Your thoughts on Starbucks?

[rousseau]

I haven't seen any conversation on Starbucks around these parts, so here you go..

What do you think? Of the drinks? Of the food? All around impression..

 

[DolphinDynasty]

I haven't seen any conversation on Starbucks around these parts, so here you go..

What do you think? Of the drinks? Of the food? All around impression..

I have to say I have no opinion on it, really, in terms of food or drink because I've only been to one once and don't think I bought anything Starbucks itself made. I've never been one to do, eat or say what was popular just because it's popular, so I've never been excited by what's popular coming close-ish to town. (Closest Starbucks is at least a 30 minute drive from me if not more).

And I don't like or drink coffee. A WaWa French vanilla cappucchino from their ready-made machine is about as close as I get and that's like once every 5 years or so.

 

[ZiprHead]

Only been to a Starbucks once and that was to make a delivery. Can't help you, bud.

 

[skepticalbip]

I love coffee (I average drinking about 10 cups per day) and have tried Starbucks a few times. I found their coffee to taste like the beans have been over-roasted and found their prices to be absurdly high. So, in summary, bad coffee that is much more expensive than good coffee.

 

[Tharmas]

I give a big Meh.

I love coffee, but I drink it black. No flavors, nothing mixed in, just black. I find Starbucks doesn’t do that great a job on just a cup of coffee black.

Also, years ago on my first visit to Starbucks, I ordered a coffee in a size that, IIRC, was called “Grande,” which I translated in my mind to “grand,” like the Grand Canyon, or the Grand Teton mountains. But it turned out to be not that large, sort of normal sized, and that kind of put me off.

So I bought beans there for a while. I like a dark roast and they did an OK job with that. Then I discovered a local independent bean roaster/chocolatier in the neighborhood. That was about ten years ago, and I’ve never been back to Starbucks since.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I love coffee (I average drinking about 10 cups per day) and have tried Starbucks a few times. I found their coffee to taste like the beans have been over-roasted and found their prices to be absurdly high. So, in summary, bad coffee that is much more expensive than good coffee.

Yeah, expensive and the coffee tastes burnt... which is why they need to add 400 calories of cream to it to make it passable.

I had a chai latte there, which was good... but you know... that's the cream.

 

[RavenSky]

You left off "addictive" on your poll. I've joked many times that years from now evidence will surface that Stabucks adds something to their coffee that causes an addiction similar to the way tobacco companies purposely increase the addictivness of cigarettes.

Up until a few years ago, I was not a coffee drinker at all. I drank tea, never coffee. I still don't drink "coffee" - can't stand it. But I drink Starbucks calories in a cup on a regular basis

 

[Tom Sawyer]

They serve coffee, which is good. If I feel like a coffee, and there's a Starbucks I'll go in, but I wouldn't go past a different coffee place in order to get Starbucks coffee.

 

[whollygoats]

So, yeah....I've had Starbucks. But, as noted by others in the thread, I think their beans are over-roasted, and consequently, their product tends to taste 'burnt' and bitter.

I am both impressed and repelled by their ubiquitous placement. They even have a Starbucks outlet inside the Forbidden City in Beijing.

In Europe, it is a pretty reliable source of iced beverages. This is matched by other coffee outlets like California Coffee, Costa, and Caffe Nero, all of which have superior coffee to Starbucks.

I tend to treat Starbucks with mock disdain and liberal measures of snark.

I am not a particularly good arbiter of coffee, as I'm not a dedicated drinker. I tend to prefer iced coffees and zero sweet additives. Stumptown is my preferred coffee.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I've never liked coffee, the only time I have ever been in a Starbucks was when a hiking group used it as a rendezvous point.

 

[Underseer]

• It's overpriced
• Ordering is needlessly complicated
• The coffee genuinely tastes better than the diner coffee I'm used to

Consequently, I don't go there. The good is not enough to outweigh the bad, and to be honest, competition with Starbucks has forced diners to get in the habit of cleaning their coffee machines more often, so the quality of the coffee at any old diner is much improved over what it used to be.

 

[Toni]

I don't drink coffee. I like the scent but not the taste. I don't like the way that Starbucks smells. I think the nomenclature that Starbucks has developed is too precious by half and twice as cumbersome as it should be. Their muffins, etc. are pretty bad. But to be fair, I've only tried it once or twice. Absolutely nothing to draw me back.

 

[bilby]

You left off "addictive" on your poll. I've joked many times that years from now evidence will surface that Stabucks adds something to their coffee that causes an addiction similar to the way tobacco companies purposely increase the addictivness of cigarettes.

