It used to be a triple grande percent no foam latte at Starbucks, but then Peet's opened a store nearby. There is no comparison in quality or taste. Now it is a large low fat flat roomy latte.
My favorite is a plain, black, small regular coffee. Whatever they have in the thermos on that day. I like it for the high AND for the flavor. However, I'm no longer allowed to have caffeine, and after a 5-hour bout of atrial fibrillation after drinking what was supposed to be decaf but wasn't (though not at Starbucks) I no longer drink even decaf. Now I drink Soyfee, which tastes just a little bit worse than the worst coffee you've ever had, but is still slightly better than Postum. Right now I'm waking up with a glass of water. Coffee-lovers of PriusChat: Pray that you never develop atrial fibrillation. I'm not sure which is worse, the a-fib itself, or being forced to give up coffee. Given both a Starbucks and a Peet's, I'd take the Peet's. But they're both good.
I try very hard to just make my own mongo size mocha at home. I have a cheapie Mr.Coffee or similar espresso maker at home that does an adequate if not professional job of making espresso and steaming milk. The cost, I figure, is around $0.25-0.50 this way. When I "need" a mocha from Starbucks I get the "Great big" size with whole milk and no whipped cream. I stubbornly refuse to use the 'tall'/venti and whatever lingo--it just seems so ridiculously pretentious to me and serves no purpose but to confuse and make new folks feel inferior. I didn't realize you couldn't order a straight espresso from Starbucks...how stupid. When I first became intersted in espresso that's the only way I'd drink it. I'd buy the best espresso beans I could find, I have a set of nice little espresso glasses/mugs and drank it straight (no cream, no sugar, nada). Typically my mocha substitutes for breakfast in my 1-2 meal/day diet I've become accustom to as an ER doc. Thus, I don't mind the (admittedly empty) calories. The caffine helps with the daily 'constitutional' as well as a buzz/wake-up.
Starbucks costs too much for me: I have to make car payments, ya'know ;p I just got a coffee roaster and it's doing well, so far. www.sweetmarias.com has lots of info FWIW
Albuquerque has a new franchise called 'Satellite Cafe'. They offer Turkish Coffee, but I have yet to try it, for fear of disappointment. My wife tells me that she finally married the asian she always wanted, now that lactose is off my diet. Makes starbucks much less attractive.
Haha, that's just like me! I too refuse to use the size names Starbucks has. When I order my hot cocoa and they ask me what size, I say "The small one" or "The medium one" or "The large one" rather than try to remember what size a venti is compared to the grande compared to the tall or whatever the frick they're calling them.
Agreed. I also say small/medium/large. What is more annoying is that some Starbuck's employees almost seem unable to process your order unless you say "Venti." Once I ordered a medium coffee. Now starbucks has THREE sizes. These coveniently conincide with the terms small, medium, and yes, even large fits just fine. The girl was confused by my request. "We have Grande and Venti, would you like one of those?" she asked holding up the cups. I asked her to put all three sizes on the counter. I arranged them from smallest to largest. I pointed to each one and said, "That's a small, that's a medium, and that's a large. I want a medium." I'm normally not such a jerk, but every other time I've received a medium when I asked for a medium. Don't understand what was going on in her head.
My wife and I are quite fond of the small (and yes, I say "small") Caramel Machiatto. But during the holidays such as these, I look forward to the Pumpkin Spice - with loads of whipped cream!!!!
I'll use the Venti/Grande names, but I refuse to say "Tall" for a small. I have my own espresso maker (one of the best gifts anyone ever gave me) and make my own latte most mornings. Daniel -- maybe you should try some herbal teas and see if there are any you like.
