Gimme coffee, Gimme Starbucks!!
Ahhh starbucks! A phenomenon we have all heard of but the experience is something to behold. It is such a natural part of life here that I forget to mention it to people but having just had my fix I am feeling inspired.
Starbucks coffee is, I believe the life blood of America, literally. This liquid flows through the veins of every american; when I go for a walk before noon most people I pass are gripping their Starbucks cup as if it is the only thing that will get them through the day. Ranging from Tall (a mug) to Venti (a bucket) with any variation you could wish for. The autumn flavour has included the 'pumpkin spice latte' and tonight with Christmas on it's way we were greeted with gingerbread, egg nog, mint and other colourful flavours of the season. Kris, who has never been a coffee drinker (and still isn't outside of Starbucks) will now suggest grabbing a coffee and now he has discovered the 'venti vanilla latte' there is no going back. This is still an occasional treat for us as the smallest coffee starts at $3.50, but they know they have people hooked! A revelation Kris and I had when we were in NYC a couple of weeks ago was that Starbucks has taken over McDonalds in being one of the few stores you find on EVERY block. In fact McDonalds seems to be ousted from this niche entirely! But the beauty of Starbucks is that the stores are not such an eye sore and they practice environmentally and economically friendly business. Now I am ever the skeptic but unlike any other store I have been into here they recycle, use recycled products and use fair trade products which I believe is part of their success but maybe it is mostly just their DAMN GOOD COFFEE!
2 comments:
Hi Lauren, Dave here. How's life? Looks like you guys are having a ball over there.
I don't know if it was open before you left but we now have a Starbucks in Adelaide. Now this might be sacrilege in the US, but a couple of words that come to mind are "over-priced" and "yuck". Why get a weak-tasting coffee with about a cow's worth of milk in it for like $4-5, when I can get a nice-sized double shot cap that'll blow my socks off for $2.50 at Bravo? Anyway, I guess that's just my opinion. I like my coffee to contain espresso, a bit of milk and that's all. No sugar, no pumpkin (what the...?) no caramel, mint, raspberry, peanut butter, double super fandangled whatsit. Just coffee and milk. Occasionally for DESSERT I will venture into the realms of affogato (espresso over vanilla ice-cream, but that is strictly a dessert item!
But I like the idea of fairtrade and recycling principles.
Can you tell I have strong views on this topic? ;)
Have a great day.
Hi Lauren how's it going! well I'm glad to hear Starbucks has allowed you to keep up your coffee. Coffee here is great - we have an awesome machine at work that keeps us all happy. It doesn't heat the milk enough for my liking, but I just microwave the milk, grab a double-shot espresso and I'm away! I have to agree with Dave in that the Starbucks I've had (Melbourne and Japan) didn't leave much of an impression - I definitely haven't had a better coffee than at Bravo's! But hey - maybe Starbucks in the US is like Guiness in Ireland! :-)
Cheers,
Rissa
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