7 Things You Could Buy If You Gave Up… Coffee

Every day we spend money on little bits that really, when you think about it, we don't need.

Because of this, we're going to start taking a look at what all your little habits are costing you, in an attempt to help you save cash (and by 'save' we mean 'collect it all in one place and splurge on something stupid' because that's what millennials do, right, older generation?).

This week: coffee.

Many of us consider ourselves well and truly hooked on coffee. How many of us out there struggle to utter our first word of the day before the Americano hits our bloodstream? Most of us, probably – in Britain we drink 70 million cups of coffee a day. That's a lot of coffee.

What's worse is the price. No longer is instant coffee an acceptable solution to your caffeine needs. Instead, British people are hankering for artisanal, French drip, freshly ground stuff. Which, as any of you who live near a wanky coffee shop will know, hikes up the price tag. When did it become OK to pay upwards of £4 for a coffee?

By and large the most popular coffee in the UK is Costa. They boast more outlets than anyone else (2,121), along with over 6,000 Costa vending machines. They've even got their own coffee taster, Gennaro Pelliccia, who has his tongue insured for £10m.

Since Costa is so popular, we're going to take their prices as an across-the-board average. Let's go with a latte – the most ubiquitous of coffee drinks. In Costa, these cost £2.45. Buy one latte, five times a week, for 50 weeks of the year (you've got to go on holiday some time, right?) and that's £612.50 you're spending annually on coffee. That, my friend, is a lot of cash.

So what ridiculous, outlandishly millennial things could you purchase instead? Let's take a look.