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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 2/23/2009 2:25:02 PM | I like Starbucks. I only drink plain black coffee so I don't buy their more expensive items. I don't visit Starbucks frequently, but whenever I'm out running around or shopping or something it's a nice pick-me-up.
I really like coffee shops in general. I think they're a great place to just sit back and relax and do a little people watching. | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/1/2009 7:39:21 AM | | Ok, I'll say it. I LIKE Starbucks. Yes, the fancy coffee drinks are overpriced (they recently went up also). But, I don't smoke. I don't drink alcohol. This is my splurge. I usually get a Grande Nonfat No-Whip Mocha a couple of times a week. I haven't tried the Via Instant (not a big fan of instant either). They tried to give me a sample yesterday, and I'm sure anyone could get one if they wanted to try it. I believe that I read somewhere on line they were actually doing that one day this week. | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/1/2009 10:49:34 AM | SA, did you ever find anyone to try the instant Starbucks?
Well, I figured I would weigh-in.
I am not a coffee drinker, except on occasion. I prefer tea, of which I am a devoted connoisseur. Loose leaf is best, but if it is going to be a bag, I prefer the cornstarch based biodegradeable nylon mesh pyramid bags.
I do not like paper, especially the white bleached kind, for tea, or coffee, for that matter. I can taste both the paper and the bleach. Yes, my taste is that sensitive.
I also found to never steep your tea in any material other than copper or glass, all other tastes come through.
So, I carry this over to coffee too.
Grinder is important, the bur-type is best.
Water is extremely important, I only use spring or distilled in all consumed items, because I can taste the garbage in others.
Having an extremely sensitive palate is irritating only to others I have found, not to me.
The Roast of the Coffee...ahhh and here-in lies the rub.
I HATE extra dark roast coffees, therefore I hate the of Starbucks. It tastes very burned to me. Also I am so caffeine sensitive that I was once up for 4 nights on 1/2 cup of one of their coffees.
Okay, time for my plug and purpose of the post...I am very passionate about buying Organic, Fair Trade items, especially like coffee, tea, chocolates, spices. There are so many good sources of these companies online and the prices are quite affordable and FAIR. I just cannot in good conscience buy anything that I know people are being paid 2 cents for, or rather, an unfair wage or price, so some exploiter gets rich off of them. Nuts and dried berries are a bit pricey, but I find I do not need to buy those items from them anyway.
Back to Starbucks...They suffer not in the university store where I went to school up until this summer. The 3 lines to the counter are 20+ long from open til close and the average sale is $9 for coffee and a baked item. They suffer NOT. The university also has a Seattles Best, which was there before Starbucks bought the chain, and a Biggby's. Starbucks is by far the busiest. Their coffee is so extremely caffeinated that it is the draw. These kids have mostly been up all night drinking. I do not know how they survive like this. I used to frequent them for the Pumpkin Spice Blended Latte, which has no coffee.
I much prefer Java City over any coffee shop. They have fair trade organic, the coffee taste BEST!, they serve good teas, sushi rolls, cheese and dry sausage, dried cherries and blueberries, salads and the best baked goods. I frequented them in California and at the last university I went to before this one has one on campus. Also their prices are lower.
Starbucks does win for me in one area. Every other year I make 5 different types of fruitcakes for my aunts and mom. They LOVE fruitcake. I think you have to be over a certain age to like those things. Anyway, I make them for thir holiday gift and they beg for more all year. I decided to do this one year, having never made them before and did not even consult a recipe. I thought the one I made would be horrible and it was a 5 pounder. I sent it to my mom and in three days she and all of my aunts called me begging for more. I didn't have the heart to tell them it cost me $80 to make that one cake. Now I make 1 of those and 4 other 2# cakes everyother year for them. I make them all different. It costs me over $300 to make those cakes. Where Starbucks comes in is in the 5# DARK fruitcake that they love best of all, I never could get as dark a roast on the coffee as I wanted to, that goes in it. Then I thought of Starbucks and I go get 2 cups of 3 Triple Shots of Espresso in each cup. It is perrrrrrrrrfect! That stuff is so thick and black it is perfect for this fruitcake.
