The Starbucks Experience

cheerfulgreek · #1 05-26-2012, 10:55 PM

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.

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?

KSUViolet06 · #2 05-26-2012, 11:08 PM

I'm one of those people who needs quiet to read or study. I can't study/read/relax at Starbucks or any other coffee place.

I do drink Starbucks, though. I just don't like "hanging out" there.

aephi alum · #3 05-26-2012, 11:22 PM

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".

33girl · #4 05-26-2012, 11:31 PM

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.

Splash · #5 05-26-2012, 11:41 PM

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

Sciencewoman · #6 05-27-2012, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 33girl

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.

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

AXOmom · #7 05-28-2012, 01:14 AM

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.

psusue · #8 05-27-2012, 12:28 AM

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.

LikeASista · #9 05-27-2012, 02:18 AM

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 ...

knight_shadow · #10 05-27-2012, 03:40 AM

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.

Ch2tf · #11 05-31-2012, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

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.

This is me, minus the fraps. I'm a white mocha kind of girl.

For me it is about the experience. Besides the above (being almost everywhere, being able to work), my experience at Starbucks is consistent, no matter which one/which city I'm in. I'm from and live in New England and I do my best to give DDs a shot, but my coffee almost always tastes different every time I go and that is annoying. There was one time I had the BEST cup of coffee from them and went back the next day (same location, might have been the same associate that took/fulfilled my order) and the drink was the polar opposite of good.

There are bumps in the road at Starbucks sometimes (I swear no one in there can hear, there is no reason to spell my name wrong when I spell it for you), but overall I get a drink I enjoy, and should I choose access to a calm (not always quiet) location and free internet.

MysticCat · #12 05-27-2012, 07:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

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

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.

nittanygirl · #13 05-27-2012, 10:21 AM

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.

PiKA2001 · #14 05-27-2012, 01:46 PM

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.

HQWest · #15 05-27-2012, 02:36 PM

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....