260624 Wed Nov 21 17:55:06 -0800 2001 6 26 International 0 1377214 What do u all think of Starbucks? I just luuuuuuurve it. I especially love the egg nog latte drink. espresso, frotthy milk, egg nog.. mmmmmmmmmmmm. they also do a nice range of pastries there. Tell me what you think. Tom. Wed Nov 21 17:55:06 -0800 2001 0 tom 1 1377215 starbucks rocks i'd take a tall latte any day. the mocha is also nice. then again, for the prices you're paying it had better be good. imagine, paying more for a coffee than a pint! eggnogg thingummies and frappucinemies and other special things generally taste nice, but are such a blatant attempt to rip people off (normally a quid more than - already expensive - coffee) that i seldom have em. unless someone else is buying the round of course. Wed Nov 21 17:59:44 -0800 2001 1377214 0 Jon Tseng 1 1377230 There's a crude way to sum up Starbucks: it's a bag o' shite. Or, to borrow from the old adage about Yankee servicemen stationed in the UK: Overpriced, overhyped and overhere. They're gobbling up nearly everything in my area (Piccadilly). Also, after a good start three years ago, staff attitude is appalling nowadays - and the queues are annoying. The only good thing about some of the well maintained outlets is that you can sit down in something resembling a chair. It's only coffee, already ! Thu Nov 22 12:41:15 -0800 2001 1377214 0 Camilla 1 1378124 I realize we are all entitled to our own opinions, but you call yourselves chowhounds and you frequent starbucks??? that watery, weak liquid they call "coffee" is nothing but flavored water peddled by yet another corporate american company trying to put local coffee houses out of business with their weak coffees that have to be flavored in order to be palatable and mass produced pastries. no matter whether I am staying in Wandsworth or Hammersmith, Kensington or Chelsea, I take the time to go to the Monmouth Coffee Company. Their cappuccinos are the richest coffee, the creamiest froth ...... the best coffee I've had outside Italy. it is (last I heard) owned by the wife of Randolph Hodgson (Neal's Yard Dairy) and they do a fabulous job of roasting some gorgeous coffees. Well, well worth going out of your way. However they don't open until 8am (unless things have changed in recent months) and, I believe, are closed on Sundays. Located just north of Seven Dials on Monmouth Street (naturally) and a few store fronts away from Mon Plaisir. Try them out and let me know what you think. But beware of the one person booth located in the back and up a few steps from the retail shop. Even slim persons find it a very tight fit! Sun Jan 13 16:18:37 -0800 2002 1377214 0 kit w. 2 1378125 I don't want this to degenerate... but just because something is corporate and American doesn't mean it tastes bad. My idea of a chowhound is someone who finds good tasting things. Starbucks products don't necessarily taste bad - and certainly not everything tastes bad at any given Starbucks. It sounds like you object to Starbucks more on the it's-everywhere basis than the it-tastes-bad basis. Illy is corporate and Italian and has a massive following, and yet when a store has Illy espresso on offer, it does not mean that it tastes bad. That said, and as an ex-Starbucks employee, I agree that Starbucks' coffee isn't exactly stellar... but I do like their tea drinks (most locations don't have more than two flavours of chai and most locations only make regular tea, iced tea and chai). I have never been to a restaurant or food establishment that did not have one single redeeming factor, and Starbucks is no exception. Starbucks fits what I call the McDonald's Traveller Comfort Syndrome. The original premise indicates that no matter where you go in America, if you find a McDonalds, the food will taste the same and you won't be in for any surprises. We can debate the wisdom of this point of view another time and in another forum, but the fact remains that most Americans are not chowhounds by choice and will stick to what they know. (This is by no means a uniquely American trait, by the way.) Starbucks does push coffeehouses out of business if they don't have a loyal clientele. Towns that are exceptions to this tend to be towns where your ethos of individual-over-corporate prevails (San Francisco, Santa Monica, Provincetown and uptown Minneapolis spring to mind). I also must be honest and confess that I feel the same way you do, only my feeling applies mostly to bookstores rather than coffeehouses. I write this from a town with a Starbucks for every 3,000 people (90,000 people and 30 Starbucks), and I can't believe I'm defending the Evil Empire, but I strongly object to blanket statements like "you can't call yourself a chowhound if you like _____." Being a chowhound - to me at least - has more to do with a sense of adventure in food and less to do with individual taste. The suggestion to find the Monmouth Coffee Roasters was a good one (in terms of offering an alternative and a way to swerve from MTCS) - but just because someone likes Starbucks doesn't necessarily mean they're not a chowhound. We now return you to your regularly scheduled forum. Sun Jan 13 17:35:04 -0800 2002 1378124 0 PRSMDave 3 1378895 my apologies.......you are absolutely correct on all accounts. starbucks is one of my pet peeves and they tend to make me more than slightly crazed. having just re-read my previous rant, I am thoroughly ashamed. I must have written it the day that the second starbucks opened their doors on our 8-block main street. always happy to discuss things further.........and again, please excuse my rash ramblings. but I still don't like their coffee nor their business practices! Thu Mar 07 21:14:48 -0800 2002 1378125 0 kit williams 1 1378128 Starbucks in the UK broke my heart. 16 years ago I went to school in London and have visited every other year since. With each visit, I saw the changes in my old neighborhood, and regarded them with misty eyes. The last real heartbreaker though was a couple of years ago, when I went to relive old memories at the pub me and my school chums would hang. I couldn't believe my eyes: it had become a Starbucks!!!!! I don't think I'll ever get over it. I was hardened to their invasion of NYC. I never thought I'd see it in London. Oh, England--My Lionheart bleeds..... Sun Jan 13 21:16:55 -0800 2002 1377214 0 chowbabe