With the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning organisers putting the finishing touches to fundraising plans, Macmillan has revealed the celebrities you’d most like to have coffee with. And the winner is … Stephen Fry (and he’d take you for a lemon polenta cake with a strong black coffee!)
Macmillan Cancer Support has revealed that Stephen Fry is the nation’s ideal coffee date, as the charity releases research around the nation’s hot drink and cake habits ahead of flagship fundraising event, the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning taking place this Friday.
Macmillan’s research, conducted by One Poll, suggests that national treasures are the coffee flavour of the day, with Stephen Fry, David Attenborough Nigella Lawson, Joanna Lumley and Julie Walters coming out top of the list of people Brits would most like to go for a coffee with, ahead of young guns like Miley Cyrus, Nick Grimshaw and Jay-Z.
Stephen Fry said: “I’m delighted to have been named as the person the Great British public would most like to go for a coffee with – what a lovely lot they are! In case you were wondering, we’d go to a quiet coffee shop, I’d have a strong black coffee and we’d both indulge in my favourite cake, a hefty slice of Lemon Polenta.
“The work Macmillan does really is invaluable and the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning is a fantastic way of getting people together to raise money for such a worthwhile cause – I wish everyone taking part the best of luck!”
Further insights show that coffee has (just) knocked tea off its perch as the nation’s favoured hot beverage, with 51% of those surveyed saying they’d pick a cup of coffee over a brew, and are most likely to have one at 10.48am. The research also shows that Brits enjoy an average of 2.63 coffees every day, with over a quarter (27%) gulping down least 4 coffees a day, the equivalent of 91,980 mugs in a lifetime[2]!
Whilst lattes (20%) and cappuccinos (15%) are popular choices, over half (55%) of those polled admitted that they were most likely to go for the easy instant option when making it for themselves.
A hard habit to kick, over a quarter of Brits (26%) said that they would rather abstain from social media than go without coffee for the week, whilst one in five (20%) would be prepared to give up booze and 15% would even give up sex.
One in ten (11%) of those surveyed also admitted to spending up to £25 a week on coffee – that’s £81,900 in a lifetime – over three times the UK’s average salary[3]. Despite having the highest ratio of tea drinkers (53%), Londoners spend the most on coffee each week at £8.81, whilst people in the South West spend less than half that amount, with a respectable weekly coffee budget of just £4.26.
Moving on to sweet treats to accompany our coffee habits, the survey revealed that chocolate cake (21%) was the number one choice, closely followed by carrot cake (18%) and Victoria sponge (16%). Nearly a third of Brits (30%) also admitted to dunking their biscuit, with 16% going for the ‘all at once’ tactic.
Hannah Redmond from Macmillan Cancer Support said: “It’s really insightful to see how the nation takes their coffee and cake ahead of the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning this Friday. At 24 years old, it’s the most successful charity fundraising event of its sort, having raised over £113million to date. This year we estimate that 5 million coffees will be drunk, 10 million slices of cake eaten and you’ll never be further than half a mile away from a coffee morning[4]. It really will be the world’s biggest coffee morning!”
Some more fascinating facts:
• Brits are most likely to raise a mug of coffee at 10.48 with chocolate cake as the perfect accompaniment
• 1 in 4 Brits have at least 4 coffees a day and 1 in 10 will spend up to £81,900 on coffee in their lifetime (over three times the average salary)
• Fifteen percent of Brits would rather give up sex than coffee
• Macmillan’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning takes place on Friday 26th September
For more information go to www.macmillan.org.uk/coffee.
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