I have a confession to make. In the grand scheme of things, it’s no biggie and it certainly won’t come as any great surprise to my nearest and dearest, but I have to admit that…

…my name is bluesingingdragon and I am something of a coffee shop addict.

Admittedly, I’m not yet at the stage of needing a daily fix of my favourite flavoured drink, but when the opportunity arises to partake, let’s face it, I’m not likely to say no. Days out often involve a quick game of “hunt the coffee shop for Mummy” whenever possible and travel breaks are carefully timed to match our approach to a service station housing either a Costa or Starbucks, depending on my current preference. Is it wrong to love that my kids know to order me a “decaf vanilla latte”? I don’t think so, especially when it has saved my drink on the odd occasion that Mike has forgotten one crucial element or another from my order.

My coffee shop of choice does change on a fairly regular basis, depending on the time of year and the flavoured drinks on offer. For the last couple of years, Starbucks has held the monopoly on my business from the end of September until Christmas, thanks to their Pumpkin Spice Lattes and Black Forest Hot Chocolates, which have unfailingly kept me going during M’s GOSH admissions. As for the rest of the year, well if I’m perfectly honest I’m fairly ambivalent to where my decaf comes from most of the time, but whenever G and I are having some much-needed girls time, Costa always wins hands down. Our recent trip to London for the last YPF meeting proved to be the perfect opportunity to try out a few of the free-from foods that Costa has to offer and we weren’t disappointed.

G always chooses a small soya hot chocolate* with marshmallows and loves nothing more than accompanying it with a gluten- and dairy-free cake. However, this time we were travelling late afternoon by train and I wanted to pick her up a light tea for the journey home. As well as the obligatory drink and cake, G also chose a gluten-free roll and packet of crisps to complete her meal. I was interested to find out just how much she enjoyed her sandwich and whether she’d be happy to eat it again. To be honest, G was a little uncertain about the sandwich as she’d picked a chicken salad roll and she wasn’t impressed that there was tomato in it too, but once I’d removed the offending item, she was happy to give it a go and ate the lot, telling me that it was surprisingly filling. The crisps rapidly disappeared as did the mini pecan pies that rounded off her supper beautifully.  All in all, G gave her meal 8/10, a decent score given the disappointing inclusion of tomatoes in her sandwich.

Much as I was delighted to be able to buy a complete light meal that was safe for G to enjoy, I was disappointed by the limited choice, which seemed to ignore what can be the simpler tastes of children. I know that G would have been much happier to have a plain ham roll, but the only sandwich available was the chicken salad roll and that had been challenging to find as it was hidden amongst the other sandwiches, wraps and paninis available in the fridge, something I’ve found to be true in every Costa I’ve visited in the last few months. Likewise, as fantastically delicious as the pecan pies are, they are the only safe cake available as the gluten-free chocolate brownie contains milk and their fruity flapjack contains oats. They did previously sell gluten- and dairy-free mini bakewell tarts, which were another huge hit with G, but those were discontinued and replaced by the pecan pies, something that G still grumbles about these days. I love that a mainstream, high street coffee shop is trying to cater for those with food allergies, but I think there’s still some work to be done to make this a really great elevenses or lunch-time option.

*Costa states that milk is present in the manufacturing site/factory/supply chain of their soya hot chocolate and that there is a significant risk that this allergen could cross-contaminate the food. Do not choose this if you have a severe dairy-allergy.