Best Coffee I ever had...
Coffee Float
Icey Mug
3 scoops French Vanilla Ice Cream in mug
refreeze mug
drizzled butterscotch topping over ice cream
hot fudge drizzled over ice cream
fill mug with cold coffee
whipped cream
a chocolate bar with coffee nibs in it, chopped fine and sprinkled over whipped cream
It was really refreshing on a hot summer evening in Texas after an eggplant and pasta meal.
SS
 mug of tea for us light-weights LOL | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/1/2009 5:33:31 PM | | I've never been impressed with Starbuck's coffee and from the reports I've read, the Starbucks instant coffee tastes just like the coffee they brew in the store so I'll pass and brew my own... | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/2/2009 4:40:38 PM | I buy Starbucks decaf Sumatra ... and brew it myself ... prefer French press coffee but my French press coffee maker at home only makes 1 cup so I usually use the drip coffee maker cuz it holds 2 cups, keeps the 2nd cup hot ... and I'm lazy! ...
LOVE rich, dark, burnt, charcoal-scented coffees! MOST everyone LOVES the way I make coffee! I go thru a lot of coffee! I'm the official coffee-maker at the office! use decaf mostly ... and even THAT wires me up! love deep dark chocolate as well ... have to be careful with chocolate, too, cuz I get too wired!
I'd have to be DESPERATE to actually drink instant coffee ... think stranded somewhere like a hospital waiting room desperate! or at the Bates Motel desperate! I have a friend who actually prefers instant coffee ... puke ... but ... whatever ... different strokes!
I still love going to A&W ... there are two nearby ... are they no longer in vogue in the rest of the country? I missed that Pepsi challenge ... when I buy root beer at the grocery store, tho, I usually buy Barq's!!!
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/2/2009 8:54:21 PM | Okay I will wade in as well. Starbucks is overpriced and generally bitter/burnt coffee based on the ones I have tried. Much prefer the Tim Hortons coffee here in Canada specially like some of their specialty coffees.
Have worked in and around the construction industry most of my professional life so I generally make and drink "Contractor Coffee". You know the kind were the cheapest grind is over used in a cheap drip machine and then sits around for several hours. Will peal the glaze of a coffee cup. Don't have a decent coffee shop in the small town I live in but generally hit Timmies when I am south or in Yellowknife.
Recently we got one of the Keurig single cup coffee machines in the office. They use a pre-measured dose of coffee in a small sealed cup (over size coffee creamer in size). Couple of coffee suppliers out there. Timothies has a wide variety of types and flavours including the Fair Trade coffee's. Lets everyone drink what they like and they don't have to suffer with my contractor mix. Also have Teas and hot chocolate. I like the Chia tea variety a lot. Plus way hotter than the cheap drip machine coffee. Only about 70 cents a cup.
Only ever drink coffee at the office or to be social. Have a high tolerance for caffeine so doesn't much help with awake or alert. | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/2/2009 10:50:47 PM | Hello 42!
Love the idea of the Keurig in a place of business. That is the best idea I have heard in a while. I love chai too. I wish I had your tolerance for caffeine.
SS | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/3/2009 11:25:38 AM | when I was hired where I work now (almost 11 years ago), we had a coffee service ... the "coffee man" brot in all the pre-packaged (STALE) individual servings of ground and flavoured coffees, coffee filters, creamers, sugars, etc. and I brewed the coffee ... that was some of the NASTIEST coffee I'd ever had ... I couldn't make it stronger without opening an additional package of coffee ... it was nasty, weak, watery stuff from stale pre-ground coffee grinds!
