I suspect. It is hard to get a good coffee at their stores these days. Not sure if the training process is not as good as it used to be. But those guys don't know how to make a coffee even with a machine. At least 50% of the time, my coffee has an overwhelming burnt/bitter taste. Not the kind one would expect in espresso. Just terrible. Given the prices, I don't go there anymore. I just bring some god quality teabags with me and have tea. That said, it is nice to be able to sit there for hours writing on your laptop.

....is part of the Starbucks lure.
they sell bitter/burnt taste and caffeine loading.
their coffee beans are deliberately cooked longer than normal,
and caffeine is injected into their brews.
the normal Starbucks coffee has more than 120% caffeine, when compared to other coffees.

They must have forgotten to let it burn. I want my money back! :) Seriously, I tried plenty of coffee around the world; my impression is that there is the good, intentional, bitter (e.g., the triple espresso shots in Italy), and the bitter due to being careless or incompetent (possibly due to improper cleaning of the machines). They taste quite different. I suspect it's the second case for Starbucks coffee...

And I've kind of hated them ever since. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the local places. One was a hang out for the kids in town and had folk music all the time and the kids could play their guitars there.

Starbucks is boring, and everyone has realized it by now.

that a Starbucks set up shop beside one of our best local cafes here, in the clear hopes of driving it out of business and capturing its market - and was crushed like an insect. They eke out a living on the commuter-hour rush (drivers who don't know the neighbourhood) and the overflow from the orginal cafe.

It's at least eight years later now, and I must say it does my heart good every time I see the local cafe crammed to bursting and the patio at Starbucks empty.

I don't hate Starbucks, and their coffee's actually okay, if somewhat over-burned and over-priced. But I do detest seeing local businesses strangled out by the gray tide of corporatism, so that's a success story in my eyes.

I remember the resistance when it first crammed itself into the neighbourhood; one particular high spot was the local who sold "re-worked" embroidered Starbucks patches in the park across the street. She used black thread to strategically hand-embroider over the silver lettering of the "STARBUCKS COFFEE" logo until it neatly and plainly spelled out "F**K OFF".

and, consequently, drink it only on rare trips to a mall or some other populated place. But I've never had a bad cup of coffee at any of the few I've been to:I've thought it was damn good stuff. I could never muster up the disdain for this chain that I can for a Wal-Mart or Home Depot..as has been pointed out, they seem to treat their people reasonably well.

There are four places for me to buy coffee in the am on the way to work--and three of them serve crankcase oil---swill I'd be scared to put in my septic field. The fourth, a little mom & pop boutique, serves good stuff but is just as expensive and a lot more pretentious than a Starbucks.

"Lord! What Fools these Mortals be!",

I had forgotten about this. Ironic.

- EOM

what would I do? Drinking while working isn't allowed..