Do you go to Starbucks or a local coffee joint that's better?

Whaddaya get?

Starbucks I usually get an iced caramel macchiato with light ice, light caramel, 2 extra shots (5 total) of espresso, upside down.

Could it be any longer of an order for one drink?

If they have Verona or Yukon blend coffee and I'm in a coffee mood I'll get those as well.

I usually have a large extra hot skinny latte...
Whatever one of those is?
I think it is a coffee.....

Wanna laugh? Check out The Kid From Brooklyn on Starbucks: Starbucks

That is funny and so true.

IMO -- Starbucks is the "WalMart" of coffee shops

It's okay. There are so many of them, it's almost impossible to not stop for one every so often. I still prefer the coffee at Dunkin Donuts. I also like the smaller chain, Seattle's Best, who are in partnership with Borders Bookstores.

Is it just me, or did FRASIER and FRIENDS help the coffeehouse concept explode?

I find them all giant rip-offs. I make my coffee at home, and then go to work. I have a friend who is on a first-name basis with the employees at the local Starbucks. I can't imagine how much money she spends there each week. I saw a financial adviser on TV once who referred to the money that people spend at these places as the "latte factor" on your budget.

If I do occasionally splurge and have coffee out, I actually prefer MacDonald's coffee over any other chain.

I don't get the whle Starbucks thing. Its $4.00-6.00 for a frickin cup of coffee...for a working stiff thats 20-30 dollars a month or $1050 to $1560 a year!

I got a Tassimo machine about 6 months ago which makes coffee as good as if not better than Starbucks, and I pay about forty cents a cup for latte.

I feel lucky that I don't drink coffee. I don't have to give a second look to Starbucks.

I have one daughter who absolutely loves Starbucks. She goes regularly with a friend of hers. I think I've only been to Starbucks once and ordered a regular coffee, and that was only because I was with my daughter.

Give me regular black coffee (none of this sissy stuff) It IS a huge ripoff as far as I'm concerned. If I want something resembling a Hot Fudge Sundae and/or a dessert type drink, I'll order a milk shake and probably pay 3/4 dollars less than this "glorified" coffee.

Gotta give it to whomever concepts it was....they are rollin' in the dough.

TIS

Be careful what you say around here






True true true! It irks me to know end when a Starbucks rolls in and sets up shop right across the street from a mom and pop coffee house. One of my favs is up for sale right now casue they just cant compete. I actually do enjoy their regular coffee. However, their philosophy of playing the environmental and fair pricing game while shutting down the smaller places pisses me off!

Not only that, but they are not in the least community-minded, which I'm sure I don't have to tell you, Part, if you've ever tried to get them to sponsor anything or contribute. I chaired a fund-raiser for the local United Way, and Starbucks wouldn't even let us put a poster for the event in their window.

That is pretty low SB. I wonder why they didn't let you hang a poster?

Anyone remember the Sopranos episode where Paulie comments, while waiting at a starbuck like facility, how (more or less), "it should have been our idea."

My opinion only....I think Starbucks is a fad thing that will be around for a few years longer and than lose it's appeal. Then again what do I know?

TIS

In the UK Borders stores have Starbucks in them....

The reason they gave was that all "store decorations" had to be approved by the regional manager. We only wanted it in there for the 2 weeks before the event. Creeps!

Yeah, he won't on and on about cappuccinos.

Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri: Fuckin' Italian people. How did we miss out on this?

Salvatore 'Big Pussy' Bonpensiero: What?

Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri: Fuckin' expresso, cappuccino. We invented this shit and all these other cocksuckers are gettin' rich off it.

Salvatore 'Big Pussy' Bonpensiero: Yeah, isn't it amazing?

Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri: And it's not just the money. It's a pride thing. All our food: pizza, calzone, buffalo moozarell', olive oil. These fucks had nothin'. They ate pootsie before we gave them the gift of our cuisine. But this, this is the worst. This expresso shit.

Salvatore 'Big Pussy' Bonpensiero: Take it easy.

Ha ha!! That's it Beth!! That was hilarious wasn't it?

Thanks!



TIS

I love starbucks coffee. I can happily drink all sorts of coffees, ranging from plain espressos to the more funky ones with chocolate and whipped creams and what not.

Aside, I think the "local store" concept is overrated. I am a big fan of chains. I love the walmarts and the subways and the tacos.

Exactly, screw "Mom and Pop", they were too dumb to start a chain instead of just owning their one store. Starbuck's is awesome. I love their mochas, I just can't afford them.

I don't think Starbuck's is a fad because coffee is a drug. People won't get tired of it.

