BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S

Subject: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: robomatic
Date: 29 May 18 - 12:52 PM

I could go to many places with this thread. I lived in Seattle when there was just the one downtown. They had good coffee and already were offering cold pressed coffee which has since become a 'thing'.

In the following era of Tyrannosaurus Starbucks, Anchorage had been a high coffee consumption town long before Starbucks got here and many of us were loyal to the local chains. I was, for years, until the local blends changed to bitter (coffee taste must have genetic links, and that is an entirely different subject).

So I've been patronizing Starbucks for a couple years now, long enough to be familiar with the many employees who make up the various sites around town. There are approximately six independent Starshops and then maybe eight more within various box stores including both major grocery chains and including Target, but not Walmart.

The people who run these Starbucks have a high proportion of locals; they promote a clean environment and a good work ethic. They are highly diverse in terms of skin shades and sexual preference. (Anchorage is one of the most diverse cities in the U.S. and our Starbucks reflect that in personnel and clientele.

They are all closing early today for social consciousness raising. I believe it's referred to as "anti-bias".

I'm in Starbucks now and I will most likely be in Starbucks tomorrow.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Donuel
Date: 29 May 18 - 01:05 PM

Perhaps Starbucks will turn into a college of complexes and host folk music too.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: keberoxu
Date: 29 May 18 - 01:23 PM

A Dominican friar of my acquaintance
calls Starbucks "The Mother Ship"
(he has sleep apnea,
and needs caffeine to stay awake).

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 May 18 - 01:42 PM

Have they started paying tax yet?

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Vashta Nerada
Date: 29 May 18 - 01:57 PM

Then there is Starbuck v. Capt. Ahab

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Donuel
Date: 29 May 18 - 02:39 PM

Don't get mw wrong, for a corporation Starbucks has seemed to keep their growers from abject exploitation to insure fair pricing and sustainability. I hope to learn more good things when they start up their new cable clear thinking channel 'Caffeine and Friends'.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 29 May 18 - 02:42 PM

"Have they started paying tax yet?"

Apparently they have, Steve... H

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Jack Campin
Date: 29 May 18 - 03:43 PM

Have they started leaving all their profits from foreign operations in the country where they're made?

Who the fuck needs another gang of thugs from Trumpistan driving other countries' firms out of business?

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 May 18 - 04:42 PM

They make a consistently good cup of coffee (although $1.95 seems a bit high), and they seem to treat their employees well. I'm sure they do corporate things that people don't like, but they don't really seem horrible.

I don't want to use corporate names for my drink sizes, and I refuse to consume anything I can't define in fewer than three words. So, every Monday on my way to teach Bible study, I order a "small dark roast"....but then I have to violate my principles and add "no cream or sugar."

I live near a town of 10,000, with maybe 15,000 in the total area. One intersection in town has FOUR Starbucks - two standalones, and one each in Target and Safeway. And all four are busy.

But I don't see any reason to demonize them, even though demonizing is the cool thing to do nowadays.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 May 18 - 04:53 PM

They are demonised because they are serial tax-evaders in this country. Anyway, you get a damn sight better coffee, and ambience, at Caffè Nero. Even Costa...

Best coffee I've had this end is to be had at the Coffee Sack in Prestwich. I've just done me Trip Advisor review.

Even better at my house. Strength 5 beans in my Delonghi bean-to-cup machine. And I'm cheap. Free if you bring the biscotti.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 29 May 18 - 05:31 PM

I avoid all of these chains like the plague. Their coffee is far too weak

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 May 18 - 06:58 PM

If you order a cappuccino in Italy you get a small cup of strong coffee with a lovely creamy head. If you order one in the UK you get a vast cup or mug that is filled with weak, milky coffee, way too bloody hot, topped by a thin layer of dry white froth with choccy sprinkles on top unless you're quick enough to prevent it. We haven't got a bloody clue. If you come to my house I'll give you a very decent coffee. Guaranteed.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 30 May 18 - 01:19 AM

paying well over a quid for a plastic cup of hot beverage...!!!?????

bollocks to that...

What happened to good old faithful thermos flasks and billy cans...???

