The best high street coffee has been named by one man who tried them all to see which one would come out on top. Despite their popularity, Costa, Cafe Nero and Starbucks didn’t come out on top. Writing for iPaper, Josh Barrie went on a quest to find which chain served the best coffee, ordering a latte at each as that is the favourite coffee drink amongst Brits. High streets across the country are dotted with these chains, with more than 1,400 Starbucks in the UK and over 2,700 Costa Coffee cafes.
Meanwhile, there are hundreds of Cafe Neros and Pret A Mangers across the UK, while Greggs has a staggering 2,600 plus stores in the country. However, these coffee chains have not been without difficulties in the past year. Costa has closed a number of its cafes around the country, while Greggs was greatly affected by the many heatwaves that Brits experienced over the summer months. However, they remain a constant presence in towns and cities across the United Kingdom.
The coffee lover tried a total of seven coffee chains in his mission to find the best coffee from a chain. They were Cafe Nero, Costa Coffee, Greggs, Starbucks, Black Sheep, Blank Street and Pret a Manger.
A surprise one came out on top, with only 40 cafes across the UK. The author named Blank Street as the best coffee a high street chain has to offer.
Blank Street has a slew of cafes in London, and has become a staple sight for many in the UK’s capital. However, it also has cafes in Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh.
Blank Street started in the US and has many cafes in New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C. As part of its growth into the British market, it plans to open new cafes in the UK. Its first Scottish cafes will open soon, as well as another in Manchester.
Barrie called it the “best coffee on the high street by far.” He placed Starbucks second, followed by Cafe Nero in third and Costa Coffee in fourth.
Fifth place went to Pret, sixth to Greggs and last place to Black Sheep. The full review of each coffee chain can be viewed here.