Red Cup Coffeehouse — Restaurant in Boothbay Harbor

The Red Cup Coffeehouse: A Masterclass in Price-Gouging Disguised as Breakfast

There’s overpriced, and then there’s the Red Cup Coffeehouse, an audacious, shameless exercise in tourist exploitation masquerading as a quaint coastal café. $43 for two breakfast sandwiches and a small iced tea? That’s not just unreasonable, it’s insulting. Especially when the exact same items, same bagel, same tea, same quality, can be had for nearly half the price just a short walk away at the café by the Footbridge.

Let’s break it down: • The bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich, which should be a simple pleasure, is barely an upgrade from what you’d get at a gas station Dunkin’ for $5. Nothing special about the bagel, nothing memorable about the egg, and certainly not $10+ worth of bacon. • The “Guppy,” a lox bagel dressed with tomato, red onion, capers, and cream cheese, is perhaps the biggest insult of all. At $19, you’d expect a generous helping of quality salmon. What you get instead is a few whisper-thin slices barely covering half the bagel and an actual downgrade from what was already overpriced at $15 four years ago.

And lastly, the small iced tea at $7 for a cup is filled mostly with ice and there’s no refills. They have absolutely no shame. When we asked if there were free refills (a fair question given the absurd markup), we got a brusque “no” without a second thought. Not long after, we overheard a nearby customer incredulously learning that their muffin and small coffee rang up to $16, a moment that perfectly encapsulates the gall of this establishment.

Red Cup’s survival clearly hinges on its location, steps from the piers, catching unsuspecting boat-goers and first-time tourists before they’ve had the chance to look elsewhere. But speak to any local, or even a seasoned visitor, and they’ll tell you what this place really is: a criminally overpriced, glorified trap.

Sure, they may craft a rebuttal dripping in faux charm and PR polish. But no carefully worded response can mask what’s really happening here: greed, plain and simple. And greed, unchecked, always catches up.

In a town known for charm and authenticity, the Red Cup stands out, and for all the...

The coffee is really good. But, they need to sort out the food menu before the busy season. As a place that sells bagels, a lot of people want a half dozen, full dozen or more to bring back to their house. And they want cream cheese containers as well. However, the menu and register isn’t setup for this. As a result, myself and others ended up paying $6 per bagel when we ordered a half dozen + bagels and container of cream cheese to go. Yes, prices are going up. But every bagel place I know has a set price for a half dozen, full dozen or more bagels and a container of cream cheese. To put it into perspective, I paid $3.50-$5.00 for a container of cream cheese at every other bagel shop I’ve visited this trip. Here, it comes out to $15 for a container if you buy 6 bagels and $30 for a container if you buy 12. I’m only leaving this review for the benefit of the business. Creating pricing for bulk bagels and cream cheese will help your business...

Y’all, this was was legitimately the BEST espresso/coffee my husband and I have ever tasted. We decided to stop by here for breakfast on a whim, and it ended up being basically a spiritual experience. From the moment we tasted the coffee, we looked at each other and knew it was love at first sip. As a result, we adjusted our Maine vacation itinerary so that we could have more coffee here. Seriously... I cannot stress how GOOD this coffee is. The only problem is that every coffee that isn’t Red Cup is going to taste horrible in comparison now.

The owner (Dan) was incredibly helpful and friendly, and gave us great coffee tips and didn’t flinch even when we customized each drink and sandwich in a dozen different ways. The food (all baked by his wife) is delicious, too! Please do yourself a favor and make this a PRIORITY when visiting...