Coffee#1 Kidderminster — Restaurant in Wyre Forest

Coffee#1 in Kidderminster has completely stolen my patronage from Costa and the like! In essence I suppose it’s similar, in terms of the range of food & drinks and the prices, but…

Better reward/loyalty system! I did for example get a voucher through the app for a free drink (of any size!) after buying only 3 lattes! Also various other ongoing offers. A very user friendly app, through which you can, for example, pay and collect “stamps” with a single swipe. More salubrious surroundings! You can sit near the front where it seems to generally be busier, if that’s your “vibe”… or there’s the back, with lower lighting and nice touches such as a collection of vintage books. Speedy and efficient service-with-a-smile from the delightful staff! 😊

That’s not even to mention the delicious and reasonably priced cakes and savouries, such as the Lotus Biscoff Cheesecake, vegan raspberry croissants, almond croissants, Chilli Bacon Brie Panini… etc… and if you just want something simple, a couple of slices of toast!

Oh and I must also mention the white hot chocolate which my daughter enjoyed immensely the other day…

😋😋😋

I am writing this while sitting at one of the outdoor tables overlooking the canal, having a cheeky vape and supping on my second latte…

And feeling very chilled...

The place is lovely. Lovely servers and lovely atmosphere, however, every time I happen to go in there, the range is extremely limited because they lack the ingredients. All times I have been, my order has been declined numerous times as they can not make them. For example, my most recent encounter involves me trying to order a smoothie. When told they can't make my specific smoothie, they mentioned they can make any of the other smoothie options so I picked one of those. A few minutes later they come back to me saying they can't make any of the smoothies as they have ran out of juice. At this point, it hasn't even reached peak hours. On top of this, there were hardly any cakes on display and the pastries weren't fresh whatsoever. I really tried to enjoy it but the fact that the range is so limited makes it incredibly difficult to accommodate people who have certain intolerances. For example, I'm lactose intolerant and the only other lactose free drink to my knowledge was water as no where did they advertise alternative milk options. I ended up asking for a hot chocolate instead and giving it to my partner who complained how it tasted like it hadn't been mixed at all. For the prices, there is definitely room for improvement regarding the drinks and food. I'm disappointed to...

Watch out for the great Coffee 1 scam which is in play at this branch (and most others in my experience). You order a coffee and they ask a seemingly innocuous question like, "do you want a bitter or smooth blend" or "do you prefer medium or dark roast". What they don't ever tell you is that there is a difference in price and usually the one that sounds less appealing is the cheaper. They advertise a "seasonal blend" behind the counter but they don't mention this when they ask you to make a choice and the description of the seasonal blend never uses descriptions like bitter, smooth, dark, medium. It is clearly a deliberate ploy enforced Coffee 1 on its staff to squeeze extra money from customers. Customers can read, if they want the more expensive seasonal blend then let them ask for it rather than trying...