Costa Express has completed a nationwide upgrade programme across more than 13,000 self-service coffee machines, introducing improvements to drink quality, temperature, cup-fill consistency and dispensing speed.

The investment includes recipe, software and machine upgrades aimed at improving the customer experience and supporting retail partners across convenience, travel and food-to-go locations.

As part of the programme, Costa Express has refined recipes for several of its most popular drinks, including the Flat White, while introducing adjustments to drink temperature and cup-fill consistency.

Software enhancements have also reduced dispensing times for selected beverages, allowing customers to receive their drinks more quickly.

According to the company, earlier phases of the programme recorded improvements in drink quality and overall customer satisfaction scores, alongside an increase in sales volumes across the Flat White range following the changes.

The investment follows Costa Express being named the UK's favourite premium vending brand in Allegra World Coffee Portal's Automation UK research, which identified Costa as the most frequently named favourite premium vending or self-service machine brand among surveyed consumers.

Mark Cumming, Costa Express director at Costa Coffee, said: "Customer expectations of coffee on the go have never been higher. People rightly expect great-tasting, consistent coffee wherever they choose to enjoy it, whether they’re visiting a coffee shop, travelling or stopping at their local convenience store."

He continued: "Costa Express already operates at significant scale, but leadership means never standing still. We continually listen to our customers, monitor performance and invest in the parts of the experience that matter most. This programme represents a significant investment across more than 13,000 machines, delivering meaningful enhancements to quality, consistency and convenience."

For retail partners, the upgrades are intended to encourage repeat purchases and improve customer satisfaction, while strengthening the role of self-service coffee within convenience retail and travel locations.

Costa Express said it will continue to use customer feedback and machine performance data to identify further opportunities to improve its beverages, technology and customer experience.