Speaks for itself, doesn’t it? Any good sort of person is probably outraged. Are you outraged? I am! If you aren’t already outraged then you are almost certainly a bad sort of person, or perhaps just mistaken - if we can help you to “examine” the issue and “persuade” you, maybe you can be our friends, use the see-saw, or pass through our territory unmolested. Are you encouraged to join the tribe you deserve yet? Let’s get started!
(This can be used as a general template for your own discussions. Feel free to modify and use it yourself! Don’t be embarassed, let’s flex our conversational muscles! RAAAAWR!!!)
If Starbucks thinks they are truly better than the Coffee Connection locations they replaced in Massachusetts, then I will burn my hat, steep it, and drink it.
I used to enjoy Starbucks, back in the day when their logo was a full frontal mermaid, and when coffee shops were as odd as Thai and Indian restaurants.* When coffee was served mainly in all night diners and radiator shops (Folgers crystals) and one had to be a special kind of weirdo to 1) sit in one place 2) for hours 3) reading a book and 4) drinking coffee.
*if a town had an Indian or Thai place and a coffee shop, then I just might have made a special journey out to explore that weird and magical place
They did they same thing to Coffee People in Oregon. It’s what they do.
But I can’t really hate Starbucks. It’s a place where everybody knows they can use the restroom and hang out for a few hours for less than two bucks when they’re hitchhiking through Bakersfield, even if they’ve never been there before.
Well, it’s not them saying it, it’s an article about a study. There is a link to the abstract (full txt behind paywall, natch), and just based on that it looks like the article is a fair interpretation of what the study was looking at.
George Howell sold them in order to concentrate on improving blending and roasting praxis. He still sells coffee, and has been a tremendous resource for specialty coffee everywhere. You can’t really blame *$ for his decision to sell, perhaps we can thank them for indirectly funding Howell’s later work and its role in creating the modern coffee shop.
[quote=“smulder, post:10, topic:98038”]
Coffee People in Oregon.[/quote]
One of my favorite haunts when we lived in Portland. I was commuting to Corvallis, and the Black Tiger Shake is what got me there alive.
[quote=“LearnedCoward, post:11, topic:98038”]
Caribou Coffee[/quote]
Still big, but they are now owned by a holding company (same one that owns Pete’s). They have a history of bad executive decisions, like giving majority ownership to a bank run by someone who thought the Holocaust was a just punishment for the Jews, and suing companies with the word “caribou” in their name, as if they own the species.
Anyone who really wants their coffee roasted in Minnesota would do better by buying from these guys. (Yes, that’s an endorsement.)
Starbucks tried to establish itself in Australia, but mostly failed.
Too much genuine cafe culture here thanks to the wave of Greek/Italian immigration in the 1950’s; Starbucks is distinctly unappealing when you’re accustomed to the real deal.
