"strong, good coffee (like Europe)". Starbucks coffee is way better than Italian coffee. For a start, Italians wouldn't put syrup in it! However, it's better than the watery stuff you used to get in the UK, although these days most cafes in London serve Italian coffee.
You are absolutely correct! When I go to my parents house or any of my relatives houses (I am 100% Italian), I see what strong means. However, if you leave out their flavorings and stick to the espressos or coffee of the day, StarBucks is a lot stronger than anything else like Dunkin Donuts, etc.
There's a difference between strong-flavored and strong stimulant. It's an inverse relationship. Roasting removes caffeine from the beans and makes them taste stronger. This is why StarBucks coffee has a pretty strong taste, but never seems to kick in like other coffees do.
<grin> now I get it... clever!
Hey! That explains why I'm always at the end of a long line when I go there. -- WaldenMathews
It actually IS the canonical abbreviation apparantly, at least among programmers who work as baristas there. :-) That's what I use in my checkbook.
In Game Developer magazine, they created a fictional example of a coffeehouse and named it Nova Dollars to make fun of Starbucks. To correctly make fun of Starbucks, you'd have to name the place Ahab's or Queequeg's or something. Consequently "*$" wouldn't be a correct abbreviation.
Beef, bread, cannabis, chocolate, coffee, marshmallows, tobacco: All these things compel our senses when served slightly burnt. They summon the instincts of our primitive fire-using ancestors. Tribes that "liked" fire cleaned and preserved their food, and kept biting insects at bay, so they tended to outbreed those that did not. *$ knows this effect, and exploits it.
And talk about predatory market domination! I mean how many StarBucks can any one neighborhood support? I think StarBucks purposely scouts out locations where other independent coffee houses exist, and then places one of their stores there to kill them off, even if it's just a couple of blocks down from another StarBucks. I like the cartoon which has one character giving directions to another with the phrase 'Well, you turn left at the StarBucks, go down a block till you hit the StarBucks, make a right and we're the store just next to the StarBucks.' If anyone is interested in good strong coffee, try out an independent roaster. -- MichaelChean
Actually, they don't put one store next to it, they flood the neighbourhood and operate their stores at a loss until everyone else goes out of business. Then they raise the prices. Lovely, isn't it? -- AnthonyLander
Oh, gosh, what have I started??
A rant, Sam. Sorry. -- al
Are the folks who don't like Starbucks coffee drinking the substandard drip coffee or the espresso (which I like)? -- EricHodges
That may be true of their own stores, but they've certainly closed some SeattlesBestCoffee? stores since acquiring them, including my local one. -- Tim Lesher
I've never seen any examples of predatory pricing by StarBucks... here in PortlandOregon the local StarBucks all seem to charge the same prices, no matter the location. While there are lots of them; the area is full of thriving independent coffee shops, as well as a few other chains such as CoffeePeople? and SeattlesBestCoffee? (whoops, StarBucks just bought them).
My favorite bit of commentary on StarBucks was an episode of the Simpsons when OurFavoriteFamily? was walking through Springfield Mall. One of the shops was a StarBucks. As they continued to walk through the mall, more and more StarBucks appeared, until every shop in the mall was StarBucks. -- ScottJohnson
According to its derivation, "factoid" is something that looks like a fact, but actually isn't. "Factlet" is preferred by the purists when something is a small fact. This is almost certainly a losing battle. According to a dictionary I saw recently, "literally" no longer literally means "literally", it now is used for emphasis and doesn't actually imply that the related information is literal. There's the joy of language.
See above. SBC is now owned by StarBucks.
One interesting thing ot do in SeattleWashington is to go visit StarBucks store #1; just above PikesPlaceMarket?. They have preserved the original decor in that store; it looks nothing like any of the typical StarBucks chain stores. -- ScottJohnson
Update: the sandwiches are gone, but all the stores still have the coolers, where they now store cold drinks. I'll bet the V.P. who came up with the sandwich idea is working elsewhere now. -- MichaelChean
There was an article about the original designs of StarBucks outlets a few years back in [damn, lost the reference]. The layout and decor, and the bad acoustics, were intentionally designed to draw people in, perform a quick swap of cash for coffee, and then get people to leave without having them feel like they were driven out. -- DaveSmith
This is the same as why all the fast food joints have garish, dayglo colour schemes. Eat your burger and get out!
That's interesting. I've noticed the opposite effect. In Concord, Mass., and the Nashua, N.H., ones at least, people lounge on the couches for hours reading and drinking coffee. I feel very comfortable there.
I recall that article too, but recently they've done an about face by installing cushy lounge chairs and a living room type decor. Oh one positive note. StarBucks obviously has a real good employee benefits plan, so you really gotta hand it to them: they take care of their MostImportantAsset. -- MichaelChean
Caffeine is my shepherd; I shall not doze. It maketh me to wake in green pastures: It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses. It restoreth my buzz: It leadeth me in the paths of consciousness for its name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of addiction, I will fear no Equal(tm): For thou art with me; thy cream and thy sugar they comfort me. Thou preparest a carafe before me in the presence of The StarBucks: Thou anointest my day with pep; my mug runneth over. Surely richness and taste shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the House of Juan Valdez forever.
