Coffee in Poland: cheap and undrinkable / expensive and good

do it all the time especially when on holidays and nothing happens..

well then you are lucky. I used to have an addiction to coffee- I kicked it. There is enough documentation on caffeine addiction- you can google it yourself if you don't believe me. Just because it doesn't happen to you doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Strangely enough, it doesn't effect me as well - it just doesn't work. I remember once trying to drive back from Warsaw to Poznan late at night when really tired, drank about 4-5 coffees on the way and didn't feel a difference at all.

i tried the same, drinking plenty of coffee for long car jouneys (warsaw to london or paris) but it did not work.. only thing i found to make a difference is red bull.. same goes on for smoking, i have times when i smoke quite a bit and then i stop, with no particular consequence, no craving... as i speak, haven't smoked for a month..

red bull works for me every time. that and mountain dew.

Jesus, again with this stuff.

I give up.

I'm now going to have to try it.

teffle wrote:


good idea. just make sure it's MD from America. the stuff in Poland is pure shite. a completely different drink. on a blind taste test, i wouldn't even recognize it. i would say, "some nasty shite i don't recognize".....if we're being specific.

I find that in a lot of diners etc. But polish people like their coffee double strength, so I don't think its the coffee thats the problem in the US.

I was slightly surprised when I was told that two large teaspoons of instant was normal in Poland - thats double what it says on the jar.

And still no Pole I know wants to try Italian moka or espresso, as it is too strong for their taste.

not me- I am dying for one....but then again I only live in Poland, I am not actually Polish.

The liquid that is called coffee (free refills, anyone??) in the USA is whatever you want but not coffee. Likewise for beer (Budweiser and the like)


Just go to the Nespresso shop on Nowy Swiat and you will find plenty of Poles that enjoy expresso

I'll be there soon :)

Look where coffee heaven have "expanded" to:

Maybe someone should fix that code, innit. lol :D

bullfrog wrote:


yet Starbucks in Poland, or Europe for that matter, is absolutely packed, all day every day.

I still refer back to when my in-laws where here. they loved the coffee here and actually bought a few lbs. to take back with them. i wouldn't know one from the other, i don't drink coffee at all, but my in-laws sure liked it.

Style over substance, indeed.

Always admired the way that Starbucks managed to create some sort of mystique about the place, despite the fact that the coffee sucks and the place sucks.

Yea Starbucks is for 'coffee people' to hang out there with a laptop.

Not a "laptop", but a Mac. Must be a Mac. :)

(and they're as much coffee people as I am, and I know nothing about the stuff and don't drink much of it)

delphiandomine wrote:


nonetheless, the place is jammed.

delphiandomine wrote:


Like I said, I've never had their coffee, or any coffee for that matter really, but hell....it's probably the single most successful coffee chain in the world. Can the coffee possibly "suck"? Are people paying $3-$4 a cup for shite coffee.....over and over and over?

And what's wrong with the "place"?

starbucks doesn't suck. there are better places but here in Poland there are not. I think their "fancy" drinks are over the top- I stick to a latte, tea or regular coffee.

I dont much like their coffee but I drink in Starbucks more often here than I do in other countries. There are a few advantages over regular coffee places.

- it has a clean toilet and you dont have to ask for the key.
- they are polite and serve you quickly.
- the food is not exciting but its not too fatty or greasy or old.
- there is wifi that is easy to operate and doesnt need any codes.

I think both Starbucks and Coffee Heaven are really expensive now - if its just a coffee for the train or a 10 minute sit down I often now just fo to McD or KFC where coffee is 4 zlots instead of 10.

I'm re-assessing my coffee buying after seeing 200g of Gold Blend for 38.50pln. Coffee beans are 1/3 the price... wtf.

Well put! Burnt, funky tasting coffee. I think the first step towards their mystique was appealing to women, who will often choose style over substance and then they managed to rope in the guys who went there to "study" and dumb crap like that.

Lots of followers to be found in those joints.

maybe there should be a Tim Hortons??

Ah yes, Timmy's, the blue collar answer to charbucks....i think i'll leave both of those options to their present customer bases.

so you don't drink starbucks or tim hortons because you don't like the people that buy their coffee. that is silly.

Was it really so hard for you not to make a such an assumption?
I already wrote that I like NEITHER the people nor the coffee at starbucks. Timmy's is just really really busy and the coffee isn't enough to make up for that. Sorry if this matters to you.

Foreigner4 wrote:


i don't really see why Starbucks would be labeled "white collar". when i would go into the Starbucks in Wroclaw, the place was filled with young people, maybe 16-25. these are not people with money, simply people willing to spend all that money on coffee.....for whatever reason. hell, if that same 19 year old goes out on saturday and drops 30-40zl at the bar on beers, spending 10zl on coffee a couple times a week should't be much worse. that's the day they eat Knorr soup packets and a paczek.

sure, the image of Starbucks is coffee with sophistication....or something like that.....but to buy a cup a' joe there once or twice a week....people do it, regardless of the reason why they go there.

I've never heard of Tim Horton's, but one reason to avoid Starbucks (apart from the silly prices, loud music and irritating clientele are the allegations that they use their financial clout to put independent competitors out of business.

seattlepi.com/business/article/Suit-says-Starbucks-squashed-rival-shop-1215527.php

In Warsaw, Green Coffee (a local company) is expanding and is a class apart.

in Warsaw, but not here. I have no alternative. There is a coffee place with good coffee, but the stuff is in a bad mood all the time - no thanks- it is just coffee;)

JonnyM wrote:


hahahahaha, so in other words, they do what every single other big company does or is currently trying to do.

You do realise that in a place like Wroclaw, there's plenty of people aged between 16-25 with wealthy parents who support them?

They certainly aren't eating "soup packets" and "paczek" - more likely, they'll be driving to Starbucks in their nice new car, before going shopping in Arkady and perhaps finishing the day with dinner in Masala or similar.

Incidentally, I don't know any students who live off soup packets and paczek. Where'd you meet such people?


Pretty much exactly that. Horrible coffee, horrible people (look at me mum, i'm drinking STARBUCKS) and absolutely nothing worth going there for. At least in Poznan, there are millions of independently-owned cafes that serve far better coffee in a far more pleasant environment.


They're not paying for the coffee, they're paying for the image. Look at me, I drink in Starbucks, I'm SOMEONE. The aforementioned students are the worst for this - they're drinking it with daddy's money, yet they think they're somehow superior to everyone else. Same thing throughout the world - Starbucks is just utterly bland.


Nothing new there.

The only good thing about Starbucks in Poland is that you're more or less guaranteed that the service won't suck.