coffee morning

(Britain, informal) A short mid-morning break taken around eleven o'clock for a drink or light snack.

(British, Australia) A short break or rest period during the day when a cup of tea or coffee is drunk.

Theatre slang for a paltry, barely-worth-it salary — the kind of pay that covers little more than snacks. If an actor describes their wages as 'coffee and cakes,' they're being wryly self-deprecating about the gap between artistic passion and financial reward. The phrase captures the well-known reality of life in the performing arts: huge effort, great experience, terrible money. It's used with weary humour rather than genuine bitterness, and belongs to the long tradition of theatre folk laughing at their own financial predicament.