-- sg
clap clap clap clap clap! -- AnthonyLander
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion, It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, The hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning, It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. -- parody of the Mentat prayer from Dune
Starbucks has more stores than one might imagine:
Next time, ask for the mild of the day. "Mild" coffee is coffee with all of the caffeine and none of the acidity. See, we do cater to picky folk like you, you just don't know it yet. Oh yeah, and the 16-ounce thing? Espresso to go is SUPPOSED to be served in a single, unstacked 8-ounce cup, so the store you go to has a lousy manager.
I was just in Seattle/Redmond? and it's absoultely scary how many StarBucks there are! There is literally one on every corner! Actually, there are many other coffee places on the other corners!
What does that say of the Redmondites' sleep habits?
Well, I doubt that Redmond or Microsoft covers most of Seattle. There are *many* other parts of Seattle.
Redmond is not in Seattle at all. It is a suburb across Lake Washington from Seattle.
Where I live (Glasgow), there's a street called Byres Road. There are three coffee shops directly on it and a couple of others on side streets. One of them serves a lovely smooth coffee which is a pleasure to sip. The second one is an Italian place which does good food as well. Its coffee is an acquired taste: it's packed full of flavour and very powerful, utterly delicious once you've got the taste for it. The last place is the ubiquitous StarBucks - it's rubbish in comparison. The StarBucks coffee has almost zero flavour; it tastes likes it's been engineered to cause as little offence as possible. It's simply a vehicle for the ridiculous hazelnut, caramel, and other miscellaneous syrups that they stuff into it to give it flavour.
I despise StarBucks, and patronize it as seldom as possible, because they intentionally acquired and destroyed a great and home-grown Boston coffee source, "Coffee Connection". Coffee Connection began in Boston, sold primarily beans (that were roasted each day), and offered incredibly great service. For example, they had a subscription service, where they would deliver a quantity, even as small as a pound, of freshly-roasted specialty coffee to your home once a week. Starbucks bought the chain and then destroyed it, killing all the specialty services that made it great.
Fortunately, there is now (in the Boston area) a Coffee Connection-style alternative to StarBucks, PeetsCoffee? (http://www.peetscoffee.com). I highly recommend them.
-- TomStambaugh
I agree completely, Tom; I can't bear to walk into a StarBucks, and have been grateful to see that CaribouCoffee (a Minnesota, USA based company) has been expanding, though much more slowly than StarBucks. The atmosphere is typically much nicer than that of StarBucks, with a northwoods motif/feeling, and I've been consistently impressed by the people who work there. Mostly young high-school and college-aged people, but they all seem to enjoy working there and are quite conversational. At virtually every StarBucks I've had the displeasure of visiting, the staff seems to be generally miffed that they have to make coffee, and it's very assembly-line oriented. Oh yeah, the coffee at CaribouCoffee is (IMHO) much better as well. -- SeanMcNamara
Y'all might be amused to know that the espresso counter at Larry's Markets, the largest "upscale" grocery chain in Seattle, started serving Peet's Coffee a while back. -- MichaelGates
What? Only one StarBucks per intersection? That's not acceptable. My theory is that StarBucks as a rule, at least here in Seattle, must be visible at all times. There's actually a corner not too far away from where I live where there are actually TWO StarBucks in the same strip mall. And then there's one directly across the street. Sadly, that's pretty common around here. What blows me away is that people can sustain these, PLUS all the Tully's and SBCs, but I guess I should rethink my major in economics. -- MichaelStevens
In Manhattan, 57th and Lexington has 2 starbucks. One on the south side of 57th, just a few buildings west of the intersection, the other on the west side of lexington, just a few doors north of the intersection. There are 3 in a two-block radius from my work at John and William St.
I think Astor Place--by which I mean the area surrounding the Astor Place 6 train (subway) station in downtown Manhattan, near NYU--has three StarBucks, almost right next to each other. There's one just above the (downtown) station, and one at Third Avenue, essentially across the street (you can easily see one from the other). And I believe there's another in Cooper Union, from which you'd be able to see the first one.
It does. You can see all three from one spot.
Ah, where do you get off coming to us with this 100% Kona stuff? Does this look like Hawaii? You'll drink Mystery Blend and like it, you silly person!
Uh... Well, have you got Kenya AA?
No! Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
Now look here, I came here for some coffee --
You don't frighten us you empty-headed donut-dunking Americans. Go boil your beans, you sons of a window-dresser. I fart in your general direction!
(Aside) Are you sure this is an American company??
Voila - your four-dollar-a-day habit is broken!
Sweet. Now I just have to find a blender.
Put 4 bucks in a can marked "starbucks sucks" every day until you can afford one. It should take like 2 weeks...
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