Starbucks coffee is an affront to all things good about coffee
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But if that widget gave you an electric shock every time you used it would you get another? Unless, of course, that was the only widget you could find and you needed one NOW, dammit! NOW!! That's how I see Starbucks. Taking advantage of my habit and shocking me in the process.
cheers Chris Maunder
Chris certainly started a good discussion! A friend with Italian parents remarked that Starbucks has branches in almost every country in the world except Italy, where coffee was first introduced in Europe. They didn't want to open a café in a country where proper coffee is made. It's only very recently that Starbucks has dared to open a café in Milan Jerry
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Discuss.
cheers Chris Maunder
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To be fair I'm finding the coffee in the UK has improved a lot.
cheers Chris Maunder
Nobody in the UK will be offended by what you say about our coffee. However, if you were to talk that way about our tea - the true drink of a civilised nation - well, then there would be words.
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Someone may have already said this (I couldn't be bothered to read through 6 screens full of comments) but you really can't beat a freshly brewed cup of tea, or two.
Let's not go there. Thinking about a decent cup of tea over here makes me sad and lonely.
cheers Chris Maunder
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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
Starting with a good coffee is critical, but there still are many things you can do to screw it up. See this for more guidance: National Coffee Association USA > About Coffee > How to Brew Coffee[^] It's helpful to keep pre-ground coffee in the freezer and just remove what you are going to use.
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Discuss.
cheers Chris Maunder
Starbucks is to coffee as Trump is to politics.
Cheers, Mike Fidler "I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright "I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright "I'm addicted to placebos. I could quit, but it wouldn't matter." Steven Wright yet again.
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Well I would say you are in the minority then. Pretty much everyone else I know who announce their Apple-love have no idea about whether the hardware is good, whether it's good value for money, whether they need it, etc.
Regards, Nish
Website: www.voidnish.com Blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
I just replaced my Samsung Android phone with an iPhone. Best thing I ever did! As for coffee, if you're stupid enough to pay rip-off prices for nearly coffee then you probably don't care what it tastes like. I may not last forever but the mess I leave behind certainly will.
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Let's not go there. Thinking about a decent cup of tea over here makes me sad and lonely.
cheers Chris Maunder
As far as I know, there are two kinds of coffee beans - the original, and best, is Arabica and the other, Robusta - a sturdier species of coffee bean with higher acidity and high bitterness. I don't know what Starbucks uses, but I believe Arabica and hard water make the best coffee.
73
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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
Now, now, now. I am an absolutely qualified authority on matters of coffee because I am Italian and, specifically, from Naples. Many things go into the "perfect cup of coffee", so to say. Here, we say it must have the three "C": Cumm Cazz Coce (=Jesus this is hot). So, that's the very first thing: if it doesn't burn your lips, you're doing it wrong. After that, coffee quality is obviously essential, and here come the first pitfalls: normally, you will go for industrial coffee because it's cheaper, but some of us DO buy custom coffee, meaning bags of coffee that cost A LOT more but also have completely different organoleptic properties. These bags are only sold by specialised dealers. Because of the difficulty of packaging them properly (these are not industries...), however, it is uncommon to see someone being shipped them from outside where he/she lives. It does happen if you find a good one, but they're rare. Surprisingly, water is important in more ways than one: water's molecular composition is important, but so is the temperature at which it boils (I don't have to remind you that different altitudes have different boiling points, right?) because if it's too low the coffee is ruined and if it's too high you end up having it rise too early. Another really important factor is what brewer you use: normally, you would use what we call a "Moka", but some of us do use the ancient neapolitan brewer (which is far more difficult to handle, but the results can taste markedly different). A
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Starbucks = Apple Overpriced and driven by fanboys
cheers,
Super
------------------------------------------ Too much of good is bad,mix some evil in it
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Discuss.
cheers Chris Maunder
Not to defend the indefensible Star Bucks, but where are you guys getting better coffee? (Home doesn't count, we're talking about Coffee shops here). A lot of Starbucks have "Clover Leaf" Machines where you can have a cup brewed from some very select items not used on the front line. I find this coffee very good, but you have to pay for it, for sure. Having said all this, I am not a fan of cornered markets, and I miss the Caribou Coffee Chain - giving Starbucks at least SOME Competition. One more comment - if you put anything in your coffee besides coffee, well, you don't get a say. Anything else you put in makes it "not coffee". Where there's smoke, there's a Blue Screen of death.
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Not to defend the indefensible Star Bucks, but where are you guys getting better coffee? (Home doesn't count, we're talking about Coffee shops here). A lot of Starbucks have "Clover Leaf" Machines where you can have a cup brewed from some very select items not used on the front line. I find this coffee very good, but you have to pay for it, for sure. Having said all this, I am not a fan of cornered markets, and I miss the Caribou Coffee Chain - giving Starbucks at least SOME Competition. One more comment - if you put anything in your coffee besides coffee, well, you don't get a say. Anything else you put in makes it "not coffee". Where there's smoke, there's a Blue Screen of death.
