The Starbucks Experience
 

We had an interesting conversation in the random thread about Starbucks and other coffee shops, and pretty much how popular they have become over the years. For those who drink coffee, what is your favorite coffee shop, and why do you go? Is it just for the coffee? Like, on the way to work in the morning do you just stop to grab a cup and leave? Is that the only time you go? Or are you one of those who likes the environment (like me)? -where you go to read, or meet up with friends and chit chat. Funny thing with me is I really don't like Starbucks coffee, because it's too strong, but I love the Starbucks Experience. I go a lot with some friends of mine, and we chit chat sometimes for a few hours at night. It's so much fun, and I really enjoy it.

I also drink Biggby Coffee which has much better coffee. Plus, they have free refills and more of a variety of coffee flavors to choose from. They're more expensive than Starbucks, but the environment isn't as awesome as Starbucks. I think it might be the lighting, if anything. When I was in undergrad, I used to go to Dunns Brothers Coffee which is pretty much on the campus of the University of Minnesota (last two years of school). I also used to go to Nina's more than any coffee shop at the time, which was in St. Paul. It was worth the drive. There's only one Nina's there. It's not a chain. It's owned by well...Nina. :p But the environment is kind of like Starbucks, but more "home friendly".

Sorry so long, but if you drink coffee, are you a before work in the morning coffee drinker? Do you go because of the environment? Meet up with friends, etc? Which coffee shop do you prefer? I just thought this would be a fun thread. :)

Oh, and why do you think coffee shops have gotten so popular?

Starbucks - feh.

I work from a home office, so I brew my own morning coffee, usually Gevalia. When I visit a client site, I either use what they have available (one of my clients has a Keurig machine and stocks Green Mountain coffee) or head for the nearest Dunkin or Starbucks, get coffee, and go.

To paraphrase Homer Simpson: "aephi alum not function coffee well without".

I like frappacinos in bottles. They get me caffeinated faster, and save me the unpleasant experience of having to be around the phalanx of hipster doofi in Starbucks.

I love Starbucks. I walk to work and can get Starbucks on the way. Always either get lattes or frapps. Yum.

I'm the exact opposite! I love Tims hot chocolate but can't stand Starbucks (I think dark chocolate is awful)

Oddly enough - I hated Sbux Mocha (used to make the hot chocolate) because it's a powdered mix and I could always taste it. Starbucks is fine for me. We used to have "What A Grind" which was a bit further away but a bit better. That closed. There are at least 7 Sbux within 8 or so miles of my house. That's pretty much the option unless you run on Dunkin and I HATE their coffee.

I think Starbucks is overpriced and a little overrated, personally. My favorite place for coffee is Wawa, after that Dunkin, then just whatever. My all time favorite coffee is from any kind of European style coffee shop, like this one place in State College that I loved.

In terms of 'hanging out' in there, I don't really do that unless I needed to go someplace to study OR if I'm in a new area and need wifi. That's pretty much it. I don't like 'lounge' in Starbucks reading or anything, if I'm there it's because I need wireless and need to get something done. I'll also meet people there, but to be perfectly honest I'd be just as okay with making brewed at home. It's about the relational time, not the location, for me.

I used to be a Barnes & Noble regular ... until they moved, and now their cafe is a crappy little hole-in-the-wall, and I don't feel like hanging out there anymore.

Since B&N served Starbucks products before they moved, I found a nice little cozy Starbucks (one of the few shops they left after closing down several others) and I've been in heaven ever since.

I love to go there just to study, I love hanging out there just goofing off with some friends or playing a PC game on my laptop, and when I have to work, I like stopping by there to get my cup of morning brew. It seems to be the perfect place for me to do WHATEVER. I even suggest Starbucks for first dates when I'm trying to get to know a gentleman better. Had a date there today as a matter of fact ... :D

I'm not big on coffee anymore, but when I was, it didn't matter where it came from.

I do, however, enjoy SBUX Fraps (in-store and bottled). That's typically what I'll go for when I visit the store.

