Working from Home vs. Working from Coffee Shops: The Productivity Experiment (2025)
It's the question that divides remote workers more than whether oat milk really is worth the extra 50p, where are we more productive: at home in our slippers or in a coffee shop surrounded by the gentle clatter of cups and keyboard warriors? Well, we’re about to settle this once and for all with ‘extremely technical’ productivity experiment…
Forget Dawn from accounts opinion, or boring listicles. This is cold, hard data, all brewed and served fresh from the remote workers front line.
The Experiment
Over the course of one working week, we’re going head-to-head: two days working from home, two days working from coffee shops (maybe we should have done the last day working from a van!). We'll be tracking everything from typing speed to steps taken, and of course, how much damage the barista’s finest brews do to our wallets.
Here's what we're measuring:
Typing Speed (WPM): Does the café buzz help or hinder the flow of words?
Focus Time: Measured using Pomodoro timers, how many deep-focus sessions get smashed out each day?
Calories Burned: Because coffee shop loitering often involves a few more steps than a three-second shuffle to the fridge.
Cost Per Productive Hour (£): Is a £4 oat flat white worth the productivity boost?
Social Interaction Score: How much better do you feel after a day working around others vs. staring at the same four walls?
Day One & Two: The Home Office
Ah, the home office, or the spare room, kitchen table, or if you're truly living the dream, the bed-desk combo.
On paper, working from home sounds like heaven. Your own space. Unlimited coffee refills. No one judging you for Googling whether dogs can understand podcasts.
But here’s the thing, the isolation hits harder than the caffeine withdrawal at 3pm. Productivity is solid, but the motivation to keep going dwindles faster than the broadband signal when your neighbour starts streaming Netflix.
Results:
Typing Speed: 68 WPM
Pomodoro Sessions: 10 per day (25 mins on, 5 mins off)
Calories Burned: 180
Cost: £0 (if you ignore the fact we accidentally ate half the biscuit tin)
Social Interaction Score: 3/10 (if you count talking to the cat)
Day Three & Four: Coffee Shops
Laptop charged? Headphones in? Judgement-proof order of a single espresso followed by three cappuccinos over six hours? Let’s go!
The beauty of working from coffee shops is the low-level buzz of activity. Conversations float in and out of earshot, someone’s always Instagramming their latte art, and the Wi-Fi password is inevitably hidden behind the till. But somehow, it works.
Sure, there’s the occasional noisy toddler or the guy who doesn’t quite understand coffee shop etiquette and thinks a Zoom call on speaker is acceptable in public (it's not). But there’s something about the atmosphere that makes you feel like a proper, functioning adult smashing through your work.
Results:
Typing Speed: 72 WPM (+4)
Pomodoro Sessions: 12 per day (+2)
Calories Burned: 450 (thank you, four trips to the toilet and one emergency socket hunt)
Cost: £16 per day (ouch)
Social Interaction Score: 8/10 (Barista small talk = instant mood booster)
The Winner?
Drum roll please… It’s not quite black and white, more of a frothy caramel macchiato situation, (bare with).
For heads-down deep work? The home office still wins. But for creativity, energy, and a mood boost? Coffee shops take the crown. The hybrid model, a couple of days at home, a couple out in the wild, might just be the ultimate productivity recipe though!
Final Thoughts
Working from coffee shops isn't just about the caffeine fix, it's a whole mood. And if this experiment proves anything, it's that where you work isn't just about productivity, it's about how you feel doing it.
Now, who's up for a loyalty card loyalty scheme comparison next?
