From budget to boujee: Three former baristas taste-test three different-priced coffees

It's a sad day for Australia's 7-Eleven $1 coffee fans after the service station doubled its coffee prices due to rising inflation.

The coffee price hike is the servo's first in over a decade, with customers now set to pay $2 for a regular-sized coffee.

But, despite takeaway coffee prices at an all-time high, there are still some other $1 coffee options.

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We put three former baristas to the test and had them try three regular flat whites in North Sydney to see if they could determine which coffees were the cheapest and the most expensive, and which tasted the best.

We poured the coffees into mugs and slapped a sticky note on each mug with a mysterious symbol to differentiate each business.

The coffees

Option 1, a heart, was a $1 coffee from a nearby service station.

Option 2, a circle, was $3.50 coffee from a nearby coffee shop.

Option 3, a star, was $4.50 from a nearby coffee shop.

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So what did our former baristas think?

The experts

Name: Sindy
Barista experience: Barista at Michel's Patisserie

Name: Georgia
Barista experience: Barista at iFly in Penrith

Name: Joe
Barista experience: Barista at a Manly coffee shop

The findings

The expensive coffee (the star)

The most expensive coffee, which cost $4.50, earned its price tag according to the three former baristas.

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"I'm convinced the star one is the more expensive coffee," Sindy said. "It tastes smoother than the others, less foamy, but everything blended together quite well.

Georgia also identified the pricey flat white.

"The star was the higher-end coffee," she said. "Strong, rich flavour, good foam and excellent taste."

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Joe agreed.

"The star is the smoothest," he said. "It was the highest-quality flat white of the three, and for that reason, I think it would have been the more expensive one."

The mid-range coffee (the circle)

So what did Sindy, Georgia and Joe think of the middle-range coffee – the one which cost $3.50?

Sindy said, "The circle one is not bad, just a bit average compared to the star one."

"Mid-range coffee?? Not a super strong flavour from the beans/grind," said Georgia.

Joe did not like this coffee.

"The circle tastes weaker to me and very milky and frothy for a 'flat white'," he said.

The affordable $1 coffee (the heart)

Sindy was not impressed with the $1 coffee.

"The love heart one is a bit too runny for a flat white," she said with the confidence of a coffee expert. "You still need a small layer of froth for a flat white and this one seems to be poorly made. Sorry!!!"

"It tasted cheap, a bit watery and no foam," said Georgia, who also held no punches. "It tastes on par with instant coffee."

Joe was more forgiving.

"The love heart is nice," he said. "It was the perfect temperature but it's just coffee and milk and no smoothness."

So what have we learned?

You get what you pay for, at least in today's experiment.