I used to work as a bellhop in a very nice golf resort and one of my many jobs was to make coffee for the employees. I got so tired of everyone coming into the kitchen and making a mess, that I had to clean up, while telling me stuff like "I don't know what I would do without this coffee!". So for a week I did an experiment. I made nothing but Decaf and nobody noticed. In fact I got all of my usual compliments of "Great coffee as always! What a life saver! I'd be dead asleep right now if it weren't for this coffee!".

Whatever... it's a drug of the mind and body. Whoever is making money from Starbuck's is a genius. I'm jealous.

I am not sure of their charitable giving philosophy.

Sure I am a whore and as Can't stand their overall philospohy, I was still going to try to get what I could from them!

I have tried to get them to be a "Breakfast Sponsor" for two different events to no avail. What they did tell me was each individual store (at least here in the KC Metro) has a certain amount of products they can donate each month. So for a Gala / Auction we conducted, I coordinated it with a bunch of volunteers to visit each store in ther metro on the first day of the month to ask for some products. I had craploads of bags of coffee that we made into a bunch of gift baskets for the auction.

However, I was disapointed that they would not sponsor the breakfast for our Walk or Tour. Hell, their cost would be peanuts and they could write off the retail amount as a contribution.

But it did give me the opportunity to work with a couple of local KC coffee roasters who were more than happy to sponsor the event and show a local company sponsoring a local community event.

Starbucks is having some challenges as its rapid expansion has slowed sals growth at existing stores. They just dumped their CEO and the original CEO has come back on the scene. Essentially they are trying to stabilize the company and prevent the stock price from sliding so it will not be vulnerable to a takeover.

Maybe they could hire the former CEO of Krispy Kreme. I hear he's looking for a job right now. Now, there's a chain I love!!!

True True True -- goes to show when companies / organizations try to grow too quick w/o a solid plan.

I unfortunately love Krispy Kreme as well!

I remember the first time I had one - back in 1998. I was working for the BSA and living in LaCrosse, Wisconsin at the time. The CEO and I were traveling to Nashville, TN for a Conference. It was kind of a road trip as it took us several days, golf, eating , and drinking along the way. My boss said we have to have Krispy Kreme when we were in Indianapolis (his home town. I told him I never heard of them and he was shocked! He said it was Elvis's favorite do-nut and we had eat them warm. Well, if Elvis liked it -- I knew it could not be too bad LOL. I loooooved them. I think I ate at least a dozen that morning. When we moved to Kansas City, I was fortunate (or unfortunate) as there are several in the area and all near my offfices or house!

Every Thursday morning at 7 am I have a Service Club Meeting at Denny's (of all places ) As I leave, I get the whiff of Krispy Kreme next door to Denny's and have to kick, punch and scratch myself to make sure I get in the car instead of stopping off to polish off a dozen or so of these heavenly delights!

One last Krispy Kreme story before I either bore ya or force myself to stop by on the way home. Two years ago the Kansas City Royals used to have a promotion with Krispy Kreme. Every time the Royals eaked out 12 hits in a game -- your ticket stup was good for one dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. Well, we are talking Royals baseball here - so needless to say it was not often it happened. But for Royals fans (which I am not) it gave them something to hope for -- you knew they were going to get their ass kicked (100 loss season in 4 out of the last 6 seasons) so you could always hope they get at least 12 hits! One time we had an ADA night at the ball game and, of course, the Royals are getting creamed and the stadium emptys late in the game. I stick around as it is a great time to network (and drink) with board members and donors. Well, what do you knwo the Royals come alive and get six hits in the bottom of the ninth -- so yoiur ticket stubbs are worth a dozen donuts. After the game I was scooping the ticket stubbs off the floor of the concourse as the fans that left early just tossed them. I had about 100 stubs. So, you could redeem one ticket stub per day for the next 30 days. So, I went to the three Krispy Kremes on the way to the office every morning and we had plenty for the office -- as you could guess probably not the politically correct food to have at an American Diabetes Association office !:)

We had some local bagel stores that also carried Krispy Kremes, but no Krispy Kreme store. There was one near my mom's condo down in Florida, so we would have as many as possible when visiting.

I'd have done the same.

You're right about getting them warm. It's like you're in heaven. They go down so fast.

There was a Krispy Kreme by my high school that we would pass every day after track and field practice. The store would fill a bag of the broken peanut sticks of the day and sell them for 30 cents. Once in a while there wouldn't be broken ones. After several straight days of not having broken peanut sticks, the old woman working behind the counter felt sorry for us, took some fresh peanut sticks and broke them up for us.

Lately I've been spending about 3 nights per week in a Starbucks, their coffee with white mocha is great, you don't need sugar or milk or anything...its great

Becky's BF bought me one of those white mocha coffee's when we were there in VA. and I liked it alot.

There's not many things as awesome as a warm Krispy Kreme donut.

Dipping it in hot chocolate or hot tea