Starbucks coffee is an affront to all things good about coffee
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In all seriousness, and with respect to the company as a whole (their branding, their social efforts, their consistency etc etc) I find the coffee weak and bitter. North America seems to have a fascination with coffee bean cremation. Even local cafes in Toronto often start out smooth, full bodied, and with an excellent aftertaste, and then soon enough the roast turns darker and more bitter until you're back to the norm: a coffee that has the subtlety burned out of it. The other issue is that they never seem to be able to get a decent microfosm going. Get it right and it makes the coffee smoother and sweeter. Instead they scorch the milk and break down the goodness. It really makes a huge difference. (Caveat here is I'm talking about espresso based drinks, not the coffee-through-a-wet-rag filter coffee. )
cheers Chris Maunder
I see. My sophistication in such matters, is lacking. :-O
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I'm giving you a flat look for sending me research published in a British newspaper about coffee. Britian and coffee is like Australia and drizzly days: we just can't quite get it right. I would put to the jury that the secret of a good cup of coffee is to start with good coffee
cheers Chris Maunder
Chris Maunder wrote:
Britian and coffee
Compared to the dishwater I have been served in the good ol' USA, I will go for coffee here any day. However, I never go into Starbucks, Costa or any of those places, so my experience is coffee at home or in a restaurant; both of which I find quite satisfying.
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Discuss.
cheers Chris Maunder
I've said it before and I'll say it again, going to Starbucks for coffee is like going to prison for sex!
veni bibi saltavi
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I'm giving you a flat look for sending me research published in a British newspaper about coffee. Britian and coffee is like Australia and drizzly days: we just can't quite get it right. I would put to the jury that the secret of a good cup of coffee is to start with good coffee
cheers Chris Maunder
I can't vouch for Canadia, but last time I was in Merca I went for an emergency heart starter at around 6am before a 500 mile trip. "Double shot, strong as fuelephant!" I request. "D'ya wana decaf?" drawls Doofus T Buck-Frain. It's 6 o'clock in the morning and the eejit is asking if I want decaf!
veni bibi saltavi
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I've said it before and I'll say it again, going to Starbucks for coffee is like going to prison for sex!
veni bibi saltavi
How long were you in prison?
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Discuss.
cheers Chris Maunder
I go for starbucks now and then, when i get into a bigger town i enjoy a cappuccino toffee and i like it. But i won't go there regularly, too many hipsters, in this case i prefer good ol coffee or sometimes a fine one from switzerland or italy.
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Wrong on every imaginable count. Coffee:* Most stores, at least in the US, are company stores. For that reason they discard and replace unsold coffee on schedule, not when it's all sold or too nasty. Usually, however, it's sold out first.
- Dark roasted - although those admittedly nasty light roasts were made available for those who used that as an excuse not to buy coffee there
- They use more coffee to make their coffee - never watery - and, much as some like the element of surprise, no mystery about the quality=reliably high
- I haven't bought a fancy mixed coffee beverage in years (that wasn't alcoholic) there or anyplace else.
Environment:* Each Starbucks is different - usually with real furniture - the one nearest me has a fireplace. - and their business model is to encourage people to linger over their coffee - making it easy to study, use laptops, etc., with free WiFi and electrical connections
- Their planned niche is to make their place one of your comfort places - and there's nothing wrong with that
Social Consciousness:* Part Time employees, a great many of them, earn vacation time, sick time, medical benefits, college tuition, etc., which is rare, indeed, in the US for a chain (especially q.v., Walmart, McDonalds, etc.) - They were trend-setter in their coffee sourcing, getting the money directly into the hands of the growers when possible - and now it seems everyone's doing it
- Even their 'card' program - I don't have one, but apparently the changes reflect customer requests. A customer is now 'fully credited' for buying multiple items in a transaction, rather than 'per visit'. This would not be to my advantage, but it's clearly fairer.
Now, they don't sh^t as sweetly as the whip-cream that tops many a beverage, and have made mistakes, but when it comes down to it, they're a reasonably socially responsible company. And they, at least in the US, are the ones who really popularized the concept of drinking real coffee instead of the traditional swill that used to pass for coffee. Uh-Oh! There goes my CP account!
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:thumbsup:
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I disagree. Apple (hardware) products are very, very well designed. Their phone works well as a phone. Their laptops work extremely well as laptops. Their music players shaped what we came to expect from a music player. Starbucks coffee isn't, as far as I can tell, actual coffee. It doesn't actually fulfil its basic purpose. I think people go for Apple because they like the design, the ecosystem, the simplicity (we can argue about this later) and the cache that comes with Apple products. I think people go for Starbucks because of laziness, ignorance, convenience, or because there's no other choice. There are also those who treat Starbucks as a caffeine delivery system: give me a bigun' and I'll plug 'er in and I'm good. Taste is not even part of the equation. This makes me sad.
cheers Chris Maunder
Chris Maunder wrote:
hardware
This. This is the part you shall not miss. Well done.
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How long were you in prison?
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Discuss.
cheers Chris Maunder
No starbucks where I live, so no discussion.
