Or Rather the Lack of Fizz in My Costa Coffee Pink Grapefruit Lemonade.
It is early June; the day was cold and wet; daughter wanted to look in New Look; alas that meant an hour to kill. My choices were simple; visit Costa Coffee or sit in the Bus station on a metal seat that was more likely to give me piles than comfort. Costa’s it was!
As a side note, why did New Look remove the seat they had in store; do they not realise that it was a small yet important saving grace for us dads? I digress!
I went to the local Costa Coffee house; now don’t get me wrong; I no longer regularly frequent Costa these days; a few years ago they had the best coffee; now it is not of a very high standard, and in my mind they are trading on a name and ambience.
I looked at the board and noted Pink Grapefruit Lemonade; although the weather was not great, this sounded refreshing, and so I placed my order for a large one.
My drink arrived; WTF!!! (insert words If you like)
Lemonade in the UK is a fizzy drink; it is carbonated is it not? NO!!! Costa Coffee Lemonade is not; it is “based on the old “ American style” lemonade” according to an email I received from them. Do they not realise we live in the UK; we see Lemonade, and we expect fizz!
If I had taken the ice out of the glass I would have probably ended up with around half a pint of squash. Who would pay £2.95 for half a pint of squash? I could have gone across the road to JDWetherspoon and had a pint of Beer for less than that! I had already had a pint with lunch hence not wanting another one straightway; it’s an age thing!
I placed a complaint on the Costa Coffee Facebook page and to their credit they asked for my email address and offered me a Costa Gift Card; I replied I was a man of principles and could not accept this as I feel they should not advertise a product that is not what it should be.
My post on their FaceBook page was:
Why do you sell drinks as Lemonade when they are not? Lemonade in the UK is a carbonated drink; I was pissed off earlier today when I bought a drink and did not get what I was expecting.
If you are operating in the UK; don’t serve American style of drinks when we have an alternative. If you walked into a Chippy and asked for Fish and Chips; I bet you would be upset if you walked out with Cod and a bag of Walkers Crisps!
Put the fizz into your lemonades!!!!!!!!!
I bet you like the bit about the crisps; which for those who don’t get the irony; chips in the US are what we call crisps.
Anyway, I am now cogitating on whether to start a campaign to get them to make it more obvious as to what people are buying; but then like I said to Costa Coffee; all advertising is good advertising so I would only be helping them by doing that.
I need to go now and do some work; if I do get any updates about Costa Coffee Pink Grapefruit Lemonade, I will post below.