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I love Starbucks...

Teach me why I should hate it- from a product point of view- not the capitalism argument. I think Starbucks in store coffee is the best that is easily available to me...
 
Teach me why I should hate it- from a product point of view- not the capitalism argument. I think Starbucks in store coffee is the best that is easily available to me...
It is decent coffee, but not great. Coffee made from a press is far better. We have small businesses here that roast their beans on premise and blow Starbucks away as well. I also prefer Panera coffee to Starbucks, but that may just be me.

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I hate it because of how they name the different sizes of cups. They tell you nothing about how big they are. It's pretentious, and that downgrades my whole café experience.
I want to see a menu that lists milliliters and/or ounces.
 
I've always drank my coffee black, and they do not make a good black coffee. It's disgusting, it's bitter, the taste makes me retch. They have to pound it full of milk, sugar, and torani syrup so it can be choked down. Plus, their coffee contain more caffeine than any other place documented and it's really not healthy seeing these people stuck in the drive-thru morning and night to get their fix. To me, they're drug addicts hooked on stimulants. Their coffee beans are not ground to order - this is a very important step in the process. The more time that passes, the less flavorful it will be. The prices are horrible and the cup sizes they give names to are pathetic. The worse part is that there's a starbucks within rock-throwing distance (I've tested it) and the drive-thru is backed up all day and night. If I had a nickel for every time one of their smug, narcissistic customers almost ran me over on their way out, I could drink their sludge every day for a year.
 
I am just the opposite of you. I love the company, I do not like the coffee. I drink it because one of my jobs has a Starbucks attached. As a teacher in my main job, I am given plenty of gift cards. I frequent enough that I know the baristas and I can get a free cup about half the time I always have a cup with me and refills are free if you are a rewards member). I drink it for the caffine more than anything else. I find it over roasted, overly bitter, and not very smooth. I will not stop anytime soon. I make my own most mornings, drink the sludge in the faculty lounge when I forget, and drink a starbucks when I want to. If I really want to enjoy my starbucks, I will spurge and order a cup brewed through the clover machine.

lol, clearly I was posting the same time as riverstyxxx and my sentiments echos his.
 
I've always drank my coffee black, and they do not make a good black coffee. It's disgusting, it's bitter, the taste makes me retch. They have to pound it full of milk, sugar, and torani syrup so it can be choked down. Plus, their coffee contain more caffeine than any other place documented and it's really not healthy seeing these people stuck in the drive-thru morning and night to get their fix. To me, they're drug addicts hooked on stimulants. Their coffee beans are not ground to order - this is a very important step in the process. The more time that passes, the less flavorful it will be. The prices are horrible and the cup sizes they give names to are pathetic. The worse part is that there's a starbucks within rock-throwing distance (I've tested it) and the drive-thru is backed up all day and night. If I had a nickel for every time one of their smug, narcissistic customers almost ran me over on their way out, I could drink their sludge every day for a year.
You mean people add stuff to their coffee? Yuck. If it isn't good enough to drink black, it isn't good enough to drink.

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@Lightcs1776 - It's not just you. Panera coffee > Starbuck's coffee

While I'm not a huge fan of their in store coffee (it's ok, nothing more), I get a pretty good cup from their whole beans when I grind & make it myself. I'm not sure why that is.
 
Used to like the French roast DIY. The instant is really good for camping, but to expensive at around 1.00 a cup. To poor for a triple mocha venti vida loca.
 
Unlike some above, I don't like the company. I find them very pretentious and snobby. However, I do like the whole bean French Roast that I grind at home.
 
There are some good star$$$ around but I only go there if there is no other choice for a caffeine hit.... there are much better coffee shops within waking distance in the Melb CBD. That was a few years ago now. I think most have closed.


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I honestly can't stand the smell of a Starbucks, so I never venture close enough to buy their coffee. Living in the Portland, Oregon area there are more coffee shops than gas stations, so I also don't feel sadden by not drinking Starbucks coffee either.
 
SB fresh pike roast with cream can't be beat by any other store brand.

Of course most places have a decent medium roast when fresh. Though DD has become so weak it's barely coffee anymore.

I had to live on McD for a week and their coffee wasn't bad if fresh. Horrible if old.

