Ah, Starbucks.
Everyone has an opinion about Starbucks. Many love it. Some hate it. It seems to be, though, something no one feels meh about, which in my book is always noteworthy.
Me, I like it, and I’m glad it’s there—glad it’s everywhere—but when I have a good local chain I know, I go there first. What I love about Starbucks is that it is consistent and omnipresent. When Marie and I were in east Texas driving down to McAllen, we were constantly searching Google maps for Starbucks. Seeing a Starbucks was like finding an oasis. Coffee! Good, dependable coffee!
The thing I have never liked about Starbucks is all the insane things they DO to coffee. I get that variety is good, but sometimes the complications stress me out. And I really do have problems paying four dollars for coffee. Which is why I’m more likely to get a black coffee or a “Misto,” which is basically a café au lait. (Coffee with milk.) My husband and I frequently share a Venti Misto when we’re out getting coffee together.
Though I confess, when I need a pick-me-up, a Grande Caramel Macchiato is my drug of choice.
What’s your take on Starbucks? Love it? Hate it? What’s your poison?
Heidi Cullinan
Evaine
Marie Sexton
Shawny
Carmel Apple Spice or a Double Chocolate Chip Creme depending on my mood. I’ll sometime do the Salted Carmel Hot Chocolate.
Caramel Apple Spice is SO good!!
I love that it always has soy milk. No matter how grand the local coffee shop, I can’t guarantee that it has soy milk and that’s a no-go for lactose-intolerant me. So yes, Starbucks is always an oasis. God bless Google maps on my iPhone. Can always find closest Starbucks.
There’s sort of a Starbucks Black Hole in southern Texas. Heidi’s “find coffee” app kept telling us the closest one was in Dallas, which was a convenient three hours away. We knew once we saw the Starbucks that we’d found our back to civilization!!
Good morning! First of all, I love the pic & homage to my favorite artist M.C. Escher. Personally, I don’t drink coffee or tea, ick, but I do love Starbucks strawberries and cream frappuccino with whipped cream for an afternoon treat!! Yum yum yum! Btw love the new blog & the super hot pics!! Have a great day all!
Thanks Heather! Glad you’re enjoying our mix!
I confess to being a Starbucks junkie. I’ve been Gold member for 2 years. I had a Tall vanilla skinny latte no foam with a zucchini walnut muffin- every morning M-F until I got laid off in November. Now I’m freaking out I’m going to lose my Gold status, sick I know…..
Gold member! Nice! All this talk of Starbucks, I may have to stop at one after dropping my kiddo at the bus stop.
I realize this is anathema, but I don’t drink coffee! (Coke is my drink of choice–with or without caffeine, but none of that diet crap, please.) However, maybe you will forgive me when I explain that I have a huge passion for any dessert made with coffee. Coffee ice-cream, mocha chocolate cake, chocolate mousse with Kahlua. . . You name it. A dish of coffee ice cream with chunks of toffee in it? Almost as orgasmic as a really hot m/m sex scene! As for Starbucks? Rarely visit, but they market totally sick java ice cream!
Now I’m really craving ice cream.
I love Caramel Macchiato too! Venti, please. But I get the Pumpkin Spice when its available. And an order of petite vanilla scones. mmmmm!
Those little scones ROCK!
Dan is all about the pumpkin spice.
Those vanilla scones are yum, but my fave is the lemon bread.
I like that I can get a soy mocha nearly everywhere. I don’t like that their Venti only has two shots in it, when Caribou’s Large has three. I’ll always choose Caribou over Starbucks.
And hey, there’s even a song about Starbucks from Mike Doughty: Busting Up a Starbucks.
Caribou is good. They get a post later.
I don’t like coffee, which I realize in this society makes me a bit of a freak to begin with, but I’m also a Canadian, and up here we have a humble little equally ubiquitous coffee chain called Tim Hortons which frankly kicks Starbuck’s ass. heh.
Now we must make a trip to Canada for coffee!!
I have to say, when I moved to the city, I was completely addicted to Starbucks and gained about a hundred pounds (mocha or hot chocolate, depending on how I felt…and none of this “fat-free” stuff). So, it’s best if I just don’t go in there.
They’re definitely not light, even when they’re “skinny”.
