Can I Claim Coffee and Tea as a Business Expense?

Office Tea and Coffee: Yes

If you buy tea, coffee, milk, sugar, and biscuits for your office or workshop, these are allowable business expenses. They're consumables provided for the workplace — similar to stationery or cleaning supplies.

This applies whether you consume them yourself, share them with employees, or offer them to visiting clients. The cost is modest and clearly connected to running your workplace.

What you can claim:

• Tea bags, coffee (instant and ground), milk, sugar
• Biscuits and basic snacks for the office
• A kettle or coffee machine for the workplace (as equipment)
• Water cooler supplies
• Cups, mugs, and other kitchen consumables

Your Daily Coffee Shop Purchase: It Depends

The coffee you buy on your way to work from your local cafe is a different matter. This falls under the subsistence rules:

Allowable if you're travelling on business — away from your normal place of work visiting a client, attending a meeting, or working at a temporary location. The coffee is subsistence while travelling.

Not allowable if you're simply buying your regular morning coffee near your usual workplace. Everyone buys coffee, whether they run a business or not. It's a personal expense.

Working From Home

If you work from home, tea and coffee you make at home are covered by the working-from-home expenses (either simplified flat rate or actual costs method). You can't claim them separately on top.

However, if you buy specific items solely for business meetings at home (nice biscuits for a client visit, for instance), there's an argument for claiming those as business expenses — though the amounts are usually too small to worry about.

The Practical Position

Keep it simple. Claim your office supplies of tea, coffee, and biscuits. Claim coffee purchased while genuinely travelling on business. Don't try to claim your daily personal coffee habit.

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