The best cities in the UK for coffee enthusiasts
Coffeeness
London is not the only city in the UK to find a great cup of coffee. In fact, it’s quite easy these days to find quality coffee throughout the country as specialty coffee shops seem to be popping up all over.
According to the British Coffee Association, Britons drink 98 million cups of coffee every day. And although 80% of UK households buy instant coffee for in-home consumption (particularly those aged 65 and older), ground coffee and single-serve coffee pods are becoming increasingly popular, particularly among Gen Zers and millennials (aged 16 – 34), who account for 16% of all buyers. Furthermore, the consumption of cold brew coffee is also rapidly expanding. Similar to ground coffee and single serve, cold brew is preferred by younger consumers and has untapped potential throughout the UK. (For more information see T&CTJ’s feature: Cold brew experiences growth in the UK market).
In terms of out-of-home consumption, the café culture is booming. The BCA reports that 80% of those who visit coffee shops do so once a week and 16% of the population visit once a day.
Given that that the café culture is surging, Germany-based coffee blog Coffeeness researched the best UK cities for coffee lovers, taking a variety of factors into account, including the number of coffee shops and coffee roasters as well as coffee pricing, search trends and annual coffee festivals and events. Interestingly, the top 25 cities are in England. Coffeeness found that the top ten best cities in the UK for coffee enthusiasts, in order are:
- Salford
- London
- Preston
- Bath
- Brighton & Hove
- Liverpool
- Durham
- Peterborough
- Wells
- Leicester
According to Coffeeness, which used Yelp as its main source for calculating the number of cafés, cake shops and coffee roasters in any given city, Salford is by far, the best UK city for coffee lovers in terms of accessibility to good quality coffee. It’s also one of the most affordable cities for coffee. Conversely, London is one of the cities in which the average cost for a cup of coffee is highest (topped by only Ely in Cambridgeshire).
Other ‘most affordable coffee cities’ include the cathedral city of Durham – where a cup of coffee is £2.81 on average – followed by Peterborough, Chelmsford, and Salford.
The research finds that London’s café culture is really thriving. The city – which now boasts more than 4,100 coffee shops – ranks highest overall when it comes to coffee festivals and events.
Per Coffeeness, Sunderland, located in North East England, ranks as the least favourable UK city for coffee lovers. And while Bristol ranks fairly low in terms of coffee accessibility and quality, it comes in second for coffee culture and interest.
For the full report on the best cities in the UK for coffee lovers, click here.
Vanessa L Facenda, editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
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