Yes, you must. Their steeped tea is to die for, and Timmies coffee is legendary. I have, on occasion, to be polite, had to drink the odd cup of coffee. With the exception of a cup of Timmie’s coffee black (it didn’t make me want to throw up) it’s never been a pleasant experience.
Chai Tea Latte, or, when they have it, Peppermint Hot Chocolate (omg). I’m not addicted to Starbucks, mostly because of the prices, but it’s so good when I need a pick-me-up.
Oooh! I have not tried the Peppermint Hot Chocolate, but it sounds divine!
It is! It’s more of a dark chocolate hot chocolate with a strong peppermint undertone *sighs happily* – I think they only have it seasonally though.
For the record, from a former Starbucks barista, they always have Peppermint Hot Chocolate. They just don’t always *advertise* it. But Peppermint is one of the syrups we have year ’round, so just ask for it.
This never occurred to me!
You just made my life.
Hope I do not barge in – saw Starbucks discussion and could not just ignore it without putting my two cents in: did anyone ever try green tea latte? Have to admit, though, it’s one drink that’s not consistent from one Starbucks to another, but when done properly, it is sheer ecstasy (honestly, I think they put something in there – I became an addict LOL)
Everybody should barge in! That’s what we want!
I haven’t tried the Green Tea Latte, either! Man, my Starbucks to-try list is getting long! (That’s not a complaint – there’s a Starbucks in my grocery store, so that’s my primary motivation to actually go shopping).
oh, man! You’re so lucky to have Starbucks in your supermarket!
Anyway, one of the regular baristas at that place looked so much like Asami from Viewfinder that I had hard time ordering and keeping up with my shopping list – lol
Grocery shopping is much more fun with a cup of Starbucks’ goodness in your hand
We used to have one in ours, but they closed it
It’s not consistent because it requires more steps.
And then they kept changing the recipe to try to make it “better”… so it went from mixing in the Matcha powder to steaming the Matcha powder into the milk, which messed up the steam wands, and…
…sorry. *grins* I worked there for three years. It’s all sort of stuck in my head.
Love/Hate it–it was ubiquitous when we lived out in WA, and I used to stop at a particularly convenient one regularly to have a little Mommy-time with a friend, but here in GA there’s…one. And it’s “owned” by AAFES, which means limited menu and they don’t take or sell gift cards. So it’s not as great as a Real Starbucks. Truthfully, I really love the little Mom-and-Pop coffeehouse downtown better.
And my poison? Chai lattes–iced in summer, hot with nutmeg in winter….the first time I ever had one, it was like pumpkin pie in tea form…heaven!
Ooh, I need to try that.
I’m actually sort of Meh about Starbucks, though usually I lean toward the positive side. And if I ever want coffee, that’s where I go, because I know exactly how to customize it the way I want. I do sincerely miss my employee discount, though, because damn it’s expensive.
But for anyone wanting to try something interesting, in the fall when they get pumpkin spice, order a drink in your regular size with your regular milk, etc., but tell them to do 1/3 pumpkin spice syrup, 1/3 white mocha, and 1/3 cinnamon dolce. (So in a Tall, that’s one pump of each.) Top with whipped cream and caramel drizzle.
We invented it at the Starbucks where I used to work, and we kept submitting it to corporate through the website to make it an official drink, but apparently no one ever reads those things, because it’s amazing. We called it the Autumn Latte because it tastes like fall in a cup.
The rest of the time, though, I just have a tall, two-pump cinnamon dolce, soy, no whip latte.
I wonder what the odds are of me remembering Autumn Latte by next fall? It’s not my thing, but Dan would pass out from pleasure.
But for anyone wanting to try something interesting,
owww, you’re a wicked wicked person! lol
What I love about Starbucks: their logo, their standard 16oz white logo mugs and the foam of their cappuccino, which is almost guaranteed to be consistently thick and hold the cacao powder. Nothing arghhh me more than the foam that dissolves into the brew. I like things simple: for me, it’s cappuccino or Tazo tea (calm, zen, Orange Blossom).
The following short film shows what happens when someone really likes to drink coffee. The song is in French but you don’t need to understand the words to get it. Warning: violence to cartoon characters and nuhnuhnuhnuhnuh earworm.