Staryucks

[hollywood]

Starbucks: mediocre coffee, good stock.

I think the thing is instead of going for the lowest common denominator, SB goes for the medium common denominator.

Edited August 14, 2003 by hollywood (log)

[jersey13]

Their espresso tastes like ass.  That's why I don't like them.

I don't actually drink espresso, but I'll be some people like a good piece of ass now and then!

[joiei]

Starbucks is akin to Walmart and Mcdonald's. They are everywhere, they make you feel welcome and then sell you a mediocore product. A frappuccino is the same thing as a quarter-pounder. It just ain't all that, in fact it is pretty Boring. And the money you spend there does not stay in your town. It goes to Seattle or to Bentonville, the richest little town in Arkansas, I wonder if they have a Starbucks, Hey that could be a very lucrative franchise site with all that walmart money.

[slkinsey]

Their espresso tastes like ass.  That's why I don't like them.

I don't actually drink espresso, but I'll be some people like a good piece of ass now and then!

Any ass worth having costs a lot more than four bucks.

Not to mention that I don't know too many people who would want theirs described as "grande."

[mpav]

And Sandra, you're bang on with the toilets.  I know where there's Starbucks, there are clean toilets.  Very comforting after a tall Americano!

Uh, have you been to the Astor Place/St. Marks Place Starbucks? They (along with the nearby Barnes and Nobles) bathrooms are disgusting! Worse than the bathrooms in shady Chinatown greasy wall places.

EJ, You took the words out of my mouth about the toilets at the Astor Place Starbucks. The rest of the shop is none too clean, either.

[cinghiale]

It's just fun to bash Starbucks. Even the Washington Post is getting in on it. While not particularly compelling, the story referred to a pretty humorous Onion piece (apparently a different story than the one Katherine linked to): "The Starbucks pandemic inspired a story in the Onion about a Starbucks opening in the bathroom of an existing Starbucks."

[thebaker]

Starbucks is akin to Walmart and Mcdonald's.  They are everywhere, they make you feel welcome and then sell you a mediocore product.  A frappuccino is the same thing as a quarter-pounder.  It just ain't all that,  in fact it is pretty Boring.  And the money you spend there does not stay in your town.  It goes to Seattle or to Bentonville, the richest little town in Arkansas, I wonder if they have a Starbucks,  Hey that could be a very lucrative franchise site with all that walmart money.

Well StarBucks unlike Mcd's and Walmart provide EXCELLENT EXCELLENT Health benifits.

My Exwife used to work for them and she had better benifits then my union job for Marriott.

and all she had to do was mantain over like 25 hrs and your covered,

I would have stayed married just for the benifits...

[mcdowell]

In some places, like the backwater Columbia, South Carolina, they get exicited over a new Starbucks coming to town. It's a mark of sophistication, a boost to the local ego, allowing the community to dare think they're as urbane as Charlotte or Augusta... Then again, maybe they're just glad to have coffee that's not from the Waffle House. Don't know.

I've said it before, but I'm a Peet's man. Long live Peet's. Do they have any on the East coast?

[theminx]

It's a mark of sophistication, a boost to the local ego

That's the way it seems to be in Baltimore. There are currently plans to put another two Starbucks (including a drive-through) in the Towson area, within a mile radius of two existing Starbucks. It's sad that this is the closest we'll ever get to being like Manhattan.

That said, we have our own local coffee chain here, Donna's. They opened up before Starbucks made its presence known to us slow Baltimorons. At first, the coffee was pretty good; the house blend was a nice dark roast, and they did flavored coffees admirably well. As the chain grew (it became known as the "ubiquitous" Donna's) the quality of the brew fell considerably. Talk about tasting like ass! By comparison, Starbucks is the java equivalent of manna from heaven. Here, that is. I've never had a good cup at a Starbucks in Seattle.

[mrbigjas]

I've said it before, but I'm a Peet's man. Long live Peet's.  Do they have any on the East coast?

Sure we do, here in Philadelphia. Or, we did a few months ago, anyway. There's a place down on 9th Street just above the Italian Market that serves Peets. Good stuff.