I am one of those people who will periodically "camp out" at a SBUX while working (my previous job and current job give me the freedom to work from home when I need to, so I take full advantage). I'll sometimes go when I'm working on fraternity business, too. I usually have headphones on while working, so I'm not bothered by those around me.

Friends.

Like I said in the random thread, I'm not much of a coffee drinker, so I don't have a favorite coffee place. But I think the fact that a coffee house was a central setting of a very popular sitcom was a pretty big factor in turning them into places to hang out.

I love hanging out at coffee shops. I get a lot of work done there.

Starbucks I'm iffy on. I love going. But really it's not the best coffee for the price.

I love SBUX. Not only do I go there daily but my entire family gives me gift cards for them for Christmas and my birthday. I like my coffee strong and their Sumatra and Verona blends are some of the best I've ever had.

It is no longer always socially acceptable to hang out and take a smoke break, or to stop by the local bar/hangout on the way home anymore. I figure this is where the coffee break fills in for a lot of people. It also provides a chance to get up and stretch or get out of a cramped or stressful office.

I didn't start drinking coffee at all until I started working a lot of late nights in graduate school. Not that I never worked late in college, just that Diet Coke sufficed previously.

I didn't start drinking coffee regularly until I worked in the SF Bay Area. It was freezing cold all of the time, and we went to work before the sun came up, and frequently walked home through the fog. An afternoon coffee might be the only break that day, and it gave us a chance to take a walk to a local coffee shop. It might be the only time I would see the sun for weeks. This was exacerbated by the fact that I worked with a lot of Germans - who would often INSIST that a coffee break was as important as lunch.

Now that I am back home in the Deep South, Starbucks is on campus. A lot of times it is nice to go there to meet up with a small group of people from various places on campus, or to just get out of the office. ETA - and now I have a gold card....

Clearly, you've never been to Dallas :p

I said not always socially acceptable. HQJr. would not be pleased that dinner was late....

On a recent outing for a birthday party - I had a sitter for HQJr- but not everyone did. The DJ commented "Oh look - you have a baby, in a bar." The mother's response "Oh no. We have two."

I guess my "joking" smiley didn't show up lol

This happens a lot in Dallas, too.

I remember meeting some friends at an uppity/yuppie patio bar in Uptown and having a good time -- until I turned around and saw a woman with her infant and toddler. I think it's one thing to bring kids to a restaurant/grill/lounge, but to bring them to a bar-bar (intended for 20- and 30-somethings) seemed so off to me.

I know you're just joshing with me. The line between bar/restaurant/tavern is becoming blurred based on how much food they serve especially during earlier dinner hours.

At least she didn't leave them in the car...

What I don't get is the trend of bringing your dog to the hipster bars...it's a dog, leave him at home.

This. When I lived in Italy there was an entire culture around coffee. Meeting at coffee shops was a regular thing and they had kind of unspoken rules about what kinds of coffee you drank and when and with what meal. I think that 'coffee culture' is something Starbucks is trying to recreate here in a way. But I think in general we're more 'give me whatever will caffeinate me and fast' so it's different. I know I don't generally care where the coffee comes from/its quality as much as I care about the price and speed/convenience of delivery.

Ok, question.. Did they change Starbucks' hot chocolate? I remember always hating it because it was dark chocolate, but I've been going to Starbucks every so often over the last year or two because I've been traveling for work, and sometimes that's the only option for breakfast. My boss and I don't really like coffee, so we get hot chocolate... And now I don't mind it. It's definitely different, IMO.

But I really don't go to Starbucks, or any other coffee shop, if I can help it. When I lived in New England, I'd stop in to Dunkins on occassion for a hot chocolate (my favorite!), but I definitely wouldn't hang out there. The only restaurant I might go to for reading/studying is Panera, but even that doesn't happen frequently.

And while I'm not a fan of coffee, some mornings, I simply can't go without it. In that case, I get some from the awesome coffee machine in my office, and I make a cafe mocha - half coffee, half hot chocolate, with a good amount of milk mixed in :)

In school, I spent many many hours studying at Starbucks. I would always drink either hot chocolate or chai lattes. Once in a blue moon I might try a coffee rink, but I could never bring myself to like that taste.

