The price of a takeaway tea at high street chains has rocketed – despite it only costing a few pence to make.
Since 2010, Costa, Starbucks and Pret a Manger have hiked their brews by more than a third.
Costa charges £2.20 for a small cup in London, up 55p.
Starbucks customers in Brixton, South London, have to splash out £2.05 for a small one – a 60p rise – jumping to £2.60 for a large.
Pret a Manger charges £1.90, up from £1.30.
Bakery Greggs has raised the price of its char by just one pence in nine years, from 99p to £1.
That leaves McDonald’s the cheapest chain with PG Tips at just 99p, although the price has risen by 10p.
Subway charges £1.10, up from 99p. And Waitrose brews are £1.75, a rise of 35p.
Chains say their prices reflect the high quality of their tea.
A Costa spokeswoman said: “Our customers fed back that they wanted us to deliver a premium tea so we partnered with Twinings to develop our best tea range yet.”
A Greggs spokesman said: “We are proud to have maintained our great value price of £1 for a cup of tea for six years running.”
Experts have warned that the cost of a cuppa at home could rise by up to 40 per cent because of a drought in Kenya.
More than half of our tea is grown there and the hike could kick in over the next six months, say experts.
It could mean that the price of a box of 60 tea bags that costs £2.60 today could rise to £3.64.
