The Starbucks Experience

[aephi alum]

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]

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]

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

[Sciencewoman]

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]

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.

[cheerfulgreek]

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...



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.

[zookies]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

Caribou Coffee

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

[Iota Man]

I'm not really feeling Starbucks, because they don't have free refills like some of the other places I've been too. Some places need to be more clear about what they mean as a "free refill" though. Some of it is misleading. For real.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

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.

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.

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

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.

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 (). Thanks PiKA. Yep, at first, I kind of figured that maybe it could have been for insurance reasons.

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

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.

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.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AXOmom

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.

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.