[marie-louise]

I can't say I have the kind of animosity towards Starbuck's the article discusses, but I don't like their coffee very much. There's one a few blocks from my office; I go there occasionally and get a latte. It's just mediocre; I go there for the walk as much as the coffee.

Now Peet's-IMO, that's some great coffee, and well worth going out of your way to get.

[Suzanne F]

I've said it before, but I'm a Peet's man. Long live Peet's.  Do they have any on the East coast?

Ah, yeah, Peet's. Last time we were in San Francisco, we walked around near the Peet's HQ, just to breathe. Aaaaaah. Before they were engulfed by Starbucks, Pasqua was here in NYC, serving Peet's (if I remember correctly). Pasqua getting bought out by Starbucks just proved to me that P. was better: if you can't beat 'em, buy 'em.

Starbucks coffee tastes burnt. That's all I'll say. So instead of walking one block to S., we prefer to walk four to an independent place.

I am now considering ordering my beans from Ravensbrew, in Alaska. We get their coffee in Wilmington, Vermont; their Deadman's Reach really gets me going in the morning.

Another recommendation, if you are in Brattleboro, Vermont: Mocha Joe's. We have passed this place forever, finally checked it out this trip. Excellent coffee, and the best service at any coffee bar ever in this country ("And what proportion of espresso to foam to milk would you like in your cappucino?").

[babyluck]

Heard on NPR this morning that the first Starbucks to open in NYC is closing -- on 87th, it opened in '94 when I was in college in the village. Back when there were only 281 locations. According to this press release, there are now 4308 locations worldwide, not including licensed stores.

I personally don't think Starbucks is that bad. I would rather that good independent coffee shops had more of a chance, but you can hardly blame them for marrying good consistent product with marketing savvy. I wouldn't go there if I were still in NYC (unless I was late to work), but in NJ, and when travelling, you better believe they come in handy. You've got to breathe a sigh of relief when you see them in the hotel lobby.

[hjshorter]

Another reason to be concerned about Starbucks.

I love the Onion.

I love Starbucks too. I used to mail order their coffee years ago, before they acheived world domination. It was so much better than the crap you could get at the grocery stores, and there really weren't many independent local roasters because coffee wasn't popular back then. It was just swill that you sucked down in order to get going in the morning. No one cared how it tasted.

I don't pay much attention to the foo-foo drinks on the menu these days, but have to admit that they do draw people into the stores who don't like coffee.

[Beto]

That said, we have our own local coffee chain here, Donna's.

The few times that I've been to Donna's, the coffee was horrid. The last time that I went and ordered a latte, I got a cereal bowl(!) filled with milk and a shot of thin, over-extracted espresso. I didn't know whether to pick it up and slurp it or grab a spoon!

I actually wrote an email to the company but got no reply.

I'll never go back again. Life's too short to drink bad coffee.

[fresco]

Starbucks may not be the best coffee in the world, but it is often the best coffee available. I'm a bit puzzled that their coffee is considered very overpriced. Compared with the worst beer available at a bar, it is still cheap. Compared with the best coffee available in a lot of other places, it's not expensive.

If they'd quit insisting on employing a lot of stupid terms that makes their employees sound like Scientologists or something, I'd be perfectly happy with Starbucks.

[gabe]

Fresco mentioned Starbucks' use of weird, nonstandard terminology. I agree, and my personal pet peeve is their word for "large" -- the faux Italian "venti" which, if you look closely at the menu board, is actually "Venti" -- a proprietary Starbucks adjective. How f'ing pretentious is that? Even worse, almost all the customers pronounce it "ventay." I suppose they think that makes them sound erudite. But when is an "i" ever pronounced to rhyme with a long "a"?

I always try to find the best coffee around, which in many less metropolitan places is Starbucks' -- so I do drink their coffee. But if I want a large, I always ask for a "20 oz." something, not a ventay.

[sammy]

Starbucks coffee tastes burnt.  That's all I'll say.

My cousin feels the same way and now refers to it as "Charbucks." No matter how hard she tries, she can't stop drinking Frappucinos though.

[bloviatrix]

Heard on NPR this morning that the first Starbucks to open in NYC is closing -- on 87th, it opened in '94 when I was in college in the village.

