In pursuit of the best take away coffee in Sunny Staines

I have been a coffee fan since I was 13 when I first got into the habit of drinking it. Since then, the substance has proven to be a good friend to me – it has seen me through many hours working at essays and preparing for exams, this year being no exception.

It seems vaguely appropriate therefore to consider where one might go in Staines for a nice take away coffee. There are three suppliers to consider. Three of the largest: Costa Coffee, The Staines Station cafe and Coffee Republic will battle it out for the the illustrious Café Lumiere ‘credible supplier of Take away Coffee’ award.

In order to conduct this investigation, either an Americano or a Latte was ordered at each of the suppliers listed below and were then compared with our stringent guidelines as to what good coffee should be.

Our guidelines include the following, the coffee should be:

1. Lovely to taste
2. Reasonably priced
3. stimulating, but not to the point of inducing hyperactivity
4. Staff should be helpful and respectful
5. the coffee should be served in a stylish and pleasing way.
6. Any other aspect that seems important.

First up is Mr Coffee Republic. The coffee here is quite good as the flavour is pleasant enough and the atmosphere in the shop is acceptable. The coffee could do with being a litter stronger though.

The café as a whole will be improved when the smoking ban comes into force later this year; since sectioning the place into smoking and non-smoking just means that everyone has to breath the cigarette fumes. The price is competitive (by Staines standards).

Overall, 6/10. On the second inspection, the coffee machine was out of action, so they lost brownie points. This lapse may have cost them the competition!

Costa Coffee. Costa Coffee is one of the big players in the coffee world and its red insignia must now be recognised up and down the length of the country. This does not mean, however, their coffee is superlative - I don’t especially like it. Their beans are rather too nutty for my palette and not sweet enough. Costa beans are roasted in such a way as to make the Americano the preferable option over the Latte, in my experience. Their prices are also far from competitive.

Overall, 4/10. Especially disgruntled at seeing a jam tart priced £1.50 to eat in!

The Café on Staines Railway station.

Though its name escapes me, this café has been rather brave in designing corporate advertising that does not take itself very seriously. For example, one of the cups given to me said something like ‘another space we could have used for advertising, but did n’t, be grateful.’ Immediately, this put me in a good frame of mind about this company. The coffee is good, but the staff tend to put too much milk in their drinks. The price is reasonable at £1.75 for a medium sized latte in comparison with the other outlets, especially given its proximity to the trains.

Overall, 7/10

Go easy on the milk guys and you might make it up to 8!

Conclusions, if you only have the time for a take away coffee and are near the station, head for the cafe there. Otherwise, Coffee Republic is probably your best bet. However, in the near future a branch of Starbucks (aka Buckstar) will be opening in Staines so Coffee Republic's days of dominance may be numbered! Remember, you heard it here first...