Lol...I love the "Latin" plural of doofus! :D

This is a little off-topic but it does involve Starbucks and coffee. I never developed a taste for it, but my husband drinks enough to keep Columbia's economy going for at least a year (well, the legal economy at least). He was at 7 or 8 cups a day when we met.

He has punch cards for every coffee shop, barista bar, and roadside stand in town and can rate each one as we pass them. Since we live in the Northwest, or Starbucks Central - that was about 8 million coffee stands/shops and a buttload of cards (literally since he stuffs them all in his wallet).

One Christmas a pretty white box is delivered to our house. I open it up and find a 5 lb bag of Starbucks Christmas blend which consists of beans from Africa (specifically Ethiopia, I think) which have been shipped to us from New York (don't ask me why Starbucks is shipping to us from NY when we've lived our entire married lives within a short driving distance of Seattle). It's wrapped in a silver ribbon and attached is a card.

My husband was a minister at the time, so I assumed this was from some parishioner who knew of his coffee obsession and sent it as a Christmas gift. I open the card and read:

"Dear Valued Starbucks Customer:"

Yep, he was such a valued customer that Starbucks felt it was worth their time to mail him a 5 lb bag of unground Ethiopian coffee beans shipped in a box from NY and wrapped in ribbon. I was assuming they didn't do this for everyone who had visited a Starbucks that year- after all - I like their hot chocolate and shaken ice tea lemonades but they weren't sending ME anything.

The next time I went in I asked a girl at the counter how much business she would guess a person would have to do with Starbucks in order to rate this "gift". She looked at me and said, "Hmmm...I'm guessing $300 or up a month." Needless to say husband and I had a long conversation about his coffee habit when I got home.

33Girl - If you ever travel the country, you should probably avoid the Pacific NW. I'm fairly certain we have the hipster doofi market cornered....sigh. ... I will say that here - the majority wouldn't be caught dead in a Starbucks, so it would probably be safe for you. :)

I'm not sure if anyone has ever tried Caribou Coffee's "Hot Apple Blast", but it's so yummy. That's pretty much the only thing I'll get when I'm there. There's nothing like opening up a good astronomy book, drinking a nice cup of Hot Apple Blast, in a comfy chair, in front of a simulated fireplace. Mmmmm... :)

http://cf.restaurantimages.menuism.c...ee-180x330.jpg

I also enjoy the environment at Caribou, too. They have a fireplace at the one I go to. Unfortunately, it's not a real fireplace, but it gives me a similar feeling as a real one. Maybe it's against code here to have a real fireplace inside of a coffee shop.

I love Dunkin Donuts hazelnut coffee. Sucks that there are no DDs near me. Occasionally I go to Panera or Brugger's bagels for their coffee.
My bad habit (and rock a gold card to prove it--should be platinum) is Starbucks

The only time I ever go to any place like Starbucks is when I set up a date with a girl. I don't even like coffee so I'll order some other drink.

LOL. I actually reconnected with an old friend from there and we have so much in common it's scary. She's from VERY north WA though, like on the border, so she's almost more Canadian than Seattleian.

This is me. I don't drink, smoke, etc. My vice is Starbucks Mochas.

Help me. Please. :o

That said... I cannot stand their coffee. Way too strong and makes me literally sick to my stomach.

The OP mentioned Beaners (I mean Biggby now that they are all PC with their name). I like their Caramel Marvels but they are so overpriced I won't go there any longer unless I have a BOGO coupon.

Now that's what I was thinking. I like them better than SB.

Because I'm now a consultant, I'm in the habit of doing initial client meetings/cold call meetings in coffee shops. I always buy. And I always use a non-Starbucks. I don't particularly care for the coffee at the stores, and the atmosphere has never really done anything for me.

