COSTA Coffee has quietly slapped a 5p price hike on its popular pour-it-yourself machine brews meaning some DIY drinks are now almost £4 a pop.
The latest cost surge comes just 18 months after the café giant imposed a previous 18% increase.
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Caffeine fans battling the cost of living crisis will now face even higher bills for their favourite tipples – despite having to make the drink themselves.
The hikes affect half of the 12,000 Costa Express machines situated in shops, supermarkets and petrol stations – although costs vary by location.
Sun researchers found a regular latte or cappuccino will now set punters back £3.05 or £3.35 for a large – with prices hitting £3.50 once a vanilla or caramel syrup is added.
An Americano is now £2.80 for a regular and £3 for a large.
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A regular mocha will now set you back £3.40 while a flat white is now a hefty £3.35.
Fancy large-sized brews including the Cinnamon Bun Latte will now set you back £3.70 for a regular and £3.95 for a large.
The increases were brought in recently with little public fanfare.
One customer wrote on X: “That’s Costa Coffee – put the prices of the Costa Express coffees up again.”
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While Marie Jackson, 38, mum-of-two from Redhill in Surrey, added: “This is a real blow. Chains like Costa don’t seem to appreciate how the cost-of-living crisis affects families.
“We used to love treating the kids to the odd coffee or hot chocolate from the Express machines but at between £3 and £4 a pop we are being priced out of enjoying our favourite drinks.”
The chain also jacked up prices by 10% in early 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Those rises came in despite coffee bean prices hitting a 13-year low and after The Sun revealed the outfit had changed cup sizes so drinkers would get a third less.
Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “On the one hand this feels unfair given that coffee prices are up less than 1% in a year and the cost of milk is actually falling, but it goes to show that even when you’re essentially making the drink yourself, there’s a lot more that feeds into the cost than the price of the raw ingredients.
“For cash-strapped shoppers it will make them think twice about getting a coffee on the go and encourage more people to pack a thermos.
“The key will be not to get carried away with an array of expensive insulated mugs and bottles, otherwise it’ll take months to break even on the cost of the coffee.”
Consumer expert Martyn James added: “Every little counts during the cost-of-living crisis – and if spiralling coffee costs aren’t enough to make you brew up at home, the news that the DIY options are going up too might be the final straw for coffee lovers across the land.”
Costa isn’t the only chain to hike prices recently.
We’ve previously written about how Nando’s secretly hiked prices, as well as Morrisons cafes.
A spokesperson for Costa Coffee said it’s increased the prices by 5p to “reflect ongoing challenges faced by many retailers”.
It added: “We understand that any change in pricing can be challenging for our customers and strive to provide the best experience and quality products for our customers on-the-go, whilst rewarding our Costa Club members with amazing discounts and exclusive offers.”
In other Costa news, a November survey by campaign group Action on Sugar found a third of drinks at coffee shops contained more sugar than the recommended daily limit.
The watchdog found 800 products at nine leading outlets including Costa and Starbucks exceeded the suggested 30 gram maximum.
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And in September, we reported Tesco had removed self-service cups from its Costa Express machines after thieves started treating themselves to free brews.
While in August, the chain pushed through with a shake-up to its reward scheme – and fans were not happy.