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 May 18 - 01:26 AM

Steve, I'm sure you have a good point about Starbucks and other US companies being "serial tax-evaders" of UK taxes - but we think the same of many of them. The multinationals pay taxes where taxes are cheapest - and that's not the UK or USA.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Jos
Date: 30 May 18 - 03:08 AM

Years ago I had a long wait at Gatwick and I went in search of coffee, and found the Seattle Coffee Company. The coffee was lovely.
The next time I was delayed at Gatwick I went in search of the Seattle Coffee Company but it wasn't where it had been before. I searched the whole area and couldn't find it, so I asked a member of the airport staff where it was. He said I should go down to the lower level and I would find it on the left. I went down and found ... Starbucks. What a disappointment. The coffee could best be described as 'dreary'.
I have occasionally been to a Starbucks since, when I couldn't find an alternative. It has always been disappointing.

Bring back the Seattle Coffee Company.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Senoufou
Date: 30 May 18 - 03:40 AM

I dislike the coffee one gets in these places. It's so strong and bitter, costs far too much and makes my heart race afterwards.

My husband adores them all. He discovered a thing called 'gingerbread latte' (no idea, don't ask me) which he follows up with a chaser of a tiny weeny little glass with some sort of black coffee in (I think he calls it an 'espresso', but can't be sure) He seems to know all about it. It's what he's missing most in Ramadan, as he's not allowed any drinks during the hours of daylight.

If we're up the city in Norwich, he gets all these fancy coffees and then I meekly ask for a cup of tea. The lady (why call her a 'barista'?) looks at me pityingly.

I like coffee made at home. Instant coffee. Nestle's Gold Blend. With about an inch of double cream on the top. But usually I drink tea.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 30 May 18 - 04:44 AM

Well different views I guess. Sen thinks the coffee is too strong and I think its too weak.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Senoufou
Date: 30 May 18 - 05:34 AM

I wonder if I'd find it less bitter if I put some sugar in it? My husband bungs lots of those little sachets of sugar into his cup.

His country (Cote d'Ivoire) exports lots of coffee, and he says most people there go to the small 'kiosks' from time to time to drink it with their friends. I expect that's where he got his taste for the stuff.
I however drank only tea and cocoa (just after the War) during my youth, never coffee. I don't reckon there's anything better than a 'Nice Cup Of TEA'!

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Mr Red
Date: 31 May 18 - 04:05 AM

(he has sleep apnea, and needs caffeine to stay awake).

not good bedfellows IMNSHO.

I have to say, to my shame, I once went into a Stirbacks because it was the only one in the airport and GF couldn't understand why I had a distaste for an homogenised aura. The coffee was er, um, well - coffee. I asked for black & weak. They offered Americano! Don't they understand black? Would One shot do? Filter and top it up with water. We only have a machine. I only don't want to be here!

In the UK we have numerous chains (& cafes) and the state of the economy attests to that. When money is short, sales of coffee and candy rise. People go shopping and can't afford to buy frippery, so they spend pocket money on coffee instead.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Senoufou
Date: 31 May 18 - 04:34 AM

It's quite expensive though Mr Red isn't it? The gingerbread latte is nearly £3 a go, and looks to me as if it's mostly blooming froth.
A lovely cup of tea on Norwich Market is only 50p.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 31 May 18 - 07:12 AM

"asked for black & weak. They offered Americano! Don't they understand black?"

Isn't that exactly what an Americano is - weak black coffee? It's Espresso diluted with hot water - pretty weedy and insipid.

What, if anything, am I missing here?

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 31 May 18 - 08:58 AM

that sounds like mildly coffee flavoured hot water... how much a plastic cup...???

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: robomatic
Date: 31 May 18 - 04:19 PM

I think the point has been made elsewhere:

Coffee flavored water = Coffee.

I had the prejudice against Starbucks as a large, passionless chain of standarized coffee / espresso for many years. I only patronized local roasters and brewers.

Then they changed their espresso blend and it did not change back. Instead of a rich 'chocolate' espresso taste my tongue buds drew bitter reactions. There is another local chain, their espresso tastes very bitter to me. I find that among us caffeine dependent folk there is a great split- a high percentage think it is the finest espresso in town and some like me find it bitter beyond acceptable. I've come to the private opinion that there is a genetic component to the mix. I detest licorice, anise and ouzo. Others love the stuff. The Goons couldn't go two shows without talking up licorice. I love cilantro and cooking with it. Others find it tastes 'soapy'. I love real Italian espresso, or the closest they can come in the States, which is on Fisherman's Wharf neighborhood of San Francisco. And all-in-all, chain that it is, Starbucks espresso is consistent and tasty enough for me. And as I've writ above their employees seem to be a with-it blend themselves, varied, cheery, alert, and doing their best most of the time.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: JennieG
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 12:47 AM

No $tarbuck$ in our town, but then it's not very big by world standards. However we have several independent cafés, most of which do coffee which ranges from very good to excellent.

