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Yes, we are insane
By adamg on Thu, 02/12/2015 - 12:20pm
Snow piled higher than we can see? Giant icicles raining down on us? Temperatures plunging to negative numbers and another Nor'easter about to explode above us? Hah! This is Boston and we laugh in the face of that kind of alleged adversity and then we go out and get our iced coffees, dammit! And make 'em large!
Lori Magno captured the moment aboard an elevator at 33 Arch St. this lunchtime.
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Comments
No more absurd
than the statement on the cups "Official Coffee of the Boston Bruins."
Like a hockey team really needs an official anything.
And, really now, a plastic cup inside a styrofoam cup?!? Not like anybody's gotten frostbite from holding an iced coffee now.
You sound delightful.
You sound delightful.
It's easy to get agonizingly cold hands from a cup of iced coffee this time of year. You'd be surprised, especially if you're out walking around.
While wearing gloves?
While wearing gloves?
I can't believe D&D uses so much styrofoam in 2015, but that's neither here nor there.
They make this thing now
It's called hot coffee.
At some places (not necessarily Dunkin's), it actually tastes like coffee.
But then I guess you run the risk of your little hands being too hot instead of your little hands being too cold.
We can't win!
Any more absurd than the Red
Any more absurd than the Red Sox having an official distributor of plumbing, heating and cooling products, pumps and industrial pipe, valves and fittings?
Giant ..ass
Then again, I guess baseball and broken car windows do go together ...
That ball's coming down on Lansdowne Street!
Better call 1-800-54-Giant!
I loved that it's typically Ortiz showing off the Giant __ass.
edit - and I just noticed that the extra spaces I originally put to denote the missing g & l magically disappeared in Chrome. Not sure if that's my browser doing it, or if it's there (as part of this site) to remove the archaic double-space after periods. If it's the latter, bravo.
DD not green at all!
Every time you order a sandwich or a bagel, they make it from a single serving cup and use a plastic knife. So much waste from there. I only buy iced coffee from there (in summer) with an occasional hot coffee in the winter but I shudder each time I see it. Plus, the server typically gives you the extra cup whether you ask for it or not (I don't like getting them).
On the other hand, their travel mugs with straws and handles cost just under $6 and you can get hot or cold refills for $0.99 at most outlets. Much greener and it pays for itself in a few days - don't need outer styrofoam cup for protection from the cold in the winter or condensation in the summer. Still earn rewards for the purchase too (not linked to $$ spent).
Everywhere Should Be Like Brookline
Just ban the damn Styrofoam.
I go to the grocery store where they sell DD coffee and brew it at home. Occasionally I'll get an iced coffee at an actual DD store. Then wash the cup out many times, reusing and filling it from my own DD brewed version at home. And would never be so crass as to use one of those Styrofoam cups around a plastic cup.
I recently went back to a
I recently went back to a restaurant in Somerville that I hadn't been to in years. Apparently Somerville has one of these styrofoam bans in place now. So rather than putting the food in a heat-insulating styrofoam tray like they used to, the restaurant is now using those aluminum-foil trays with the clear plastic lids (example). Metal, FYI, is not only a non-insulator, it's actually a heat conductor. By the time I got where I was going (25min later), the food was completely cold. Suffice it to say, I will not ever get food from there again.
So yes, let's put more of these bans in place and force restaurants to use worse packaging for their products, lowering the food quality and driving customers away.
The Chinese restaurant
I get take out from packages their food in those types of trays. Never had a problem with the food being too cold.
Then again, I don't wait almost half an hour to eat the food after I pick it up. For that matter, I don't know many people who would either.
That's funny. Like Roadman
That's funny. Like Roadman says, I've never had a problem getting cold Chinese food in one of those metal trays. They usually put a piece of cardboard under it which protects the bottom of the bag and also insulates the metal tray.
Alternatively, many takeout places use hard plastic tupperware-esque containers these days, which offer the insulating properties of plastic, and are also re-usable.
tl;dr: Cry me a river.
Actually, I like the new packaging.
I reuse both the metal and the plastic containers. Couldn't do much with the styrofoam stuff outside of using it as practice for linocuts. Even then, there was still the issue of disposal.
Metal Not Much Better
They make cardboardish [i think it's actually made from compressed pulp like normal paper but thicker] containers that look very much like their Styrofoam counterparts but they biodegrade quickly and are recyclable. And because they are thick and insulating, they work the same. Many places in Brookline use them now.
Good for you.
Someone needs to stand up to all these crass people who don't take the same pride in their work.
I realize I'm the exception,
I realize I'm the exception, but I end up rinsing and re-using big plastic drink cups for weeks at a time. Especially the gigantic ones which are perfect for a sachet of cold-brew tea. After a couple of rounds they head to the bathroom as late-night water glasses, then hair-rinsing cups (due to renovations-in-progress I have a great bathtub, but no shower), paintbrush-rinsing, stain-mixing, etc...I also use plastic grocery bags for cat litter box scooping.
If I got dunkin's every single day they'd probably pile up, but as it is, those cups have rich, full lives in my house.
I'm all for chains reducing waste and encouraging reusable cups, but outright bans rub me the wrong way. Even in TX, Whole Foods briefly entertained a storewide plastic-bag ban, so guess what leaked all over my trunk the time they wrapped crab legs in paper? It wasn't even waxed! Revolting.
Ice coffee is no more insane
Ice coffee is no more insane than using kitchen pots, ironing boards, plastic chairs, babies, and the other assorted household items to reserve a public parking space in winter.
If both are insane than wouldn't we all be insane, thus making this state of insanity normal, and no longer insane? I need more coffee....
If only we had styrofoam
If only we had styrofoam space savers! We could really get the rage flowing.