Up until a few years ago, I was not a coffee drinker at all. I drank tea, never coffee. I still don't drink "coffee" - can't stand it. But I drink Starbucks calories in a cup on a regular basis

I think you will find that the addictive ingredient in coffee is called 'caffeine', and it is quite well understood to be both addictive and present in coffee from places other than Starbucks too.

 

[DBT]

I'd rate it as passable, nothing fantastic, but the coffee is reasonable and they serve a good a chocolate mud cake.

 

[Bronzeage]

I drink a lot of coffee. Maybe a gallon a day. This would make Starbucks, or as it's known in my neighborhood, $4bucks, very expensive. When I do drink coffee in a shop, it will be someplace with free refills.

 

[ideologyhunter]

I don't spend much money with them. I'll start with what I do like:
1) The cinnamon dolce syrup, which, with a little cream, makes their house coffee a good drink. But fairly caloric.
2) Their Java Chip Frappuccino ice cream, which, altho' super-high in calories, I used to indulge in a couple times a year. Sooooo good. My grocery store stopped carrying Starbucks pints altogether 2 years ago, and I haven't sought it out elsewhere. Just as well.
What I don't like:
1) Their house coffee. Very harsh. Has an oil sheen on top!! The Exxon Valdez went down in your cup! With double the creamer I usually use, I can stand it, but I still don't like it as much as the coffee I get at numerous other places. Drink it black and you have a cup of hot, oily acid.
2) Those goddamned sizes. I haven't learned them after 20 years because I don't go in enough, so I still have to study the chart every time I go in.
3) Their tiny, tempting pastries that I never buy because they're about a buck more than I will pay, given their size.
4) I guess, the general atmosphere and mystique they try to build around their name. I'm more a Panera guy and I like Panera's coffee (and when I blow $3 or $4 on a Panera pastry, that mother is BIG.)

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I've never liked coffee, the only time I have ever been in a Starbucks was when a hiking group used it as a rendezvous point.

Hope you didn't ask to use the potty.

- - - Updated - - -

You left off "addictive" on your poll. I've joked many times that years from now evidence will surface that Stabucks adds something to their coffee that causes an addiction similar to the way tobacco companies purposely increase the addictivness of cigarettes.

Up until a few years ago, I was not a coffee drinker at all. I drank tea, never coffee. I still don't drink "coffee" - can't stand it. But I drink Starbucks calories in a cup on a regular basis

I think you will find that the addictive ingredient in coffee is called 'caffeine', and it is quite well understood to be both addictive and present in coffee from places other than Starbucks too.

People don't spend that much money on coffee for the caffeine, they do it for the saturated fats and sugar.

 

[skepticalbip]

I don't spend much money with them. I'll start with what I do like:
1) The cinnamon dolce syrup, which, with a little cream, makes their house coffee a good drink. But fairly caloric.
2) Their Java Chip Frappuccino ice cream, which, altho' super-high in calories, I used to indulge in a couple times a year. Sooooo good. My grocery store stopped carrying Starbucks pints altogether 2 years ago, and I haven't sought it out elsewhere. Just as well.
What I don't like:
1) Their house coffee. Very harsh. Has an oil sheen on top!! The Exxon Valdez went down in your cup! With double the creamer I usually use, I can stand it, but I still don't like it as much as the coffee I get at numerous other places. Drink it black and you have a cup of hot, oily acid.
2) Those goddamned sizes. I haven't learned them after 20 years because I don't go in enough, so I still have to study the chart every time I go in.
3) Their tiny, tempting pastries that I never buy because they're about a buck more than I will pay, given their size.
4) I guess, the general atmosphere and mystique they try to build around their name. I'm more a Panera guy and I like Panera's coffee (and when I blow $3 or $4 on a Panera pastry, that mother is BIG.)

That is a pretty good summary of why I have no use for Starbucks. I like my coffee black-no sugar so Starbucks coffee is just for when there are no other options. For sweet, creamy drinks my choice would be a shake at Baskin-Robbins - much better and much less expensive.

 

[Horatio Parker]

I'll go if there's nothing else around.

I used to ride to work with a friend who was crazy about SB....I used to get I think mocha java or something...tasty, but many calories and wickedly acid.

 

[rousseau]

I'd have to repeat the comments that their basic coffee is pretty lack-luster, but then I'm not a fan of most coffees out there.

As far as I can see the appeal is for people who like sugary/fatty drinks, and I'll admit they do that well, but I have no interest in that kind of thing. I tried out the Pumpkin Spiced Latte the last few years, and every time I came away feeling like I had just wasted 3 bucks.

I like my coffee freshly roasted, freshly ground, made out of a french press with a splash of milk or cream. Good coffee, nothing else.