The company is ok in my opinion but I think the media overblow most companies anyways.

I do prefer my pour over at home and am adapting that to my backpacking style. :)

-Stephen
 
I find that the SB coffee always tastes burnt, like their motto is "nobody burns their coffee roast like we do". They are grossly over-priced for the poor quality coffee they sell.

As with everything YMMV.

When traveling I do like the coffee I get in European and South American countries, they make an excellent dark roast that is full of flavour, but not burnt.

They are very pretentious and snobby in their attitude, there are just an other marketing scam.
 
Teach me why I should hate it
Not up to us to do that. It's all up to you but that's always the case with any topic. If you like Starbucks then enjoy! I can't stand their lattes. They roast way too dark which is IMO as roast is a matter of preference. They don't properly extract the espresso which is not surprising as they rely on semiautos which, at best, tend to produce mediocre espresso and "baristas" (a euphemism for a button pusher in their case) that generally don't care about the quality of the coffee. There are those that do care but those that are truly interested will find their way into a shop with the proper training and tools. They use way too much milk and don't properly steam it. All this results in a flavorless drink despite the dark roast. They are, essentially, the McDonald's of specialty coffee. They're ubiquitous and fairly consistent but they're certainly nowhere near the best in their fields. That said, there are many that love them. "Billions and billions served" as one of them used to say.

They way to determine what you're after is to try the other options out there. Prior to 2002 I was fine with Starbucks and other poor coffee shops in Houston as well as "espresso" machines from big box stores that produced awful espresso. At that point I decided to read up on espresso and to get myself a decent machine & grinder and easily started making better espresso than any shop. I did run across better espresso than what I made at home but it was while traveling to cities that had good coffee shops. It wasn't until around 2005 that we started to get really good coffee shops in Houston that had the enthusiasm and drive to produce good espresso.

Try a good coffee shop and see if you can appreciate the difference and whether or not it's worth whatever inconvenience there may be for you. As I said, I have my own machine and grinder at home but if I decide to go out for a latte there are plenty of excellent coffee shops withing walking distance -- even closer than the nearest Starbucks -- and many more within a short driving distance. Even if I decide to step out from the office I'll walk past several other coffee shops to get to what I consider to be the better coffee shop -- including a Starbucks in our basement, a Starbucks diagonally across the intersection and a Minuti a couple of blocks away.

For me quality trumps all else. I'll even research coffee shops to hit for my travels to avoid relying on Starbucks. Not everyone is willing to go to such lengths for their coffee. For many convenience, price and other concerns are much more important. Your post doesn't clarify where you stand on these things so it doesn't make sense for me to make recommendations based on my preferences if they're not relevant to you.

If you are interested in trying better coffee then let us know your location and we can try to offer recommendations. Your profile indicates Alabaman but where, specifically in Alabama? If nothing's near you then are you traveling in the near future? Again, as with any topic out there it's up to you to determine your preferences and find the solution that best serves you. I can't stand Starbucks but I'm not going to belittle those that enjoy it just as I wouldn't do that on any topic. That sort of snobbery doesn't benefit anyone and really says more about the snob than the people that the snob is looking down upon.

I hate it because of how they name the different sizes of cups. They tell you nothing about how big they are.
The naming doesn't bother me. The sizes are ridiculous but that's what their customers want. The Tall at 12oz is already big for a latte. It's nowhere near their biggest drink size but it's typically the largest size offered at coffee shops I frequent.
 
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Toothpick

Needs milk and a bidet!
Staff member
I rarely, rarely, got their straight coffee. I always got one of the other mixed coffee drinks. Their black coffee always tasted way to strong for my liking and burnt.

Here's a reason to hate them...they have a "short" 8oz cup size. But it's not on the menu! Of course it's not on the menu. Who wants just 8oz of coffee??
 
I drink my coffee black and add 1 splenda to it on occasion. I usually make my coffee at home and bring it with me to work. On the rare occasion that I forget like today. I head down to our cafeteria and get Starbucks Light and Mellow Roast. It is the only one that I can tolerate. Everything else to me just tastes burnt. My wife sometimes likes to get one of their frappuccino concoctions when we are running errands on the weekend, and even those taste burnt to me. When we go I just get an iced tea.

My problem with Starbucks is the beans taste burnt!
 
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