Tunabreath: (I love your avatar, by the way, and given your username, I always feel like the cat is you): I HATE herbal tea. I HATE real tea. I have succeeded in getting tea down my throat when it has enough sweetener in it. But all tea is FOUL, to my tastebuds, that is! As for Starbucks, given the serving sizes and the quality of both beans and roast I think their regular coffee is well worth the price. Restraunt coffee is cheaper, but it has no flavor. And considering the time it takes to make those specialty drinks, I don't think the price is so out of line either. Again, they are using the very best beans and an excellent quality roast. It's a luxury, though, aimed at those who can afford it. If all you want is the caffeine fix, Starbucks is the wrong place to go. It's all about superior coffee flavor. I agree that the Italian size and drink names are stupid. I used to always ask for a small, and they gave me a small. In fact, in my experience, Starbuck employees seem generally very intelligent. What I hate about Starbucks is the way they'll move into a neighborhood and drive a neighboring independent coffee shop out of business.
I've lived in Seattle for almost 25 years without drinking expresso (i.e., just "drip" coffee). And then I tasted an eggnog latte at Starbucks.... Damn you, Starbucks! Damn you to HELLLLLLLL!
My favorite in-home cheap answer to Starbucks is a cup of coffee with a couple of spoonfuls of Nesquik and a few spoonfuls of creamer. That doesn't get the espresso fix, of course. I want to get an espresso machine; I already got the burr grinder which does a better job than the ones with the blades. Actually, daniel, around here it's kind of reverse. That is, we have Starbucks all over the place but a few small coffee shops have sprung up in the past couple of years as sort of an answer to Starbucks for those who want it a little cheaper and perhaps less fomulaic. Personally, I like the jargon that Starbucks uses and the people behind the counter are all really nice so I rather get in to using the Starbucks terminology. It's part of the experience as is the long line and the chicks that I get to chat up while we're waiting
well starbucks areound here is just another in the monsterous sea of espresso stands around here. they are no better than most but definitely one of the most expensive. guess that is one advantage of being in one of the areas where the expresso craze started... to be honest with ya, my tastes change by the day... lets see...Crazee Bean has 99 cent 12 oz Mocha Wednesday Mocha Magic has Dollar doubles on Mon and Friday (buy any drink at reg price get the 2nd for a buck) Presto Expresso has half price baked goods after 11 am daily actually... to be honest with ya...hard to say which is best...do know that starbucks doesnt even rank in the top 10...in fact, imm they dont even rank as the best coffee franchise started in the city of Seattle...Seattle's Best Coffee is cheaper and just as good
[/b][/quote] Yup. Heidi and I agree with Dave -- we used to go to a local Wallingford SBC regularly. However, when Starbucks bought SBC, they closed our local branch (it was 2 blocks from a Starbucks.) A happy ending, though: we found a local chain (Diva Expresso) that we like much better than Starbucks, SBC or Tully's. Incredibly nice people, extremely good coffee; and they're getting better pastrys in these days.
For those of you who don’t know: Peet's was the inspiration for now-rival Starbucks. The three original founders of Starbucks knew Alfred Peet personally, founded Starbucks in Seattle as kindred spirits, and bought the coffee beans for Starbucks directly from Peet's during their first year of business in 1971. In 1984 Starbucks bought Peet's Coffee and Tea, and ran them as separate operations. When former Starbucks head of marketing Howard Schultz bought Starbucks from its partners in 1987, one partner, Jerry Baldwin, elected to spin off and keep running Peet's as his own operation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peet%27s Yep, the head of marketing kept Starbucks, and the guy who was the coffee fanatic kept Peet’s! If you want the-best-coffee, go to Peet’s. If you want your coffee anywhere you go, go to the place where the “head of marketing†sells-coffee-best. One day while doing the Barbary Coast Trail walk through San Francisco, http://www.barbarycoasttrail.org/ I couldn’t help but laugh at absurdity of all the Starbucks we were passing. There is a corner in San Francisco - Clay and Battery Streets - where you can see no less than five Starbucks! Gee, I wondered, which one makes the best iced mocha? . . . Oh yeah, that would be the Peet’s around the corner and down the street. Just 20 of the 62 Starbucks in S.F.
