I just don't get it!

Personally, I hate coffee, I've drank about 6 cups in my entire 53 years on this planet - and only by cooling it down with ice and putting about 6 packs of sugar in it could I even stand it - which tells me I really wanted a soft drink in the first place. As far as espresso - I had a taste once - nasty nasty stuff! take the coffee I already hate and then burn it and ....well you get the idea.

Help you understand it? I can't.

I can't explain what I can't understand. Though many times that doesn't stop me from giving it a go.

Best I can come up with is "passing fad"...

Blech. I don't like Starbucks coffee.
But I do love coffee. Used to live in the city and have money and I drank only the best available.. Jamaica Blue Mountain, or this stuff from Kenya that had citrus peels in it, with the best grinder available and made in the best coffee maker and we had several kinds for different types of coffee.
Folks used to stop by OUR house for a cup of coffee.. we so many kinds.

DH doesn't drink coffee at all. I miss having someone to share coffee with. Now.. I drink Folgers. sigh
And nothing in the world is better than living in the city when it snows. Walking to your favorite bar adn grabbing a seat by the big front windows and drinking Irish coffee as the streets fill up with snow. sigh...

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Well, starbucks puts cocaine in their coffee. That why people get hooked on it. Everybody knows that.

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Abby
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Unless life also hands you sugar and water, your lemonade is going to suck.

I love going to Starbucks and/or Carribous. I miss it. When I lived in Minneapolis and worked downtown there were lines so long to get your "fix" on the way to work. I have not had a good cup of coffee anywhere around here since I moved here. Some is actually undrinkable. I make my own at home...Folgers or Maxwell house, whatever is on sale.
I like a plain, double shot latte - no foam. Or a regular small coffee in a medium cup so I have lots of room for cream

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Teach only Love...for that is what You are

I guess my problem is that I drink plain ol' black coffee. Just coffee, no milk or candy. And Starbuck's black coffee tastes burnt to me.

Give me some medium/dark roast Celebes Kalossi processed in a French press pot, and I'll make "yum yum" noises.

But, I almost never have that, 'cause it's just too expensive.

IMHO, having a Starbucks is a great P.T. Barnum indicator... the more traffic, the more *cough* fools you have in your area. These fools indicate you have people with more money than good sense.............. so, if you have any inclinations towards market farming, you know you've got clients for your vastly overpriced goods. Tag organic and natural on them, free range, cage free, etc. ad nauseum... and if you can direct the Starbuckian clan towards your products, you're golden!

About once every two months, I'll stop in at a Whataburger and get a mongo sized iced tea. It costs almost as much as a months supply of tea bags (before the inflation monster hit). I rationalize it as I'm working, and getting paid to drink it (the five minutes of work more than pays for the 2$ drink). I also get a handful of extra straws... that last me for a month or so!

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Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

I'll take a White Chocolate Mocha with whip, extra shot of expresso and cinnamon..yum..

a real treat every once in a while. At home I use either a french press or the expresso machine - sometimes both..and use whole beans. I luv my coffee - but have not had more than a 1/2 a coke in the last year..just don't care for soft drinks anymore.

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I've long wondered what Starbucks does to their coffee to create such a rabid following.

They market/advertise it REALLY WELL.

Lots and lots of different flavorings (which is what they are really selling) and clever marketing. No different than McDonalds really.

.....Alan.

I don't drink coffee and their chocolates aren't that good either. Guess if I drank much alcohol would be worth it to only do so in company at a bar or a party- so paying the bar rent to prevent drinking alone. Also I meet folks for interviews and a MeetUp group and a Starbucks (or our equivalents) would work. We just switched the MeetUp group from a Dakota Coffee to a restaurant and are having more fun there maybe because a few of us have a bit of alcohol and thereby cut up a bit more outrageously (I don't need a drink to behave outrageously with this group, just comes natural).

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If I went anywhere and the words came out of my mouth that ya'll are calling some of your favorite coffees (such as chai tea latte) I'd rip my tongue out with a pair of channel locks. Or vise grips.

I figure like a lot of fads it's about being seen or telling folks you been there. My favoritest coffee, bar none, is campfire perked coffee. Throw in a dutch oven cinininamomum roll and I'm a pig in clover. Throw in some thick sliced bacon with it and I will---on the first date even. Let see some sandal/sock sweater tied around their neck matching outfit wearing goober compete with that.

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I don't do coffee but I will do their teas, their pastries are good though and sometimes you can find unpasturized juice.

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Here in Canada it is Tim Horton's rather than Star Bucks. Tim's sell doughnuts, sandwiches and lot's of coffee. We don't drink coffee but I know plenty of people who do. I know one who can't pay last year'd property tax but a couple of times a week or more buys three double-doubles [ which are lg coffees] This is over $14 a week for coffee. I think Tim's puts something in the coffee that is addictive because in our little town of 8,000 people there are three Tim Horton's!

I know plenty of working poor people who waste what money they have. They work hard and get discouraged when they can't get ahead financially. So they give up and say ;" What the heck! I may as well have something I want because I'm going behind anyway."

It is faulty thinking but I have heard people say this often. It takes good self- discipline to live within ones means and some people still have to learn this. Like little children who want everything and we have to as parents say no to them;adults also have to learn to say no to their wants when they can't afford them. It will be hard times ahead for many until they learn this.

My DD was certified as a Barrista 6 years ago and also makes the most incredible coffee drinks. Starbucks over-heat their coffee, hence the burnt flavor. I got a really cool expresso maker via Craigslist. We try to avoid buying coffee out, due to the expense. Oh, yes, there are Bikini Barrista (not in our little town) stands in the larger towns. Closest is 30 minutes from here & they had "Pasty Tuesdays." The local community put a stop to it!

I love Starbucks but if I didn't keep getting gift cards, I'd only go once in a blue moon. I LOVE their coffee - when I brew it at home, because I hate the stuff they brew there. Too strong, so I just put in half the grounds they do and it's perfect!

What I do consume there in the shop are their fraps and pastries - yum!

I agree with the person who said their customer service is consistantly good. That, I think, is what made them flourish. They seem to hire those who genuinely like people - it's important to their bottom line. They're friendly folks who are nice to chit-chat with. And all the Starbucks near me have all been different - no cookie cutter atmospheres here, though all have been homey and comfortable.

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I disagree, it looks quite different to me.

The followers of Starbucks are fanatical about it, rabidly fanatical. They live and breath Starbucks. McDonalds, DunkinDonut, Wawa, none of them have the fanatical fans like Starbucks has. Oh sure, some genuinely like whoevers coffee, and may own a whoevers refillable coffee mug, but they aren't the fanatics that Starbuckers are.

I've seen rallies and protests about Starbucks. Never about any other coffee store. Large crowds protesting a Starbucks being closed, and crowds rallying in support of opening a new one. Never in my life have I seen crowds do that for 7-11 coffee, McDonalds coffee or any other type of coffee or coffee house.

Is that the ten ounce "pound" or the twelve ounce "pound" of coffee? I guess people would really make fun of them if they started selling an eight ounce pound since that would in fact be half a pound.....

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