Jet Fuel Coffee - A Toronto landmark[^] The only place I know in Toronto that does it really, really well. And consistently. And they never change. The fact that they are into cycling doesn't hurt, either. I grabbed one of their pro's bikes from last season for a steal. Dark Horse[^] is a middling second. No bad, not fantastic, but solid. My all-time, never yet been beaten place in the entire world (though a tiny place in the south of France came damn close) is The Brown Cow cafe[^]. Go there and go to heaven.
cheers Chris Maunder
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Discuss.
cheers Chris Maunder
I'm a coffee purest, I don't like flavorings, sugar, or creamer in my coffee. so if the coffee tastes like burnt S**t without the extras added, it's not good coffee in my book. I'm not slamming anyone who likes the additives; feel free to enjoy them. I just like coffee for the taste of coffee. Starbucks is definitely on my ban list.
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Discuss.
cheers Chris Maunder
Concur. Starbucks coffee tastes like engine oil. A friend of my ex-wife who used to buy coffee for Dunkin' Donuts would run into the Starbucks buyers fairly regularly: according to her, they'd go out of their way to find the cheapest, shittiest beans they could. In the same way that Lady Gaga has nothing to do with music and everything to do with Lady Gaga, Starbucks has nothing to do with coffee and everything to do with Starbucks. The mystery is why it isn't all over yet. But (as evidenced by Lady Gaga) people do have dreadful taste...
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Discuss.
cheers Chris Maunder
I don't know about Starsucks in the US or Canada or Australia... My experience with it, in Mexico City and surrounding cities, has been very positive. When I go, I usually ask for either black coffee (or "Today's coffee or Daily coffee" or whatever they call it now) or black tea (English breakfast blend, usually). They charge me MXN$35 (pesos), which at today's exchange rate is a few cents under USD$2, and I get more than half litre of coffee or tea (100ml for 33 USD cents). While it might not be the cheapest, it has very good quality. The brews usually come from local states Veracruz and Chiapas, each producing very good quality of coffee, or Colombia, which is the greates brew I have tasted so far. Ocasionally they have coffee from Guatemala (which is Chiapas-like) or African countries, which IMO is good, yet not great. Being in a coffee exporter country, it is very easy to find places with very good quality brews. You can get SB-quality coffee for as low as 25 USD cents per 100 ml. However, SB provides additional services, such as free WiFi and nice, cozy desks where to work. Given that, those extra 8 USD cents are well worth it. Now, if you go for Italian-like coffee brews (cappuccino, latte, machiatto or mochaccino) then the prices escalate to MXN$55 and if you add extras (vanilla syrup, chocochips, mousse and such) your account can increase up to MXN$70. That is expensive, compared to what you can get elsewhere (cappuccinos for MXN$40 for example), and the beverage quality decreases (IMO) because the coffee taste gets diluted with all the additional sugar and milk. So, all in all, I'd say I have had a good experience with Starbucks. Good quality, good prices for black coffee (which is what I usually drink anyway, coffee with steamming water and nothing more) or black tea, and a nice place to work or just hang out.
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Someone may have already said this (I couldn't be bothered to read through 6 screens full of comments) but you really can't beat a freshly brewed cup of tea, or two.
xiecsuk wrote:
you really can't beat a freshly brewed cup of tea
Blue tea, red tea, white tea, especially. :) :thumbsup:
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I don't know about Starsucks in the US or Canada or Australia... My experience with it, in Mexico City and surrounding cities, has been very positive. When I go, I usually ask for either black coffee (or "Today's coffee or Daily coffee" or whatever they call it now) or black tea (English breakfast blend, usually). They charge me MXN$35 (pesos), which at today's exchange rate is a few cents under USD$2, and I get more than half litre of coffee or tea (100ml for 33 USD cents). While it might not be the cheapest, it has very good quality. The brews usually come from local states Veracruz and Chiapas, each producing very good quality of coffee, or Colombia, which is the greates brew I have tasted so far. Ocasionally they have coffee from Guatemala (which is Chiapas-like) or African countries, which IMO is good, yet not great. Being in a coffee exporter country, it is very easy to find places with very good quality brews. You can get SB-quality coffee for as low as 25 USD cents per 100 ml. However, SB provides additional services, such as free WiFi and nice, cozy desks where to work. Given that, those extra 8 USD cents are well worth it. Now, if you go for Italian-like coffee brews (cappuccino, latte, machiatto or mochaccino) then the prices escalate to MXN$55 and if you add extras (vanilla syrup, chocochips, mousse and such) your account can increase up to MXN$70. That is expensive, compared to what you can get elsewhere (cappuccinos for MXN$40 for example), and the beverage quality decreases (IMO) because the coffee taste gets diluted with all the additional sugar and milk. So, all in all, I'd say I have had a good experience with Starbucks. Good quality, good prices for black coffee (which is what I usually drink anyway, coffee with steamming water and nothing more) or black tea, and a nice place to work or just hang out.
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I once made the mistake? of bringing a 4lb sack of ground coffee back from Columbia. It took me an age to get it through British Customs. They had sniffer dogs inspecting it before they finally let me through.
Bad experience indeed, I hear you. I once made the mistake to land in Paris with unlabeled sodium bicarbonate and cajeta (some sort of toasted milk candy) that I had brought as a gift to a friend. It took me like two hours to convince them that the white powder was not cocaine (of course, they didn't take my word for it, they had it tested), that the cajeta was a candy (they did try it and tested it also, therefore ruining my gift), and that I was not a drug dealer. :rolleyes:
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Discuss.
cheers Chris Maunder
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I'm pretty sure Tim Hortons put crack in their coffee because it's disgusting but once I've had a cup I need another one. It's very wrong.
cheers Chris Maunder