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I can't vouch for Canadia, but last time I was in Merca I went for an emergency heart starter at around 6am before a 500 mile trip. "Double shot, strong as fuelephant!" I request. "D'ya wana decaf?" drawls Doofus T Buck-Frain. It's 6 o'clock in the morning and the eejit is asking if I want decaf!
veni bibi saltavi
They saw you coming a mile away.
cheers Chris Maunder
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Chris Maunder wrote:
Britian and coffee
Compared to the dishwater I have been served in the good ol' USA, I will go for coffee here any day. However, I never go into Starbucks, Costa or any of those places, so my experience is coffee at home or in a restaurant; both of which I find quite satisfying.
To be fair I'm finding the coffee in the UK has improved a lot.
cheers Chris Maunder
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I go for starbucks now and then, when i get into a bigger town i enjoy a cappuccino toffee and i like it. But i won't go there regularly, too many hipsters, in this case i prefer good ol coffee or sometimes a fine one from switzerland or italy.
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}There are no hipsters in Starbuck; only (overly sweetened ) coffee; maybe there were hippies there back in the day it was only a Seattle business. Hipsters go to 3rd wave coffee houses that serve good coffee from sustainable coffee growers around the world. (I'm not a hipster, but I go to 3rd wave coffee houses, because the coffee is better and they don't misspell my name).
I'd rather be phishing!
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There are no hipsters in Starbuck; only (overly sweetened ) coffee; maybe there were hippies there back in the day it was only a Seattle business. Hipsters go to 3rd wave coffee houses that serve good coffee from sustainable coffee growers around the world. (I'm not a hipster, but I go to 3rd wave coffee houses, because the coffee is better and they don't misspell my name).
I'd rather be phishing!
So you know the people i see when i go to starbucks? I say the most of them are hipsters, those going to 3rd wave economic whateverdouche shops are environmentalists that got blinded on both eyes.
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Discuss.
cheers Chris Maunder
Starbucks doesn't sell coffee. They sell those Chai Lattes that my wife likes. Or some crazy Mocha Pumpkin Cinnabon Mocchiato Penguin Layabout Fluffed Disillusionment Frappe, with or without whipped cream.
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I disagree. Apple (hardware) products are very, very well designed. Their phone works well as a phone. Their laptops work extremely well as laptops. Their music players shaped what we came to expect from a music player. Starbucks coffee isn't, as far as I can tell, actual coffee. It doesn't actually fulfil its basic purpose. I think people go for Apple because they like the design, the ecosystem, the simplicity (we can argue about this later) and the cache that comes with Apple products. I think people go for Starbucks because of laziness, ignorance, convenience, or because there's no other choice. There are also those who treat Starbucks as a caffeine delivery system: give me a bigun' and I'll plug 'er in and I'm good. Taste is not even part of the equation. This makes me sad.
cheers Chris Maunder
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Starbucks = Apple Overpriced and driven by fanboys
cheers,
Super
------------------------------------------ Too much of good is bad,mix some evil in it
super wrote:
Overpriced and driven by fanboysgirls
FTFY (in the case of Starbucks)
The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin
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Discuss.
cheers Chris Maunder
Personally I don't go into into Starbucks, Costa or any other coffee chain. I prefer to frequent local coffee shops where they use higher quality beans and take the time and effort to produce a drink that actually tastes of coffee. If you enjoy coffee then avoid all coffee chains and especially Starbucks.
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I disagree. Apple (hardware) products are very, very well designed. Their phone works well as a phone. Their laptops work extremely well as laptops. Their music players shaped what we came to expect from a music player. Starbucks coffee isn't, as far as I can tell, actual coffee. It doesn't actually fulfil its basic purpose. I think people go for Apple because they like the design, the ecosystem, the simplicity (we can argue about this later) and the cache that comes with Apple products. I think people go for Starbucks because of laziness, ignorance, convenience, or because there's no other choice. There are also those who treat Starbucks as a caffeine delivery system: give me a bigun' and I'll plug 'er in and I'm good. Taste is not even part of the equation. This makes me sad.
cheers Chris Maunder
Chris Maunder wrote:
laziness, ignorance, convenience, or because there's no other choice
But isn't that how every human makes every decision, ever? I mean, I know I like to crow about how much research I did over my latest widget purchase, but I can guarantee you I didn't research absolutely every last granule of data available on widgets before I made my decision. Which means my decision was based largely out of ignorance and convenience.
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Discuss.
cheers Chris Maunder
I've been there only twice, coffee is a different thing in each country, in USA is big, soft, and like hot water with some residual coffee taste, in European northern countries (i.e. Denmark) coffee is not very tasty as it's done using the same coffee machines, but they are drinking it all day, continuously, in Brazil, Italy and Spain coffee is short, tasty and hot, usually people there take it after eating lunch and on afternoon meetings (i.e. meeting someone in a bar). Then Starbucks is a different thing: it is like adding plenty of things to coffee to get a softer taste and a big thing, I can take it just to taste something sweet, that reminds more something like a cake or a milkshake than a coffee itself... I don't think you can call it an affront, it is a chain company that supplies meals, like burger king, McDonalds... you know what is there, in this case Starbucks tries to sell their goods as a premium thing which, from my point of view it is not. The good thing on these meal chains is that if you have any allergy then you know exactly what to expect: i.e. years ago in Russia a girl that was doing the same travel than me saw a Starbucks and told me: "now I know a place I can eat in case of emergency as it will follow all the regulations as expected". It's the same when travelling with my wife, she has the celiac disease and those chains have specific products that, given it's simplicity and the mechanical way they make things you are safer than in most other places...
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