Lattes for thousands

The increasing latte consumption burn holes in Swedes' pockets, and as a matter of fact it is the worst daily consumption thief after cigarettes.  

  • Latte drinking – an expensive habit. Advice: Make coffee with milk at home and open a latte account for the money you would have spent. Above lattes from Waynes Coffee. If you saw the US version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” you probably noticed all the Waynes Coffee cups the characters carried around!

  • If you buy a latte every day, you’ll end up spending 8600 SEK ($1,275) a year. If you buy a latte at Starbucks in Sweden it will set you back 54 SEK (or $8). The increasing latte consumption burn holes in Swedes’ pockets, and as a matter of fact it is the worst daily consumption thief after cigarettes. The average price for a take away latte today in Sweden is 33 SEK ($4.80), as a comparison we called Starbucks at Astor Place in New York City, where a tall (read small) latte costs $3.54.
    “Buying a latte is very much an identity issue,” says Paul Alarcon, Creative Director and Partner at United Minds, which conducts analysis of trends.
    “It’s much like cigarettes used to be. Drinking a latte shows you’re a person on the go.” Just like smokers who quit smoking sometimes put aside the money they would’ve spent on cigarettes, so can heavy latte consumers put aside money. Gunilla Nyström, Private Economist at SEB (Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken) says: “When you know how many cups you can refrain from each month, you calculate how much money that would be and then transfer that amount of money to your savings account.” But even as coffee giants like Starbucks are establishing themselves in Sweden, latte consumption is actually dipping slightly. “Studies in how recession affect consumption show us that we will continue to decrease our latte take away habits,” says Alarcon.
    How much did you say? ..a take away latte costs…
    38 SEK ($5.60) at Espresso House
    29 SEK ($4.30) at Coffee House by George
    54 SEK ($8) at Starbucks
    38 SEK ($5.60) at Waynes Coffee
    30 SEK ($4.40) at Condeco
    25 SEK ($3.70) at McDonald’s
    25 SEK ($3.70) at Seven Eleven
    25 SEK ($3.70) at Pressbyrån
    30 SEK ($4.40) at Le pain Français