I convinced the boss to let the coffee service go ... and started buying Starbucks coffees which we ground using a for-home coffee grinder one employee brot in ... and brewed on a traditional drip electric coffee pot another employee brot in! ... HUGE improvement ... now I've branched out to other brands of coffee (there's one roasted right here in Visalia, California!) ... we now have tea pots, tea bags and vacuum coffee pots to keep it hot!
we have instant teas and instant coffees but they rarely get used!
diversification is the way to go! QUALITY diversification! | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/3/2009 11:30:28 AM | Molly, I think there has been a massive improvement since then, especially with the set up he is talking about. For me and I am not knocking it for anyone else, but just for me, drip coffee is disgusting. I will take pressed, perked, or forced steam anyday. Drip never...
SS | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/4/2009 9:54:25 PM | Not a coffee service. Single cup forced flow machine. Pushes the water through the coffee grind. The coffee is sealed in the platic cups. If you are not using fresh ground then this is the next best thing. The only problem I have is that the Chia Teas are not very consistent sometimes spicer then others.
We each buy our own coffee so you get what you like not what someone else does. Must be 30 varieties that they carry and they do not have all that are made. Way better than the dishwater weak coffee that they make at the local restaurants. | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/5/2009 12:10:43 AM | Starbucks isn't coffee, it's marketing hype- over-roasted, often burnt, over-processed, over-priced with fake names and odd sizes (really- what the heck is Grande about a 16 oz cup of anything?) that site in a warming pot too long. Dunkin' has better coffee, so does Timmies, so do the local 7-11, BP gas station, 4 of the 5 other local cafe's in town, and the greasy spoon (even WITH the chicory addition) in the industrial area. So, no- I'm not really a fan of the Starbuck Mystique.
That said, I got a free sample of the SB instant stuff, and did give it a fair and honest try. Made to exact instructions, too- no cheating with too much or too little water.
It kept the slight burnt aftertaste of all other SB products, a little stronger & more bitter than I usually make instant, but not by much. Might be OK to cook with if the recipe calls for extra-strong coffee. Not the worst cup of instant I've had, but by far not the best either.
Cost per serving, however... well there ya got it. Not a good value per cup for the stuff, not when Maxwell, Folgers, and Nescafe have all lowered instant prices nearby in the last couple of weeks. | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/5/2009 12:47:43 AM | I've more or less given up coffee ... even decaf now ... for several years, although strangely, I will drink espresso, or cappuccino; however, very much as Charon said, I found Starbucks nasty to the palate and way over-priced.
I'm with you, SS ... remember the old stove top percolators ... they made the best coffee. Fresh grind, with some egg shells thrown in ... heaven in a cup. Bodum ... I'm sure there are other brands of press out there, but Bodum's the one I've used ... makes for truly good coffee as well.
Clearly, the beans you start with have an impact, but the process makes a difference.
LRHG is a Timmy's fan, not for their regular coffee, but for their French Vanilla, although she buys the pre-mixed stuff and makes it herself when she thinks of it. Something to kick-start her (very early) morning, as, like me, she is not a morning person. | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/5/2009 1:50:11 AM | A Cappuccino, I will drink anytime, extra foam please, hazelnut flavor.
With an almond croissant, it is about as heavenly as a Cafe au Lait and a beignet.
Do I remember those stove-top percolators??? LOL I have one and an old electric one, along wiht an ooooooooooolllld 1950's electric toaster with the heavenly toasty ozone smell. That was back when great home perc was Maryland Club or Chock Full o'Nuts, or Hills Brothers. Maryland Club is no more and the others are really hard to find now. Those coffees are made to be percolated only. That is how their full flavor comes out and no burned after taste. I saw many people do the eggshell, a dash of salt, or even a tsp of vanilla in coffee grounds. The flavor of those coffees with that old toaster toast and a runny sunny side up egg at breakfast was something I will never forget.
I wonder if my old press was a Bodums. I have to check this out.
