Why All the Hating on Starbucks?
 

I mean, I know they make crappy overpriced coffee and all that. But what it is about Starbucks that makes protesters destroy and loot their stores? Everytime there's a protest that turns into a riot, you're guaranteed to see a newsbox or a trash can go through the front window of a Starbucks?

Doesn't matter what the riot's about ... global warming, economics, sports team victories ... Starbucks takes the brunt. You almost don't want to be in or near a Starbucks for fear that a riot will break out in the vicinity and the store will get trashed while you're waiting for your Venti Mocha Half-Caf Skim Latte Frappacino with a little hint of cinnamon.

Starbucks is even run by the kind of West Coast Hippies that would support whatever it is that the protesters are protesting, I mean, shouldn't they be trashing things like Gucci stores, or someplace that sells sneakers made by half-blind, crippled, Indonesian, orphaned toddlers?

Simple:

In South Park episode #217, "Gnomes", Tweek's parents' coffee shop almost went out of business because 'Harbucks', a parody of the Starbucks coffee shop chain, opened a shop in South Park.

Hippies watch South Park.

LOGIC! I does it!

Because half of all storefronts are Starbucks? They'd have to work hard to avoid trashing one! :p

I didn't know they taught that kind of thinking in English classes... obviously they haven't finished beating it out of you yet.

Starbucks? They're large, they're profitable, and they're everywhere. Easy target.

Doesn't Lewis Black equate two Starbucks across the street from each other with the End Times?

Yes. End of the universe, I believe. When I shared this with Mrs. Dallas, she told me (based on a book about the history of Starbucks that she had read) that they do this is places (heavy traffic, median, etc.) where a single building is likely to not attract customers driving both directions. So they just put one on each side of the street.

Starbuck's represent "high-end" obnoxious america. McD's or other fast-food joint is too common-man to really draw their ire directed at The Man.

Gucci stores are for the idle rich that have always been with us but are an insignificant percentage of the population.

Starbucks are for the pretentious, it's-all-about me, loud-cellphone-yapping. earth-polluting, oppressor-man-supporting, Hummer/SUV-driving, spotted owl-killing, whale-eating, not-nice-niks. The ultimate symbol of earth killing excess.
:haha:

Why does everyone in Starbucks sopping up the free WIFI? Around here it looks more like a computer class. Sipping on the expensive lattes etc. while staring at their substandard laptops. Sheesh

wolf, I see it as a typical response between "have's" and "have not's". They see a corporate icon that represents success and they despise it. You can see it among many aspects of our society, including those who support the Obama redistribution plans.

Posted by a friend of mine who lives in Atlanta:

I had a bad coffee from starbucks once and felt like throwing a chair through the window, but I'd been on anger management for a while, so I was able to restrain myself.

That is so effed up, cloud. I dislike starbucks - got coffee there a couple times - didn't think much of it either. Certainly not worth the price.

No one has the right to destroy someone else's property. That said, I rarely go to a Starbucks. Six bucks for a fuckin' cup of coffee? C'mon.

So stick to the 12oz of brewed for a buck sixty. Come on.

Or only drink large lattes at home, homemade.

Smashing up a Starbucks just tells me antiglobalists are morons. As if more proof were needed. Oughtta slam their cocks in that 164-degree dishwasher -- and run it. It's not like their thinking could get any worse that way, and it might actually take a turn for the better.

And no, Starbuck's coffee is hardly crap. 'Smatter you?? West Virginia roadside coffee -- now there's crap.

the Coffee Traveler for $13 is a great deal. Show up in the morning at the office with one of those and you're a hero.

Seriously. Starbuck's, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Peet's... they're all good, all using high-end beans. There's nothing to choose between them for quality of brew, every one of 'em knows their stuff, and the little independent places are as good. Their sole advantage is they can market bumper stickers that say "Friends don't let friends drink Starbuck's" which I just find cheerfully capitalistic and vibrantly competitive.

eh, their coffee is over roasted. Not my first choice. Dunkin Donuts coffee is da bomb.

We have a Great Harvest right next to a Starbucks coffee. I always make a beeline for G.H. For a dollar and a half I can get the best cup of coffee in there. It's called Tully's.

For 3 xs that much I can get a burnt cup with half a pound of sugar in it from Starbucks. No wonder people are mad. :p Except me. I'm smiling when I walk past those bitter sippers.

I can go to a wawa and get a 24 oz of Hazelnut for $1.54 - yup thats twice as much coffee for the same price AND it is actually enjoyable, unlike Starbucks which just tastes burnt. I hate when they just pump a flavor, whatever flavor, into an already lousy cup of coffee & then shovel sugar into it. It is not the same as having them brewed together.
I find it ridiculously overpriced and of sub par flavor, taste &/or quality. For 3-5 times the price too - you gotta be kidding :headshake:
Diff'rent strokes, I guess.


You and me both!

Yikes! I like Starbucks coffee but that's a lot of money. I usually drink Dunkin but drink SB if I'm at Barnes and Noble. I wonder how much regional difference there is in pricing? I don't think it's anywhere near$6 here.

McDonalds are far more of a target in this country than Starbucks.
But then we had the McLibel trial, which showed the strong arm of corporate restaurants at its very very nastiest.

Also it sells meat, which doesn't endear it to many minority interests (whether religious, moral or green based ideology). And of course it's despised by those who grew up seeing it as cheap and nasty - I've heard plenty of middle & upper class people boast about never having eaten a McDonalds in their life, as if it's on a par swimming across the Channel for Sport Relief. Meh.

