer Starbucks because the frappuccinos are 10/10
Costa - its like £1.90 for a black coffee... however I have never been to Starbucks!
I might be in the minority here but I'm not a coffee expert or coffee snob - it mostly all tastes the same to me. I go to coffee shops purely for the atmosphere and a sit down - the drink is kind of just an aside. Out of all of the main coffee shops, in terms of atmosphere and friendliness of the other people there/servers I'd say:

Caffe Nero
Starbucks
Costa

Personally, Costa has become the the McDonald's of the coffee shops - there's one everywhere now and they're in areas that aren't so great so the clientele is noticeably different from Nero which I've never seen anywhere else except city/town centers in good areas (i.e. not on high streets next to pound shops, like Costa). Nero seems much more directed towards the professional person or the smart student. Costa has a daytime-tv-watcher vibe about it.
Starbucks has better wifi
Original post by somethingbeautiful
I might be in the minority here but I'm not a coffee expert or coffee snob - it mostly all tastes the same to me. I go to coffee shops purely for the atmosphere and a sit down - the drink is kind of just an aside. Out of all of the main coffee shops, in terms of atmosphere and friendliness of the other people there/servers I'd say:

Caffe Nero
Starbucks
Costa

Personally, Costa has become the the McDonald's of the coffee shops - there's one everywhere now and they're in areas that aren't so great so the clientele is noticeably different from Nero which I've never seen anywhere else except city/town centers in good areas (i.e. not on high streets next to pound shops, like Costa). Nero seems much more directed towards the professional person or the smart student. Costa has a daytime-tv-watcher vibe about it.


I get what you mean. Even the way the place is run is starting to have a McDonalds vibe to it where it's sort of just a whole take your order, take your money, give you what you ordered and bye bye. Same with Starbucks really. I was getting tired of it so I went to Nero out of curiosity the other day and I just loved the atmosphere. The staff were so lovely and actually engaged in a conversation with me... they even recommended next time I get a chai latte with soy milk and said next time I go back they'd make it for me. Literally the nicest baristas I've come across.

Whenever I'm in the highstreet or where there's a Nero around I'm definitely going there. The only time I'm gonna buy from Costa now is at college... because they actually have a cafe on the campus and it's still better than that machine crap.
Original post by johannarebecca7
I get what you mean. Even the way the place is run is starting to have a McDonalds vibe to it where it's sort of just a whole take your order, take your money, give you what you ordered and bye bye. Same with Starbucks really. I was getting tired of it so I went to Nero out of curiosity the other day and I just loved the atmosphere. The staff were so lovely and actually engaged in a conversation with me... they even recommended next time I get a chai latte with soy milk and said next time I go back they'd make it for me. Literally the nicest baristas I've come across.


Yeah it's like conveyor-belt customer service, personally. There's absolutely nothing personal about it in Costa and it doesn't feel authentic at all. I know Nero is far from 'independent' but it has that independent coffee shop 'feel' about it in all of the stores I've been in - in different towns. I think it's pretty impressive that Nero (and Starbucks to a certain extent) manage to maintain that cosy-independent-friendly feel in all different stores. I can't quite put my finger on it - I think it's a mixture of decor/music/friendly staff/locations of stores/layout of the store/clientele, it all just adds up to a good atmosphere.

Aside from Nero I really love finding independent places, again - not even for the coffee, I just love the vibe of little known quirky coffee houses with good music, cosy seating, nice decor and polite servers - there's a particularly good one in Liverpool called 'Rococo's' which, even though it's in a really busy area is hard to spot because it's not ground floor level and you go through a door up a flight of stairs into a coffee house Narnia with amazing decor and since you're above ground level you can sit and look down out of the window and watch the world go by on the street - love places like that.
Original post by somethingbeautiful
Yeah it's like conveyor-belt customer service, personally. There's absolutely nothing personal about it in Costa and it doesn't feel authentic at all. I know Nero is far from 'independent' but it has that independent coffee shop 'feel' about it in all of the stores I've been in - in different towns. I think it's pretty impressive that Nero (and Starbucks to a certain extent) manage to maintain that cosy-independent-friendly feel in all different stores. I can't quite put my finger on it - I think it's a mixture of decor/music/friendly staff/locations of stores/layout of the store/clientele, it all just adds up to a good atmosphere.

Aside from Nero I really love finding independent places, again - not even for the coffee, I just love the vibe of little known quirky coffee houses with good music, cosy seating, nice decor and polite servers - there's a particularly good one in Liverpool called 'Rococo's' which, even though it's in a really busy area is hard to spot because it's not ground floor level and you go through a door up a flight of stairs into a coffee house Narnia with amazing decor and since you're above ground level you can sit and look down out of the window and watch the world go by on the street - love places like that.


I've never really liked Starbucks coffee so I don't tend to go in there. They're more focused on drinks like pumpkin spice lattes and what not as opposed to the bog standard lattes and americanos and so on, so it's just not for me. That's one of the things I liked about Costa, apart from Christmas (they've started getting into the whole Christmas drink thing Starbucks started but at the moment theirs is only seasonal whereas Starbucks is becoming all year speciality drinks) they focus more on the usual coffees. You can get syrup shots to add whatever flavour you want, but you have to ask for them to be added... same with Nero. But I will admit Starbucks does have a better atmosphere than Costa, though I still think Nero's atmosphere is better.

I do try to use independents where I can but I've found it to be a bit hit and miss. While I love supporting the underdogs some of them are underdogs for a reason. Most of the time I've been paying pretty much the same price Starbucks, Costa and Nero are charging for a coffee that isn't half as good. However there are a couple that are absolutely great. I live in a small village so chain coffee shops just aren't around so I have to go independent and there's a little cafe that does the most amazing coffees and hot chocolates I've had. They also do generous sizes as well. I went for a small because I'm trying to save money at the moment and was glad I did because the cup it came in is what is usually classed as a large at the chains... they're also a lot cheaper but better quality which really blew me out of the water.
Both are pretty awful, but most of the time i prefer Costa. Round here they're always relatively quieter, plus Starbucks tends to be full of annoying teenagers. I find Costa has much older clientele. Caffe Nero is better. Costa baristas have always been knobs to me.

The independents (the underdogs) as said are a bit hit and miss. Sone are great, but some are in a dark quiet alley for a reason. Some independent cafes can be extremely pretentious and hipster.

Saying that i always avoid cafes near/inside soulless financial districts and big shopping malls. I don't even bother with those greasy cafes full of white van men and pensioners that smell like bacon butties (call me a snob)


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(edited 8 years ago)
I like both but I think I generally go to Starbucks more since there's more of them where I live and there seems to be more Starbucks shops in town as well but across the road from my sixth form is a relatively large Costa so I go there whenever I want to study in a cafe environment.
Guess I don't really mind unless I want to have a matcha latte in which case I'd opt for Starbucks instead :h:
Starbucks for frappuccinos
Costa for fruit coolers and their rewards scheme
Costa is tolerable.

Starbucks is..... well, I guess you can drink it if you get a drink with plenty of sugar and flavouring to mask that rancid tasting brown fluid they are trying to pass off as coffee.
Neither, Pret.
Costa - they pay their taxes.
Original post by Amellia123
Costa - its like £1.90 for a black coffee... however I have never been to Starbucks!


Isn't Costa's "black coffee" actually a shot of espresso topped up with water?
At least Starbucks serves drip coffee.

Dunkin Donuts is my favorite. :love:

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