The Starbucks branch at the Sainsbury’s store in Birch Hill was forced to admit to customers on Tuesday last week that its coffee machines had broken down and their usual espressos and cappuccinos were not available.

While filter coffee was still being sold, the two espresso machines were out of order during the late morning rush.

Customer Peter Cohen, from north Ascot, tried to buy his regular cappuccino at about 11am.

He said that staff told him that only tea and hot chocolate were available and that they did not make it clear that filter coffee was still on offer.

“It’s like a supermarket having no food or a farm having no animals. I was quite taken aback when I was told I wouldn’t be able to get a coffee.” “I find that gobsmacking really, especially at that time in the morning. You sort of expect to be able to get a cup of coffee in a coffee shop.

Mr Cohen ended up driving two miles to rival brand Costa, based in the Tesco superstore in Martin’s Heron in order to get his caffeine fix.

He added: “I was just desperate for a coffee — I needed something to get me going in the morning so I went elsewhere.” However, Starbucks said its engineers managed to fix one of the machines just a little more than an hour after it had broken down, while the other was fixed the following day.

In a statement, the firm said: “For about an hour on Tuesday, January 13, two of our espresso machines at our Bracknell Sainsbury’s store were out of action. We continued to serve tea and filter coffee while we fixed the fault.

“We apologise to customers who were affected.”