It began with this comment from J (aka Louidog)
louidog [Member]
2008-02-22 @ 14:01I am just imagining the blue skies and sun....oh and a very nice coffee too!
Oh now coffee, there's another thing that gets me thinking. Costa and Starbucks are very popular over here but why oh why are the drinks so expensive in there!!!! Overheads I know but even so.....
Next comment, from moi, ColinB, site moderator, wearing poacher's hat
Costa? Starbucks ? Well, I guess it's partly the franchise thing, with 50p a cup going to the fat cats who dish out the licences. But that's probably peanuts when you look at what they pay the Council in business tax - the original stealth tax that inflates the cost of virtually everything you buy in the UK, and in reality helps pay for all those wars and military operations for which we feel ourselves uniquely responsible. Ever wondered why the Swiss and Swedes look on us with a strange mix of admiration and pity while deciding which car to buy this year?
Next comment from Bearsy (here's an extract re coffee)Bearsy [Visitor]
2008-02-24 @ 06:55
We have followed the designer coffee idea however, and I'm not impressed. Stiff prices for an almost undrinkable product - what's wrong with the old 'flat white', I ask? Never mind, I don't have to buy it!
From ColinB
Coffee is a sore point with us right now - not café coffee but instant. We've just thrown out a virtually brand new jar of one we hadn't tried before - Nescafé "Red Cup"- that tasted of nothing, except maybe lightly roasted cardboard.
It's probably naff to be even mentioning instant, but if anyone has a favourite brand they wish to recommend, with flavour that lasts beyond the first day or two after opening, please let us know.
I'm old enough to remember "Camp Coffee". Actually, it wasn't coffee, but an ersatz wartime substitute. Folk continued to buy it during the post-war rationing period. But it was a darn site better than some of today's "genuine" coffee!
And this one arrived just a few minutes ago from J:
louidog [Member]
2008-02-24 @ 09:47Camp Coffee!! Goodness, now that takes me back a few years. I can almost smell it now.
Bearsy, you're right, we don't have to buy the designer coffees. Can you imagine if everyone did the same and went to the little cafe on the corner and had a cup of coffee? I dare say that little cafe is struggling anyway now that Costa and the likes have set up camp in the High Street (proably next door to them too!) so would welcome everyone back with open coffee cups.
Please use the Comments if you would like to add to the thread. Newcomers are very welcome to contribute. There's just one proviso: the aim on this site is to recreate the ethos of an old-fashioned school or university Common Room - see previous post entitled "Notablog". Apologies if that sounds pompous or overbearing.