My two favorite locations in Pittsburgh as of yet for client meetings/general consumption of coffee:
http://www.commonplacecoffee.com/
and
http://espressoamano.com/

Great coffee, nice folk (the Espresso guy always filled my water bottles for free when I was out on my long runs!).

For drinking at home, I go to http://www.prestogeorge.com/ and buy the JP Hearty blend. The best coffee, ever. Hands down. In a french press, please!

I like Caribou too and used to go there in college but the location here is not very big.

Panera is also good. It is not as extensive a coffee menu, but free wifi and good breakfast items. It is also very high on the people watching list in my town as it seems to be the number one place for first meeting IRL for couples from the Christian Singles website

It's probably for insurance reasons they have the faux fireplace, or maybe shariah law forbids fireplaces there. Not sure f you know this but the majority stakeholder in Caribou is a bank out of the middle east and it's specifically written that CC has to follow shariah rules in how they operate (how they borrow money, no porn, alcohol or pork served etc). It's quite interesting.

But in regards to other Michigan coffee places-
The coffee beanery....horrid
Panera...good food but the coffee is so-so
Tim Hortons...never really had it
Biggsby...didn't care for it as Beaners and wasn't impressed after the whole name/image change either.
Dunkin Donuts-good drip coffee but those donuts are too tempting so I avoid that place.

Yes. I live in coffeehouses, be it Starbucks or some other venue. I'm a tea drinker, so I can't really comment on the quality of coffee (though a friend's father french presses a 50/50 mixture of Starbucks' Pike and Italian Roast that is almost good enough to convert me from tea). I do enjoy the atmosphere of Starbucks because when I'm traveling I can walk into a store and know what to expect. Having the same decor and music can be very comforting when you're on the road for four months at a time.

That being said, I love the local places, and try to find those versus Starbucks, mostly because I think they more often have better pastries and snacks.

Really? Wow, I didn't know that. That is very interesting. Now, when I go I'm going to be looking for things that seem to be different from the other coffee shops I go to. I also didn't know what a simulated fireplace was called (:o). Thanks PiKA. :p Yep, at first, I kind of figured that maybe it could have been for insurance reasons.

lol
High fiving ya -the Coffee Beanery is awful. Yuck! -There was another coffee shop, which I think was a Coffee Beanery as I can remember. It closed. It was on the corner of Grand River and Meadowbrook, which I thought was a good location, so I was surprised when it closed. It closed long before I moved to Westbloom from Lansing.

I don't go to Panera as often as I used to. I think I've had coffee there maybe a few times. I would get an asiago cheese bagel, and an orange juice whenever I would go.

Hey, what happened to Biggby's old name? I can't remember if I read it on here or if someone told me. But, I remember the name being changed from Beaners to Biggby, because of something racial. I could be wrong, but that's what I remember reading, or when I was talking to someone about it. I like their coffee, though. It's not always hot, but the one I go to has a microwave, so I nuke it for a few seconds...still kind of annoying that I sometimes have to do that, though.

I've never been to Tim Hortons. I hear they have great coffee.

Yeah, I hear ya. I like Dunkin Donuts, but I don't go as often. I have to watch my figure. :p

Re: Beaners to Biggby...

http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/2007..._as_biggby.htm

ASTalumna06, I'm not sure if they've changed it. It tasted like a different chocolate was used when I tried the peppermint hot chocolate at Christmas, but my friend bought me a regular hot chocolate a couple of weeks of ago, and it tasted like the usual dark chocolate to me!

Thanks for posting this. I knew I saw it somewhere. Funny thing is I've always remembered Biggby as "Biggby". I don't remember it ever being called Beaner's. I guess I've never paid much attention since I've only been going there since last year. It's just that I've never seen the "Beaner's" name before.

Probably because there weren't that many of them until recently. I can only recall seeing maybe two Beaners in Metro Detroit, them being in the Royal Oak/B'Ham area. They have really expanded in the metro area since the brand re-imaging in 2008

I go for the small independently run coffee shops - preferably run by Latin folk as in my opinion they make the best coffee. I give the large chains a wide berth and have never been to Starbucks.

Amethyst2