Daniel J. Matyola wrote:
Well said, Bob.
While I wouln't call Starbucks coffee "crap," it is overpriced, overhyped and adequate at best. Dinkin' Donuts and some convenience stores make better coffee, and most good coffee shops do much better. I love Kona, when I can afford it; even in Hawaii it is very pricey.
If you have a good coffee maker, buy quality fresh beans and grind them just before brewing, you can make much better coffee yourself. I recently bought an espresso machine, and the coffee, espresso and capuchino it makes are far better than anything our of Starbucks or the other big chains.
BTW, Scots Whisky may be an aquired taste, but it's well worh the effort!
Dan
Bob Blakely wrote:
Everyone has different tastes. Mine is definitely not for Starbucks coffee. I'm almost 58 years old now and have been drinking coffee since I was perhaps eight years old, when my dad would bring home fresh ground 8 O'clock Coffee from the A&P. (That's The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company to you young'uns. - No, it did not stunt my growth.) My favorite coffees are pure Kona or Blue Mountain, but they are quite expensive and rarely available from coffee houses, though some independents will have Blue Mountain on occasion or will order the beans for me. Sometimes I can convince them to put several small crystals of sea salt in with the grounds when they brew it. Starbucks over roasts their beans, and they do it for good fiscal reasons. The over roasted beans have a longer shelf life and have fewer problems in shipping. Over roasting produces a darker and more acrid coffee with somewhat less caffeine. A darker look and an acrid taste does not equal a rich flavor. Good beans, properly roasted and brewed properly at the right temperature with the right flow, produce a rich, flavorful, highly drinkable, non acrid taste. FYI, Starbucks is not in the business of selling coffee any more than Kodak was ever in the business of selling cameras. They are in the business of selling lattes, mochas and various other made up drinks with Italian sounding names. These are drinks with coffee in them, but with so much extra stuff that the taste of the actual coffee is more like a condiment than the main course. As to Starbuck's coffee requiring an "acquired taste", keep in mind that anything that tastes like crap can become an acquired taste, even to the point that you may believe that you can't live without it. This explains Scot's (or scotch to some) whiskey. You may ask, "well how do you explain the great popularity of Starbuck's?" First, they have the best marketing since MacDonald's, and second, The common lemming effect. "Everyone thinks it's good so it must be good and if I say I don't like it, then I will betray my immaturity as a coffee connoisseur so I will drink it until I acquire a taste for it and when I finely get to the point where it no longer gags me, I'll tell everyone it's an 'acquired' taste thereby showing my sophistication regarding the world of gourmet coffee." I am currently typing this from "It's A Grind" where the coffee is smooth, rich and flavorful and where the wireless internet is totally free.
Regards, Bob... ----------------------------------------- "Don't be a lemming!" - R. Blakely
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I can understand why mankind hasn't given up war. During a war you get to drive tanks through the sides of buildings and shoot foreigners - two things that are usually frowned on during peacetime.
--P.J. O'Rourke