SS | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/5/2009 2:13:46 AM | I never had Maryland Club, but both Chock Full o Nuts and Hills Brothers (the same company, by the way) are readily available. Both have web sites you can google, and the Chock website has an extensive store locator. Both also sell online.
We had, when I was a kid, one of those old toasters that flipped open to put the bread in the side instead of a slot in the top. In a pinch, if the toaster broke, you'd bend a hanger and make toast over the stove element.
Still like my eggs sunny side up with runny yolks ... salmonella poisoning be dam ... well, you get the drift. Same for poached eggs, soft boiled, etc. ... I like runny yolks, and toast to mop it up with. I gotta die sometime ... if an egg that's undercooked is gonna take me out, so be it. At least I'll die sated.  | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/5/2009 2:57:43 AM | Well, I just went looking for the coffee and found this...
Mossimo Zanetti, an Italian company with it's US office based in Portsmouth, VA just bought up millions of dollars in relics form all of the coffee companies it has bought in the US....
The $900 million java giant, which includes such brands as Chock Full o'Nuts, Segafredo Espresso, MJB, Hills Bros. and Chase & Sanborn in the United States, converted its Portsmouth office into a temporary museum, housing hundreds of artifacts dating to the 1800s. The article gets into the Arab Taster, who has always fascinated me. The real man was a mystery.
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/07/arabian-taster-stood-tall-world-coffee
LA, mmmm I will never go to a cooked yolk. I am careful about the quality of food I buy and I use a lot of raw eggs. No problems ever. I pray there never is, but I have never worried about it. LOL a clothes hanger? I have heard that before. I have done that over a campfire though with something very similar. My little brother always used to get yelled at because he roasted his hot dogs over the stove-top gas flame and it dripped on the stove LOL I would look at my mom, as if this wasn't a recurring event, and say, "Who cares about the stove, did you see the fork??"
Oh no, I just had a flashback of the ghostly hobo on top of the Polar Express! I better go have a nap LOL I may be converted to coffee at this rate LOL I probably left it all because of drip coffee makers.
SS | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/5/2009 8:57:09 AM | A girl after my own heart, SS  I've got my old 50's era camping perc, a large aluminum odd-shaped thing that has a perma-stain on the basket to know how much to fill it. I've also got a 60's vintage Corning ware glass perc that's only good for electric stoves, and I found, about a month ago at a thrift shop, a 50's vintage Revere ware perc for $1.50.
I use the Chock Full o'Nuts, or a blend of the unflavored "holiday crap" coffees that come in the gift baskets. None of the packets is enough for a full pot, so I dump 'em all into a pound container, add enough CFoN to get it to 3/4, and mix it really well. I keep it in the freezer for making campfire coffee in the REALLY big coffee kettle.
LA- I remember those side-opening toasters, and making toast on hangars or BBQ forks- especially on the gas stove during power failures when I was a kid. Somewhere in the collection of odd kitchen ephemera buried in a crate there's a folding stove-top toaster- looks like a 4-sided grater, but with bent wire rests for the bread to sit on.
Now you guys got me feeling nostalgic. Need to make runny-sloppy pooched eggs & well-done toast.
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/5/2009 4:45:09 PM | I had to come back to this because I just found one of my best coffees that I forgot I had because I thought I used it all.
42 you will love this if you like Chai Tea and you construction coffee.
People that have a phobia about grounds and thick coffee, stay away.
MMMMMMM Turkish Coffee in my Coffee Pot! It is called an Ibrik. I have a few rules about an Ibrik. It has to have the handle coming from the center of the body that is thick short and wooden; It has to be at a 4 cup size; and it has to be copper or ceramic. Now a cup of Turkish Coffee is only about 2-3 oz. I also prefer a tabletop burner as opposed to stove-top making. The blend is best if you make your own with fresh gound spices, but a premade blend is just fine, kept dry in the fridge for a few months. You need the special hand grinder for this. I like mine with Ethiopian Harrar and Yemen Mocha with LOTS of cardamom, nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, cloves (in that order from highest amount to lowest) and just a little sugar. The more thick head foam, the better. This is the best coffee to make over a campfire, because that is how it was created and is best. I may not be able to sleep just thinking about all of this coffee.
