17 May 07 Coffee
I’ve never been much of a coffee drinker. In fact, as a young pup, I would often sing a little song that went something like . . .
C - O - F - F - E - E
coffee is not for me
it’s the drink that people wake up with
and it makes them nervous is no myth
slaves to a coffee cup
they can’t give coffee up.
Needless to say the marketing department at Starbucks has not made any offers for me to write jingles.
Between the age of 0 and 35 I probably had two sips of coffee. I remember one time I had to sip the stuff because we were in one of those situations that manners and protocol dictated compliance. They set a plate of cookies out with the coffee and I’m sure I ate every single one.
My first coffee drink from Starbucks had milk, whipped cream, raspberry syrup, chocolate chips and I think some coffee. To show my macho side I had them serve it to me in a dirty glass! For some reason Beth would always tease me about my drink choice, go figure. Soon I discovered the Mocha, the Latte and the Frappuccino (caramel is my favorite).
This week I discovered the Iced Caramel Macchiato and wow! After a 96 ounce cup of this nectar of the gods I’m typing 500 words a minute, reorganizing my entire library, found a cure for baldness all at the same time while composing a Broadway musical.
Any Starbucks fans out there? What’s the deal? Is it the ease? The convenience? The feeling that I’m on vacation? Is there some secret ingredient in the caramel that hooks you and keeps you coming back?
Reader's Comments
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Powered by FireStats
For me it is without a doubt of feeling like I’m on vacation. I have a similar habit when it comes to flying. For some reason whenever I fly I always ask for tomato juice while I never drink it any other time.
Tomato juice? When flying you ask for tomato juice? Is that a code name for something like Whiskey Sour or Rum and Coke?
To quote “You’ve Got Mail”– “The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don’t know what the heck they’re doing or who on earth they are, can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall! Decaf! Cappuccino!”
Prices have gone up since then, but I think this still holds true.
What’s the deal? The deal is that coffee demon got a hold of you!!
What happens when you mix Red Bull and coffee???
Peace.
If that drink has any coffee at all in it, I don’t want it! I’ve tried a few … even the Starbucks novelty coffees … and I’ve yet to find one that I can swallow. However, I LOVE the smell of coffee. So I’m a sniffer, not a drinker. Can I fly you down here, buy you one of those caramel miracles and have you finish packing my office, garage, and house?
I have trouble paying Starbucks what, $3 or $4 for the equivalent of a cup of coffee (with all the extra goodies) when most people who harvest the beans are getting 12 cents a kilo, 27 cents if they are lucky enough to be part of a growers collective. Those aren’t even subsistence wages and the growers can’t afford to send their children to school. So the children have to work also.
I’m not a big fan of the Starbucks knowing that their practices contribute to poverty and illiteracy. Now if Starbucks had a program where they turned some of that profit back to the coffee bean growing communities, then I might convert.
Uh-oh. Did I just out myself as a liberal?
I knew it!
Don’t you have the liberal filter activated on your blog?
While I can admit to wondering about the fairness of what we pay to Starbucks for a cup of coffee… Do we also not believe them that they purchase ‘a lot’ of fair trade coffee?
See their social responsibility report:
http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/csrannualreport.asp
It is not just a Starbucks problem.
Enjoy that Iced Caramel Macchiato guilt free…
(except of course for the calories issue, the artery clogging issue, the additive stimulant issue, the paper cup recycle issue, and of course the cost issue and why you don’t spend your money more wisely on orphans and widows)
Is the old curmudgeon filter active?
There are a couple of Starbucks here in Lausanne, but I never go. Bad dollar/Swiss echange rate.
But I love to go to Starbucks in the USA and say, May I have a small coffee please, no sugar, just a bit of cream.
That always gets them.