If I counted correctly, there are currently 8 Starbucks on B'way between 86th street and 114th (that's less than a mile and a half). Damn, now we'll be down to 7. Whatever are we to do?

[babyluck]

Fresco mentioned Starbucks' use of weird, nonstandard terminology.  I agree, and my personal pet peeve is their word for "large" -- the faux Italian "venti" which, if you look closely at the menu board, is actually "Venti™" -- a proprietary Starbucks adjective.  How f'ing pretentious is that?  Even worse, almost all the customers pronounce it "ventay."  I suppose they think that makes them sound erudite.  But when is an "i" ever pronounced to rhyme with a long "a"?

I always get a "Tall," so it's not so bad, but I do in general refuse to order things with cute names -- I find it demeaning. I will stubbornly refuse to use their marketing language & just call things by their generic names when they are too silly, like anything called "Xtreme."

Ever notice how the B&N locations (at least in the suburbs) have Regular & Large instead of Tall and Grande & Starbuck's Coffee instead of Coffee of the Week? I guess they were having too many comprehension problems...

[laurenmilan]

In my local area (New Brunswick, NJ) it would seem that Starbucks is the only coffeehouse that does NOT char the drip coffee! Honestly, the indy coffeehouses in my town do a good or great capp or espresso, and other mixed drinks, but the drip coffee must be sitting in the carafe for several hours, because it has the cigarette-butt taste to it.

When I want to hang out for hours and enjoy a capp and write/read, I go to a cafe. WHen I want a great dessert, I go to a cafe. When I want to be undisturbed, I go to a cafe. When I want coffee to go that I can drink, I go to Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts.

Sorry, but the Tweek episode of South Park was right... sometimes, local coffee truly sucks, and that's why Starbucks succeeded.

[Steve Klc]

Is no one prepared to make the case that Starbucks has actually been good for raising coffee awareness in the US? That the main reason we had that independent roaster boom outside of SF and Seattle and these little independent entrepreneurs opening all around the country--that a Kevin Knox and Allegro got bought out by a Whole Foods--that the terms robusta and arabica and espresso and Rancilio Sylvia and Illy are even on our radar across the country is because of Starbucks? Because some good pioneering coffee fanatics sold out to Starbucks way back when and some others didn't? Exposure was brought to all these now "industry veterans." Now our baseline coffee awareness isn't the lowest common denominator but the medium common denominator as was very astutely mentioned previously.

Now we're at the point where those who care can take the level of discussion up to another level. We can talk about coffee tasting of its terroir, of its place; we can talk about coffee and sustainable agriculture. We can begin to say don't bash Starbucks outright but instead "taste" your coffee--and let your palate tell you whether it is good or not? It's not good or bad inherently because it is Starbucks.

Oh, and theminx, with respect to Baltimore, more Starbucks opening and "this is the closest we'll ever get to being like Manhattan," I empathize. It might also be the closest Baltimore will get to Washington, DC as well.

[fresco]

Is no one prepared to make the case that Starbucks has actually been good for raising coffee awareness in the US? 

Starbucks' influence may actually be more potent in some places outside the US. I have heard it said that Starbucks' entry into the UK caused an immediate improvement in the coffee offered by competitors large and small.

This may be an exaggeration, but the quality of coffee generally on offer even in London has been underwhelming.

In Canada I do think a lot of places that specialize in coffee have to try harder now that Starbucks is everywhere to be found.

[Callipygos]

Whenever I am at a Starbucks and I am asked what size I want, I say "small." If they ask me, "a tall?" I repeat, "Small."

If they want to call the smallest size something completely the opposite of "small", fine, but I don't have to also.

[Beto]

Is no one prepared to make the case that Starbucks has actually been good for raising coffee awareness in the US?

Actually, as much as I dislike the coffee at Starbucks, I have to give credit to the CEO, Howard Schultz, for making the American public aware of espresso drinks. Pre-Starbucks, almost no one knew what an "expresso" was and they surely weren't going to pay 3 dollars and change for a cup of coffee.

He has opened the door for independents with a focus on quality and service to be able to be successful in other than major urban centers. The key for the independent is recognizing espresso as a culinary art and giving it the attention to detail that it requires.

Super-auto machines, espresso pods, and scalded milk aren't gonna cut it.