Coffee in Oxford
Caleb (clearly a man who appreciates his caffeine) agonises in Confessions of a coffee drinker about the tensions between the guilt we feel about our blatant consumerism and our pain when the price of our favourite beverage goes up. I commented somewhat glibly about how cheap coffee was in the States relative to UK, then wondered if I'd got it quite right, and went round Oxford this morning checking in some of the more high profile coffee shops. Here are the results.
I wondered at first whether it wasn't that coffee cost twice as much here, but only that for so many everyday uses, one dollar buys as much as one pound over here. (Even though according to today's currency conversion, it's only really 55 pence.) But I found that in fact the price of a latte grande at Starbucks (which they claim is 12 ounces, whatever that means) is £2.15, or $3.86. So my first claim, that coffee in the UK costs over twice as much, was an underestimate.
I wondered at first whether it wasn't that coffee cost twice as much here, but only that for so many everyday uses, one dollar buys as much as one pound over here. (Even though according to today's currency conversion, it's only really 55 pence.) But I found that in fact the price of a latte grande at Starbucks (which they claim is 12 ounces, whatever that means) is £2.15, or $3.86. So my first claim, that coffee in the UK costs over twice as much, was an underestimate.
2 Comments:
Thanks for the on-the-grounds (pun intended) reporting, Tony! Another thing that might have thrown you off is that in my original post, I was referring to prices for plain old drip coffee. Espresso drinks here are much closer to the prices you've discovered there. And indeed, I do love my caffeinated beverages!
*sigh*
You've made me so homesick for Oxford, Tony...wait a minute, how can you be homesick for a place you only lived for three weeks?
Anyway, while in Oxford, when I wanted good coffee in a fun atmosphere at a decent price I went to G&D's on Little Clarendon Street. This was particularly nice when I wanted ice cream and a bagel with my coffee, and when I wanted it at 11:30 PM. Add that it was only a short walk from Wycliffe Hall, where I was staying, and you get a pretty penny dumped into caffeine, ice cream, and lox-and-cream-cheese.
When I wanted an America-fix, (which was somewhat frequently) I went to Starbucks--not the one on Cornmarket, which seemed to be perpetually choked with tourists ("And as a student I was so above them," he added smugly) but the smaller, cozier one on High Street. My Table was upstairs, just to the right of the stairwell, opposite the overstuffed lounge chairs.
*sigh*
Post a Comment
<< Home