As someone who has spent a good amount of money on coffee and coffee accessories, I have to admit that I've never thought about coffee in this manner before and truly appreciate the insight. Than you!
This is very interesting to read from the perspective of where I'm currently living, in a small town in Spain. I just paid €1.20 for a cafe con leche, the equivalent of a flat white. In most of Spain there's no concept of speciality coffee, or hipster coffee bars, and outside large cities you'll certainly get baffled looks if you ask for oat milk in it (I witnessed someone do this the other day). It's very rare for people to get takeout coffee, although it did become a thing during lockdown. So this is like a dispatch from another planet!
Free refills? No, they don't exist. At that price you can hardly blame them! I admit I am not a coffee expert -- I'm quite happy with a small, strong Spanish coffee that's just part of my day.
Coffee is one of the only consumer products served with an expectation of unlimited refills (except tap water, of course, and in restaurants, bottled water represents one of the most marked up items, even 10 times its wholesale cost). Even in a specialty coffee shop, refills find their way into the economic model. In a diner, well, it's just expected. Imagine if beer, hard liquor, juices or smoothies were priced the same way. HA.
As someone who has spent a good amount of money on coffee and coffee accessories, I have to admit that I've never thought about coffee in this manner before and truly appreciate the insight. Than you!
This is very interesting to read from the perspective of where I'm currently living, in a small town in Spain. I just paid €1.20 for a cafe con leche, the equivalent of a flat white. In most of Spain there's no concept of speciality coffee, or hipster coffee bars, and outside large cities you'll certainly get baffled looks if you ask for oat milk in it (I witnessed someone do this the other day). It's very rare for people to get takeout coffee, although it did become a thing during lockdown. So this is like a dispatch from another planet!
Free refills? No, they don't exist. At that price you can hardly blame them! I admit I am not a coffee expert -- I'm quite happy with a small, strong Spanish coffee that's just part of my day.
Coffee is one of the only consumer products served with an expectation of unlimited refills (except tap water, of course, and in restaurants, bottled water represents one of the most marked up items, even 10 times its wholesale cost). Even in a specialty coffee shop, refills find their way into the economic model. In a diner, well, it's just expected. Imagine if beer, hard liquor, juices or smoothies were priced the same way. HA.
This is such great Information for coffee addicts. Thank you Jenn!