steve wrote:If you are in the middle of bumfuck, egypt and your options are a gas station coffee or Starbucks, you'll soon appreciate the value of the Bucky pandemic.

or london, steve. or in the middle of london. or the ohio turnpike.

i stay away from their espresso. all of their fancy coffee is overroasted, and this really destroys the espresso. the regular drip, i can and do drink it when i am not within a block or two of someplace better.

the cake-batter frappahoochees, i cannot drink

their saeco-made 'barista' espresso machine is quite nice for the money

and i think they are a more or less admirably run company, even taking their cutthroat store placement and generally bad musical taste into account

not crap

please allow me to take this chance to plug my favorite coffee in chicago, that of intelligentsia roasters and coffee shops. this unfortunately named concern produces a magnificent espresso roast called 'black cat.' their pulls of 'black cat' at their downtown store are wonderful, the equal of good italian espresso. the drip and iced coffee is really good, as well.

Not Crap - great coffee, which is the only item I buy there.

However, it becomes Crap if the Starbucks cashier insists on correcting you if you ask for a "Large" coffee instead of a "Grande" coffee.
I refuse to speak their language.
I will always drink their coffee.

Man alive, I fuckin' hate Starbucks.

But!

1. I do appreciate the fact that they've spread the idea of "gourmet" coffee and spread it across Bumfucklvania, where before there was nothing but watered-down Folgers boiling on a hot plate.

Unfortunately, this is also perveted by their 20oz coffee-flavored milkshakes. Does an 8 year-old child really need 20oz of steamed milk and sugar syrup with a shot of decaf espresso?

2. Regarding their virus-like expansionism: I don't see it as negative a trend as Wal-Mart's expansionism. Very rarely does a Starbucks actually put a (good) local coffee shop out of business. Café owners I have spoken with actually reported an increase in business when Starbucks opens up nearby. Maybe this is not the case in Seattle, but here in Texas that's the jam.

3. And as others have said, when you're sitting in fucking Midland fucking Texas waiting for a fucking spare fucking tire and you're fucking running sound for a fucking band who is fucking opening fucking for fucking 3-goddamned-11 at the fucking Uni of fucking New fucking Mexico, it's nice to have a fucking place to sit and read the fucking New York times and drink a fucking decent cup of fucking coffee.

mb

hc wrote:hc
newbie

Joined: 02 Jun 2005
Posts: 1
Location: cairo

Is this the first post from the African continent?

Salut, new Egyptian!

I'm not usually a coffee drinker, and I certainly can't discern good coffee from bad in most cases, so I can't comment on the quality of their "gourmet" coffee. This is lost on me. I do thoroughly enjoy Starbucks' sugary, dessertlike drinks, though I've only been to Starbucks maybe four times in my 26 years.

A friend of mine has just worked his way through school at Starbucks. They seem like a decent enough company, and the insurance he got through them helped him finally get a long-time injury treated. That's good for him.

With all this having been said, I have to vote CRAP for Starbucks.

Here's my reason: I saw this horrible band called "Antigone Rising" on Jay Leno's godawful show the other night. Not only does this band have what is probably the most cringe-inducing name I have ever heard in my life, they also played irritating sub-4 Non-Blondes tripe (if such a thing is possible). I was truly embarrassed to be seeing and hearing this band, yet I could not turn off the television or change the channel. The singer was belting out the predictably in-your-face lyrics in a very studied "defiant" voice, and her hilarious stage presence screamed "angry suburban housewife." Aside from just playing the music they were playing, the acoustic guitarist, bassist, and drummer didn't do anything too terrible, BUT the electric guitaristmade a bunch of funnier-than-Mick-Ronson monster faces and went through a whole battery of Rock Star Poses. I thought my eyes were going to roll right out of my head. This chick had the most unintentionally funny onstage antics this side of Paul Stanley. They seriously sounded like a Melissa Etheridge cover band trying their hand at a few originals. I looked them up on Allmusic, because I fully expected them to have been put together by a label or something, but they are apparently a real band with several independent releases. It boggles the mind.

I mention "Antigone Rising" because Leno made it a point to say that this band's album is being sold exclusively at Starbucks. Any company that would sell this band's material at all is walkin' that CRAP borderline, and the "exclusivity" thing pushes Starbuck riiiiight over it, as far as I'm concerned.


I'll still give Starbucks a Waffle Factor of 8 because I really like the sugary drinks on the rare occasions that I have them.

I love how they can't just fucking hand you your coffee. They always have to set it down on the other side of the counter. I mean, for fucks sake... I'm the only guy in there buying a coffee, I extend my hand for them to give it to me when they're done doing their thing, and they avoid eye contact and set it down on the counter so I have to walk around and get it.

Besides that. Not crap. I like mine decaf w/ Sugar in the Raw & a little half and half.

steve wrote:If you are in the middle of bumfuck, egypt and your options are a gas station coffee or Starbucks, you'll soon appreciate the value of the Bucky pandemic.

I've certainly been in these scenarios and been bailed out by Starbucks. I've appreciated it.

CRAP

I drink at least 2 20oz americanos a day, which is a $2.63 drink normally, but I have the pleasure of being friends with everyone at the fake-starbucks thats attached to the grocery store in my shopping center where I work.

They hook me up, and I casually act like I'll hook them up with cds from my store, but never do.

If I had anywhere else to get free coffee I probably would, but as it stands now, free starbucks is NOT CRAP.

However, if ever you're in Atlanta, perhaps recording at Zero Return, ask Jim or Rob for directions to AURORA COFFEE in Little 5 Points.

Maybe its not to Chicago standards, but they make the best americano I've ever had, and I make it a point to go there whenever I'm in little 5.