Maybe Starbuck's coffee comes out differently in different places, but I've always found it to be pretty good. I don't drink that much of it. Barbara gets various kinds of coffee beans from Gevalia or from Trader Joe's and grinds it fresh. I've drunk a fair amount of Starbuck's coffee, but I don't think I've ever actually bought any.

A few years ago, a friend who had written a novel wanted me to offer my opinions and suggestions on possible revision and editing. He would come to our apartment a couple of days a week, read a chapter, and then we'd discuss it. On his way, he'd stop at the Starbuck's a few blocks from where I live and picked up a couple of lattés, and as he read, we'd sip away at it. Then, a couple of times, people have given me Starbuck's gift cards, which I have used.

I've drunk one helluva lot of coffee in my life, from my first cup at the age of fifteen, brewed in a large pot over a campfire, to gallons of slop served in various restaurants and coffee shops, to instant coffee that I gulped as a morning eye-opener on my way to work, to a whole, wide variety of coffees, from espresso that would take the enamel off your teeth, to a good, strong Swedish coffee, to all kinds of coffee mixed with other stuff (Turkish coffee, caffé mocha, and Lord knows what all) while singing in coffeehouses. The Café Encore and The Place Next Door in particular took pride in the quality and variety of their coffees.

I know it's fashionable to trash the chain stores and the big guys, but the truth of the matter is that Starbuck's coffee ain't that bad. Pricey, but not that bad.

But then, living here in the Pacific Northwest (logging country), early on, I learned the secret of a good cup of coffee:

Stir it with your thumb.

Don Firth