Comments on "Starbuckeroos" - Faerye Net

Re: A Respectful Dissent

2003-08-11T08:42:42+00:00

It’s better than “mix all the shit we made yesterday together, warm it up and call it a mocha” Arabica, but that’s just me :)

I am with you on the burnt-tasting, but only for normal coffee—I never notice it with the espresso drinks.

I did think of the fast food analogy, but here’s the thing - using BK because I never go to McDonald’s if I can help it - BKs are NOT so consistent. Some of them are clean and well-kempt, some of them are full of Cleveland-style lazy bums. And the decor varies hugely (especially in McDonald’s, actually. And here we have the Hollywood McDonald’s! In…Chicago…)

Bottom line is, I don’t think they make the world’s best coffee. But I don’t go there for the coffee. I go for the caramel floofy drinks and a nice place to sit.

A Respectful Dissent

2003-08-11T01:00:52+00:00

I’m sorry, but I really must disagree. Certainly, all Starbucks feel the same inside, but I find this sameness stultifying, not comforting. They’re a boring, whitebread alternative to real coffeeshops. Calling them the “Microsoft of the coffee world” is of course ridiculous; there’s no analogy there. They’re the McDonald’s of the coffee world; bland, generic, and successful through their consistent and non-threatening nature. They are, naturally, less disgusting than McDonald’s because standardized, assembly-line methods of brewing coffee are less disgusting than standardized, assembly-line methods of deep fat-frying.

Their silly promotional gift items bother me. They make me feel like I’m in a Hallmark store. I also get the feeling that they want me to think that their design is avant-garde instead of avant-garde 10 years ago.

And I think their coffee tastes like butt. It’s burnt. And pricey. Unfortunately, much like fast food has done to the eating habits of many lower- and even middle-class Americans, Starbucks may redefine what quality means in coffee.

So that’s why I don’t like Starbucks—but you go right ahead.

Re: Yay for Starbucks

2003-08-08T10:58:32+00:00

Yeah! I was going to mention the fast food comparison; other stores try for that comforting sameness, but it just isn’t there. And it’s so low-level; I mean, in Ashland, there’s a fireplace and a mural—but the colors, lighting, furniture, still tell your brain that you’re in Starbucks.

Now if they could just clear the smell out of the few weird ones…

Yay for Starbucks

2003-08-08T10:40:23+00:00

Starbucks does a lot of things I really like. I stopped drinking coffee a few years ago, but I still go there with friends for the atmosphere and the fact that you can completely monopolize a table (even a table with comfy chairs) for six hours without buying more than one cup of anything and they’ll never even so much as hint that you should move on.

Also there’s the whole low-cost wi-fi access factor (extremely low cost if you don’t mind being a little evil), the fact that they’re often attached to book stores I enjoy, the fact that there are often entertaining local musicians performing there, and the fact that my favorite local Starbucks (Tanasbourne) is now open 24 hours.

Starbucks has what McDonalds wants. A comforting sameness at every store, a hipness factor, and just enough local influence at each location to engender the warm fuzzy feeling that the Starbucks you go to isn’t just any Starbucks, it’s your Starbucks. And also refreshing beverages and foodstuffs that don’t taste like shit.