I worked for a small chain of OC County (CA) roaster/coffee houses in 1993-95 and we used to sell a bumper sticker that said “Friends don’t let friends drink Charbucks.” It was a bit of a David vs Goliath rivalry.
We were more into roasting smaller batches of specific beans from many, many different localities.
However, I really liked those mixed CDs that Starbucks used to sell.
@VeronicaConnor, our CEO who grew up part of his life on a coffee plantation in Guatemala had the most incredible nose and taste buds. I do know that when drinking straight black coffee or espresso, I prefer the Arabica bean over Robusta (favorite is Yemeni, followed by Ethiopian and Kenyan).
In the early 90s in Vancouver (just up the road from Seattle), a Greek friend and coffee-snob-from-birth tried Starbucks once and never went back. “Burnt crap!” she bellowed.
I don’t have the palate to pick that, and I think I have more fun with my food and drink. But that’s me.
the coffee I’m not sure about, but no, coffee in general wasn’t as good. Starbucks may not be the greatest (according to the experts), but at the time it was a large step above the average so I’ll give them props for that. One can point to how McDonalds improved their coffee game at one point, that’s directly because of Starbucks raising expectations.
I first saw them on a Horizon Air flight out of Seattle around '90 or '91 I forget, but they were kinda braggy about having Starbucks.
I dunno, I guess I just like my coffee bitter and burnt (I drink it with cream, no sweetener).
Sometime back in the 90s one of the downtown Starbucks (Columbia Center, I think) got hold of a shipment of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. The stuff they roasted was sold out in a day (even at a big premium price) and the brewed coffee was as smooth as could be.
Yeah, right? That really hit me watching this. Staff are likely late 40s, and customers are 60s/70s. Feels so weird to think that when 1993 still floats on the edge of “now” in my mind.
I always thought espresso was naturally bitter and a bit burnt-tasting, but that’s because it’s “coffee-but-more-so”, right?
Until one day in Sydney I sat down in a little cafe run by an Italian family. The beans were medium-roast, not dark, and the flavour - omg. Smooth and nutty. I never knew coffee could taste that good. It was strong, no doubt. But genuinely delicious.
It can be bitter because the basket wasn’t cleaned between drips. To make a good espresso you need quality beans, a clean basket, and the correct timing (needs to be x amount of seconds—I’ve forgotten the exact timing). Anyway, if you don’t clean the basket each time, the leftover grounds get re-cooked (hence, the burnt taste).
Starbucks espresso wasn’t bad, actually. It used to be the thing for coffee snobs in Starbucks to order a short cappuccino, because that was the one drink made “right”. That all changed when they switched to the automated, but never calibrated, bean-to-cup machines.
Starbucks recently opened a new store on a formerly quiet street corner near my home. Now whenever I see the line for the drive thru extending out into the street I wonder how, exactly, did all those people manage to survive without that damned coffee chain?
I find expensive booze tends to justify its existence with a vast gulf in flavor from its cheaper counterparts. Usually reflecting age (wine, “brown liquor”) or filtration techniques (vodka and similar “clear liquor”)
The best coffee I ever had came from a New Orleans A&P. A coffee/chicory blend. (Like Cafe Du Monde that I see in Asian grocery stores all the time)
J’can Blue Mountain coffee is sublime! Rich, smooth, complex, and never bitter. Mere J’can “high mountain” coffee is fantastic and far less expensive. The J’can instant coffee mom bought for emergencies was shockingly great - much better than anything in any form from the grocery store.
A friend once tried telling me, “Weed is weed,” and I wanted to punch his upper arm, but laughed at him instead.
I replied, “Oh? and I suppose one beer’s as good as any other?!” which shocked him, being a total beer snob
I then told him about another friend’s tryinta tell me that tea is all the same. I’d LOL’d at him too, and asked, “Then why won’t you ever drink yr wife’s lipton?!” and he also LOL’d at himself.
Clothes from the closeout racks at Sak’s aren’t at all comparable to the latest thing at wally world. Mom & I went to Sak’s in the 90s, and hit the sales racks. We found beautiful tops and dresses that were marked down to reasonable costs. They still look great and are in great condition. I bought a really nice pair of leggings at wally world during the 90s, when I lived inland from Los Angeles. After 3 weeks they’d sprouted holes.
