I tried lattes from Costa, Starbucks, Pret and 5 other places - the winner shocked me

As we enter the colder seasons, there is nothing better than heading to your favourite coffee shop for a cuppa - whether that be coffee, a cup of tea or a hot chocolate. Of the three, coffee is definitely the one I reach for religiously. Well, a latte to be specific or a flat white if I'm after something a little stronger. Having tried all the supermarket-branded coffees, I wanted to see how the high street coffee shops compare.

My go-to place to pick up my coffee has always been Pret, but with there being so many coffee shops on the high street, I wanted to see if there was a better option. So in a bid to find out which one is best, I decided to try out lattes from all the main caffeine providers: Starbucks, Costa, Caffe Nero, Gails, Esquires, Greggs, McDonald's and, of course, Pret.

Starbucks

Beneath the foam, this latte resembled a poorly made cup of tea - definitely not coffee-like at all. I can hardly detect any coffee aroma, just the scent of heated milk.

When you take a sip, it doesn't taste like coffee either. The coffee flavour only hits you as an aftertaste once you've finished a slurp.

It's fine, but if I'm spending about £3.90 on a small latte, I expect more coffee flavour than what I got.

I feel like I could drink this and easily take a nap afterwards. That's not what I want from a morning coffee.

Starbucks is great if you're after a fruit drink like their refresher range, but when it comes to lattes, they are not the one.

Price: £3.90

Rating: 4/10

Costa

One thing I love about a Costa latte is that you can smell the scent of the beans through the drink. However, when drinking it, you have to deal with a ridiculous amount of foam before you get to the actual drink.

While this tastes like super milky coffee, as it should, this time it seemed to leave a slight chemical aftertaste behind.

I wouldn't say this one was the worst, but it definitely was not the best.

Price: £3.75

Rating: 6.5/10

Gail's

Having tried Gail's latte previously, and this time around, both times it tasted like plain milk. The coffee flavour was very low. It was similar to the latte from Starbucks.

It feels like they're either being stingy with the coffee grounds or using poor-quality coffee.

While £3.60 is an average price for a regular latte, this was actually a small, smaller than the Starbucks' small cup.

Price: £3.60

Rating: 4/10

Esquires

With Esquires being a relatively new coffee shop to where I live, I didn't know there were a chain and has many coffee shops spread around the UK.

Having heard good things about the coffee here, I was disappointed in their latte. This hardly has any aroma, which leads me to question how much coffee has truly ended up in my cup.

Initially, it has a slightly sickly taste before transitioning into a delightful coffee bean explosion. The bitterness from the beans is mellowed out by the generous amount of milk.

Price: £4.20

Rating: 5.5/10

McDonald's

I have to say, it was tough for me to be too critical of McDonald's. Ultimately, their coffee was the most affordable at £1.99

McDonald's latte is cheap, consistent, easy to come across, and has a tolerable taste. It just tasted like I had made myself some instant coffee.

If you are missing that taste of good coffee, I'm sure you'd be able to distract yourself with a hash brown or a sausage and egg McMuffin.

Price: £1.99

Rating: 3.5/10

Greggs

Straight away, I noticed that it doesn't have a strong coffee smell to it when you take the lid off. Nor does it taste particularly strong.

It's like drinking warm milk with a hint of bitterness rather than a sharp coffee twang, and the slight coffee taste you do get is bad.

Although it is the second cheapest in this list, I did prefer the latte from McDonald's, which was the cheapest.

Price: £2.15

Rating: 2/10

Pret A Manger

The aroma of the coffee reaches me even before I've lifted the takeaway from the barista.

Its strength is such that I can sense the caffeine rush just by breathing it in.

As I take a sip, I'm greeted with a familiar explosion of rich coffee flavour that pairs perfectly with the milk. This was hands down my favourite so far.

Price: £3.70

Rating: 9/10

Caffe Nero

Having tried Caffe Nero once in the past, I don't remember thinking much of their latte. However, they have really upped their game. I think I may have found my new favourite.

First of all, I loved that you had a choice between coffee beans - I opted for their new autumn Kenya Single Origin coffee bean, which really packs a punch.

I could smell the coffee through the lid as I picked this one up to drink. Within seconds of taking a sip, I could taste the coffee, which hit me like a bolt.

This is beautifully complemented by the creamy milk, which balances the overall taste. It's a flawless combination of both.

The strong bean taste lingers well after you've finished the cup. If you like your lattes stronger, this is the one for you.

Price: £3.75

Rating: 10/10