Starbucks

To be fair, thanks to Starbucks, you can’t swing a dead cat anywhere in North America without hitting a barista, which means you can survive for weeks without encountering Old Fashioned American Coffee on any roadtrip. And I actually like the mocha frappucino.

The flipside is that the juggernaut has destroyed good coffee in almost every market where it used to exist, save for the stalwart competition in its native Seattle. For me, that struck a nerve when Starbucks bought out and ruined the Coffee Connection chain in Boston. Even worse, they’ve spawned a generation of coffee drinkers who think that expensive and overroasted IS good coffee, in the same way that NASCAR has spawned a generation of fans who think that clumsily banging around is good racing.

We won’t even get into their strongarm tactics with the (former?) US importers of Saeco and Solis equipment.

The coffee is mostly okay, but the company is menacing. Hence, I give it a three.

Oh, one more thing, an anecdote. A couple of years ago, I was on vacation in England, and walking around the streets of Norfolk I remarked to my friend that it was refreshingly different from an American city, that the city plan was more neighborhoodlike, the drivers were less insane, and that you weren’t surrounded by a sea of suits all tromping around and clutching their Starbucks cups. And sure enough, not five seconds later we turned a corner and came face-to-face with two people tromping around with their Starbucks cups. Aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

Everyone knows what’s wrong with Starbucks- there are too many of them, the beans are overroasted, and the machines do all of the work now. If humans weren’t required to clean the store and make change, they could be the first robotic restaurant.

Don’t eat any of their sandwiches, especially in airports. It takes true talent to mess up tomato & mozz on a “baguette”.

Still- I do like their soy chai lattes. And the caramel lattes. (I won’t call it a macchiato, because it isn’t). And the fact that they offer benefits to all employees is a very good thing.

Yeah, okay, the food sucks, and the beans are overroasted. But recognition should be given to how they upped the quality and availability of decent coffee in America. There are some good mom-and-pop coffee shops (and tea shops) out there that might not have made it if the Ubiquitious Evil Coffee Shop Bent on World Domination hadn’t paved the way. But you have to hate them for overdoing it. Remember The Onion article “New Starbucks Opens in Restroom of Existing Starbucks”?

I had one of my All-time Worst Food Experiences earlier this year at a Starbucks in LAX. My flight had been delayed & I hadn’t planned ahead with snacks etc in my carry-on, so as soon as I saw the Starbucks logo, I stopped for at least a predictable coffee drink....

...and was enticed by what appeared to be decent deli sandwiches, made that day. I passed on a coffee, and ordered a lunch special: sandwich, chips, and a drink. Rolled over to my connecting gate area, and started in on the pesto, cheese & tomato baguette.

The.Horror.

I have effectively blocked most of the deatil on the sandwich ... but suffice to say that if anything could have been wrong, it was. The pesto was =disgusting=; the bread was soggy inside due to the overly generous quantity of pesto; and all of the tomato was what could be seen through the plastic wrap, just little strips around the edge of the roll.

I ate my chips (tasty salt-n-vinegar, iirc), drank my drink (some good-for-me fruit juice), and pondered rolling back to the source Starbucks and demanding a refund. I didn’t; I figure it’s my own fault, not planning ahead with snacks and imagining that an OK coffee place could manage a decent sandwich in a airport. YMMV ;-)