I drink a long black - that's Aussiespeak for something like Americano, I think - with milk on the side. Because I don't like milky coffee I don't like other people putting the milk in mine, just a very small dribble does it for me. Himself likes a small latté. At home he drinks tea, I make my coffee in a French press......black with a very small dribble of milk. Sadly just two cups a day is now my limit, but at least they're good cups.

Life is too short to drink bad coffee.

Instant coffee is bad coffee, in my book.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Mr Red
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 04:50 AM

What, if anything, am I missing here?

Not caffeine obviously. When you normally drink decoffeenated, a weak coffee suffices. And anyway the world wants excesses of caffeine so a weak coffee is still overstocked with caffeine. They even put it in shampoo fer gawds sake!

Instant is instant. If you want to re-hydrate and want something different from water.

Personally I switched from regular instant to decaff because I was getting what I described as "long QT" whilst trying to get to sleep. A sure sign that at my modest level of caffeine input it was affecting my heart in an abnormal way. But experience showed I would get a headache by 11am so I have regular Kenco Smooth first thing. And no headaches. But now if I pick the wrong jar & don't get caffeine it doesn't cause headaches anyway. Job done.

Caffeine is a drug and it is physically addictive. Try going without coffee (or tea) for a day. But keep the asp(i)rins handy.

FWIW Tea has twice as much caffeine as instant coffee, and filter/cafetiere has 5 times as much as instant. Hence the myth of tea v coffee - you can see where it came from.

On a really sad note, I was bragging that Stroud has no Stirbacks, but my town (5 miles away but near the Motorway) has an ex HappyEater/ex Little Chef which is now........ AH! I can bring myself to say it.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 07:36 AM

"Not caffeine obviously. When you normally drink decoffeenated, a weak coffee suffices. And anyway the world wants excesses of caffeine so a weak coffee is still overstocked with caffeine."

You didn't make it clear in your original post that you wanted low- or no caffeine. You didn't even mention it, you just said you wanted 'weak black' coffee. An Americano is weak black coffee, a one shot Americano is very weak black coffee.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Jos
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 08:23 AM

Coffee seems to have acquired a bad reputation as a result of 'news' reports on 'health' (the kind that are introduced by a video of people with large stomachs and bottoms but no heads) claiming that it is fattening.
What these news reports are really saying is that it is all the cream and syrup and sprinkles that these headless people disguise their coffee with that is making them fat. Nothing wrong with the coffee itself.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 11:44 AM

Americans - if you swap coffee for tea... that's Fair Trade...




that's crap joke of the day out the way then...



..actually, when we were students it was so easy for stoned friends
to accidentally make both at the same time in the same mug,
sometimes we'd do it deliberately just for variety...

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 05:46 PM

If all one wants is a cuppa joe, go almost anywhere else for your brew.
I find that S'bucks coffee is bitter, but better can be found even at McDonalds. In my area there are several single locations which serve tastier, smoother coffee for less. Whether they are as socially conscious as S'bucks claims to be, I don't know or care. It's the taste that counts.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: robomatic
Date: 02 Jun 18 - 10:02 PM

There is another chain that's been around a long time. They are in coastal parts of the United States, and not yet in Alaska (but if they showed up here, they'd be accommodated).

They are Peets. They have a sort of high end comparison to Starbucks (like Target to Walmarts). I don't know if that is fair but I distinctly remember that in one Peets I went to, they did not have nutmeg powder. No, they had a nutmeg in a sort of shaving device. I'd never seen that before, and it definitely was better than the powder.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: Mr Red
Date: 03 Jun 18 - 08:47 AM

you wanted low- or no caffeine

decaff AKAIK has caffeine, just a lot less of it. It depends on the processing method. One method is osmosis from regular coffee to (presumably) no caffeine liquid. That process merely balances the concentration. How many passes do they use?
Another process is steam extraction. (?).
and they can start with low caff beans.

But it is decaff not nocaff.

Diluting with hot water is a compromise, and still get a taste. And that is still hit and miss, trust me.

Subject: RE: BS: S*T*A*R*B*U*C*K*S
From: robomatic
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 08:53 PM

Today Starbucks CEO and 'creator' Howard Schultz announced he is retiring 26 June 2018 (later this month).

I wonder if his silk parachute has some requirement in it he must not be caught in any competing venues, like Peets?