I don't drink coffee, so Starbucks doesn't bother me. In fact many Brits aren't that interested in it. It does mean it's mildly annoying when the franchise in a bookshop or a supermarket is a Starbucks, because we'd prefer something home-grown - with crumpets and muffins and teacakes, and proper tea, more tea Vicar? thank you. But not enough to really bother us.

Yea, I couldn't understand why they would even attempt the UK market unless they went to all tea.

Dunkin' Donuts used to be good, but all of the local franchises have gotten taken over by Pakistanis, and those guys can't make coffee to save their lives, despite having a standardized recipe from corporate!

Wawa all the way for me.

I'm moving across the country this weekend, to a town with 2 Great Harvest Bread Companies. I am going to be in heaven as soon as I get a job and can actually afford the stuff...

Where you headed Perry?

In my experience, most places that have "bad coffee" (I say that in quotes because all coffee is bad, m'kay?) are inferior because they reuse the grounds again and again to save money.

Ok...I'd hate to bring this up in the middle of a serious discussion..

But- Jizya?

No coffee for me please. (I know I am so mature) ;)

I think Gloria Jeans makes the best coffee when you're talking about chain stores.

Can't find much Dunkin' Donuts around my end of SoCal, though I remember liking it very much in places where I could... youth in South Dakota, in the Seventies. [Website says there are none within fifty miles of me.]

Now are you sure you actually want to taste your coffee? Because light roasts and some mediums just... lack something. A robustness. A forthright declaration. I'm still trying to figure out what the deal is with Kona, as every cup I've had of Kona blends even from high-end roasters and shippers like Lion has been unmemorable. Okay, but no dark roast.

Because of these people:



from Best in Show (how funny is Parker Posey?)

Helena, Montana.

Driving. Leave tomorrow evening.

Holy shit.

Perry, I thought you were in England, or someplace?

That is because Kona (like Jamaica Blue Mountain) should not be a blend ... the stuff's so darn expensive, though, that's why you rarely see it as a stand-alone bean. What varies wildly is the percentage of Kona to non-Kona beans. I suspect that most of them contain the minimum amount to still be considered Kona. Kind of like Hawaiian Punch saying it's made of fruit juice, when the actual juice content is 7-10%.

In other news, I also prefer a dark roasted coffee.

We stayed near Kona on the last few days of our honeymoon. 15 years ago.

Kona coffee:

We have a Tully's here and it is straight ass mixed with essence of more ass. Seriously, it's on the side of the package.

I don't like Starbuck's coffee much but I do like some of the mixed drinks.

lol

well that tells you how bad I think Starbucks is if comparison is any measure. It must be worse than I think if I think ass tasting Tully's is better.


SOO what coffee do you like?

I like African, Indonesian and Kona coffees. I also like Seattle's Best and Boyd coffees too.

I still say Dunkin Donuts has the best coffee in the commercial market.

mmm dunkin:donut: and :coffee: :drool:

Trader Joe's Guatemalan beans, burr-ground and drip-brewed in my kitchen. By my husband. :love: :yum:

Duncan Dönitz... half Scot, half German, this mercenary warrior is all trouble...

Haven't met a bad coffee from Trader Joe's yet, likely because all their coffee is in the bean -- you may grind it in the store. Right now I have Tanzanian Peaberry and Femenino in the freezer. About every time we get a new coffee from these guys it's immediately my faaaaavorite. :D

I can sure suck me up some Café Bustelo, too -- and Pilón. Straight or mixed. They're espresso-ish enough to do the Vietnamese Iced Coffee thing with great effect (Food & Drink; Latest Recipe Thread, lots of pages in though).

Am I the only sumbitch here that drinks Folgers? I mean come on folks.. That dude picks each bean by hand and somehow keeps the donkey musk off it. Show some respect.

Folgers has to be on a really good sale. I mean like amazing.

For commercial coffees, I prefer Maxwell House's Dark Roast.

Especially at 3/$5.

It's not perfect, but it's drinkable.

Eight O'Clock Columbian is good. I like that even without A&P Markets, you can still get the stuff.

I drink most of my coffee at home, as there is only one cafe in town that allows smoking. So I bounce between the Folgers and the Max house, whichever is cheapest. I've learned not to experiment with the REALLY cheap brands. Tried one one time that tasted like cat piss smells. EWWWW

That's the one that the cheap bastard at work keeps buying when it's his turn for the coffee.

I hand him a twenty every now and again (even though I rarely drink office coffee) just to make sure he doesn't buy the crap™ in case I DO want to drink office coffee. I'm really the only coffee drinker on my shift, when there were two of us, we'd brew a pot nearly every night, but the chick cow orker, she drinks coffee, but only from the WaWa, too much of a princess to make her own, I guess. If I'm really, really in need, I can send the ambulance. But I have to catch them in the right mood, sometimes.

So I drink tea if I really need the caffeine.

I hit Dunkin Donuts most every day. We are friendly with the extended family that runs our local DD, they know my order and alway share munchkins and indian food treats with the kids. The one girl is grooming my son to "You marry indian girls right!?" I keep telling her "Just one!".

We have battery acid available at work just in case. I make a freedom press full of decent coffee every morning yielding one large mug for home and one for the road. I hit dunkin if I really need and am not ready slough my stomach lining.

:lol:

I haven't used mine in a while but they do make the best coffee...