At least they're indoors
Insanity would be drinking that while walking (or worse, standing) outside.
Saw a couple of Emerson students
walking down Boylston Street earlier today doing just that, drinking iced coffee from plastic cups. No Styrofoam double cupping, so I doubt they got them at Dunkies -even though there's one on the corner of Boylston and Tremont.
Then again, they were a couple of
Emersonyoung college students.and before anyone goes off on me about "ragging" on Emerson students, a former girlfriend of mine was an Emerson graduate. So no offense to any specific institution is meant here
Needs more plastic.
A moment on the lips, a lifetime in the landfill.
So?
Most of us drink ice water and ice soda year round. This water just happens to have run through coffee grounds before it reached the cup.
The difference here is that
a drink that was intended to be served hot (coffee) is intentionally made cold. Can't help but note the irony in that.
Looks like watery coffee
Looks like watery coffee water to me. I'll stick to my french press.
Go back under your snow bank.
Although I grind my own beans and LOVE my French Press I will tell you after shoveling for an HOUR nothing refreshes better than a Dunks Iced one sugar medium with cream in the f-ing Styrofoam. Lasts longer and I can go back to my damn shovel.
Freaking horrible taste
One reason I only get iced coffee from Dunks - never hot coffee - is that freaking styrafoam makes the coffee taste horrendous!
I'm with you on the iced after shoveling - but it would be interesting to see what it is that I'm tasting in the hot stuff. Yecch!
Bring your own mug
That's what I try to do. Advantage is that the mug has a handle and a snap-on plastic cover, so I don't need to worry about burning my hands.
The Davis Square DD (and probably others in Somerville) uses paper cups now. Why can't the whole chain do this?
Interesting.
Ron: do they do that for the larger sizes than small? The two dunks nearest to me (Porter Sq and Central / Highland) have paper cups in small.
Ironic, isn't?
People who 'double cup' their DD coffee each morning, 5 days a (work) week with Styrofoam and plastic, are a serious, ignorant bunch. Not only will those TWO cups contribute to our already overflowing landfill, but Styrofoam takes centuries to decompose. The EPA has listed it as the 5th largest creator of hazardous waste. Manufacturing this product alone is toxic to the environment which most likely adds to Global Warming, which ultimately leads to longer, colder, snowier winters in Boston! And all so your poor fingertips don't get too chilly on your short walk from that downtown crossing Dunkin Donuts to your office admin job a block away. Enjoy!
#6 plastic?
from their FAQ:
Why doesn't Dunkin' Donuts use recycled paper coffee cups?
Dunkin' Donuts is committed to selling fresh brewed coffee in containers that are safe for the consumer. Our foam cup is one of the strongest in the industry and it insulates better than paper cups we have tested. By using foam, we are reducing the added waste that occurs with double cupping, cup sleeves and/or extra napkins. In addition, foam cups are recyclable, paper cups are not, and we encourage you to check with your local/municipal-recycling program as to whether or not they will accept #6 plastic.
foam is recyclable where?
Not in curbside-pickup recycling in Somerville or Cambridge. Does any city or town accept it?
Perhaps the "#6 plastic" refers to their cold cups. Those generally are recyclable (though still wasteful).
So double cupping
a paper hot coffee cup is wasteful. But double cupping a plastic iced coffee cup with a styrofoam one isn't?
#6 does in fact encompass
#6 does in fact encompass styrofoam, it's just that there's no one who recycles it. Outside of sytrofoam manufacturer test plants, I don't believe any major municipality has done this. The cities say the styrofoam is just too contaminated with food.
This sounds like Dunkin' pulled this line straight from PR for Dart. They've been trying to get NYC to recycle styrofoam at a plant Dart would pay for the startup costs of. The real reason Dunkin' uses styrofoam is because it's the cheapest. Check your Costco aisle for disposal cups for a price comparison to see in real life terms.
Your diatribe against the
Your diatribe against the styrofoam cups implies that I care somehow more for the environment than I actually do. We won't be around for the long-term stuff...so why should I care?
Snort!
The other day, was walking up Highland Ave in Somerville, and saw a guy with a clear plastic cup of iced coffee (I'm assuming that he came from Three Little Figs, though could be wrong). Wanted to say something to him about drinking iced coffee in a snow storm, but then remembered how much people seem to like to give me grief over my drinking hot coffee during heatwaves. (To each his/her own!)
really, it makes sense. they
really, it makes sense. they won't get cold, well if they do, that's the way you want your iced coffee. Best time to get an ice cream cone too. None of that annoying dripping all over the place.
Why the white cups?
Why is it Dunk's policy to give out the ridiculous styrofoam cups with every ice coffee, and who decided that this is ok?
I'm pretty far from a Junior Portlandia tree hugger, but it's sad how wasteful they are as a business.
Last summer at the Dunks kiosk inside North Station I ordered the regular 1 & 1 summer combo of medium iced coffee (no foam cup) and a cup of ice water.
The employee gives me the coffee with the coozie and tried charging for tap water "because the cups cost money".
I told her to skip the ice water if she was going to charge me, and to just fill up the styrofoam cup that came with my coffee (even though I asked for them to save it).
So she throws the plastic ice water in the trash, and fills up the styrofoam cup halfway with hot water, and vibes me as if I'm the a-hole in this situation.
How many of us are old enough
to remember when McDonalds used styrofoam containers to package all their sandwiches in? IIRC, they largely stopped the practice, not because of government-instituted bans, but as the result of intense pressure from environmental groups.
Perhaps if we got some of those same groups today to put similar pressure on Dunkins, we could eliminate the current styrofoam scourge that is plaguing Boston and surrounding communities.