COFFEE SAVINGS! Update

I've added in another 4 Independent coffee shops in Newbury to the 5 that were in the original. The independents seem to focus on the environmental side of one use cups as well as allowing you to bring your own cup in.

Results from the update of the survey.

Original Blog Post

It turns out one of the ways you can help the environment also helps your pocket. If like me you enjoy a coffee on the way to work, then you’re more than likely to have switched to using a reusable cup. The great news is that there's no extra reward for doing that from lots of coffee shops.

I conducted a quick survey of coffee shops on Newbury High Street last Friday (19^th July 2019). I was staggered to find that one of the largest providers has no way for you to use a reusable cup! To name and shame them, it’s our ever-present McDonald’s. The reason they gave was safety, but it’s really because their machines can’t accept anything but their own sized cups. A bit lame if you ask me. The good news is that everyone else would at least let you use your reusable cup.

Out of the 14 places checked, here are the best and the worst in terms of coffee in a reusable cup (it’s probably similar throughout West Berkshire).

The cheapest coffee was from Greggs at £1.70.

Pret, Paul and Waterstones offer the best discount for a single cup at 50p off when using your own cup.

The best discount against an original price was with Café Nero, as combining a reusable cup with their stamping scheme means an effective 25% off your annual coffee bill – i.e. a saving of £150.

Greggs is also best overall, as long as you use their app-based loyalty scheme: this is £346 assuming 5 cups a week and 50 weeks a year.

The most expensive coffee was from Costa at £2.75. Also, given that their loyalty scheme is quite bad compared to others, that same per annum consumption is a whopping £600 vs £346.

My tip! Avoid coffee shops that won’t let you use your reusable cup, and don’t have a loyalty scheme.

FYI. The average saving per annum across all those I checked that had an offer was £79.65 – an improvement on the £65 noted in my SMATE document.

The survey criteria used a Latte as the drink, and assumed you are using a reusable cup at the same location each working day. All the loyalty schemes gave a stamp or points no matter what drink you purchased so the result should be similar for your favorite drink. I did not take into account the size of their standard Latte or the number of shots of coffee included.”