SS | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/6/2009 9:32:11 PM | | When Starbucks first spread down from Seattle, WA, the Times news mag stated in an article that "coffee addicts were being created because of the extra caffeine Starbucks pumped into their coffee". | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/9/2009 3:12:10 PM | I'm no fan of instant coffee, but I'll give it a try when it's presented to me just to see if it's any good or not..
Starbucks is $.10 -$.20 more than Tim Horton's around here for the same size coffee and yet the hoards complain that Starbucks is" too expensive for me" or "way over priced". Some people sure are cheap.
I suppose they could be too ignorant to know that there is a difference between drip coffee, light roast, dark roast, and one built by a Barista.
Espresso stands are intimidating to the uncultured. | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/9/2009 3:27:10 PM | For a while it has been clear in this thread that people are talking about apples and oranges in here when talking about Starbuck's pricing.
First off, I think Tim Horton's coffee is like burned dishwater. Not only does it tast burned, though not as burned as Starbuck's, but it also taste like dirty nasty water. It is also way over-priced.
When people are talking about Starbuck's pricing being so expensive they are talking about macchiatos, cappuccinos, cafe mochas, blended lattes and more. If you walk in and order an Americano, you will pay about half the price of anything else on the menu, so it is deceptive to say Tim Horton's and all other places only charge .10-.20 more per cup. I hightly doubt it is that little of a difference, because even a simple Americano where I live is about $1 or more than anywhere else and maybe about .50 more than Tim Horton's, but Tim Horton's does fancy it's second rate baked goods and coffee to be as good as a high quality coffee house.
Apple to Oranges | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/9/2009 5:57:01 PM | Around here it's mere pennies more for a Starbucks dark or light roast coffee over a Tim Horton's. Make it a fancy coffee and you'll pay extra, that's for sure.
That said, I do agree it's like comparing apples to oranges. | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/9/2009 6:37:24 PM | Having just looked at your profile and seeing you are from Canada I am sure we really are talking about apples and oranges. I have heard too many times how Tim Horton's is wonderful in Canada, so it must be true. I am assuming, without looking it up, Tim Horton's is a Canadian company.
I have noticed something very interesting. When an American based chain goes to other nations, it is always 10 times better than it is here. When a company from another country comes here to America, it is always much worse than in it's home based nation. That tells me a lot about how America is sinking lower and lower in every sector, not just the ones we complain about the most.
I used to work with the JCC to help acclimate new immigrants. When they would tell me of McDonald's in their country, I was in shock. In Russia they actually have servers and table service with written menus and serve steaks and nice dinners. They are even seated.
I hear Wal-Mart in other countries is a lot better organized and cleaner, run more professionally, like people actually care about their job, than they are here in America.
It is just plain and clear, no matter how any American wants to dispute it, that Americans as a whole do not demand decent service for their quickly failing dollar, which is one reason why it is failing. In a word, APATHY.
The Tim Horton's here I have been in many times with a friend, even though I buy nothing there. I have never been in it, morning, noon or night, when the floor and tables weren't a mess and when you didn't have to wait at least 10 minutes to get service, even when no one was in front of you. The workers are too busy talking.
Sometimes it is hard for me to judge if it is an American trend and an epidemic all over the nation, or just in this state I moved to 7 years ago, because I never saw any of this before I came here. Possibly because my financial status was MUCH higher before I came here too. I frequented places where the service was always immaculate because I could afford it.
SS | |
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| Starbucks goes Instant
Posted: 10/10/2009 11:29:33 AM |
I have heard too many times how Tim Horton's is wonderful in Canada, so it must be true That's debatable. | |
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