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Comments
Do they still serve ...
"black" coffee?
I also used to hate it when I would bike to Winchester on my way to Lowell and stop in to the Starbuquitous in the center and they would automatically give me the stripped down crap.
No, no, no you brainwashed suburban wealth enclave baristas, I don't order a frappuchino unless I want a FRAPPUCHINO! It is a TREAT! If I don't want the calories I order COFFEE and don't add anything. Just because I'm female, wearing bike shorts, and have that 40ish mama vibe doesn't mean I want a pretentiously anemic iced milk thing with bitter tasting pseudosugar. I can whirl coffee, skim milk, and ice in my own blender at home, thank you. I come to you for whipped cream, sugar, and caffeine. Gimme!
Frappucino, not
Frappucino, not frappuchino... don't hate me because I studied Italian in college! I've never had any trouble ordering black coffee in Starbucks. If you have such difficulty, why do you spend your money there?
So "frappucino" is an actual Italian word?
If it was, I'd buy your correction.
I may improperly recall that Coffee Connection originally coined it and put the "h" in there. Starbuquitous took over CC and the name and changed the drink from a quiescently soft serve one to the current blender item. That's Frapptalian!
p.s. you missed the joke. If we can't say "skinny" can we say "black"?
If you want a cartoonish
If you want a cartoonish caffeinated beverage of blended candybars, then Dunkin' Donuts is perfect for you. I'm pretty sure it will be devoid of those pesky over-thinkers!
What's wrong with
What's wrong with Dunks?
Simple, Fast, Good, and without the pretentiousness.
They also pay their workers well inside the city at least.
Dunkin Bust
Rachael Ray is just a start ...
Their coffee has a strange phenolic taste that only gets weirder in those nasty styrafoam cups. The donuts are invariably stale since they stopped baking them in-store.
The coffee drinks are way too sweet for me, and taste kind of like plastic emulsifiers.
I'm just picky I guess.
I'd much rather go to a local place for good coffee, but the most convenient coffeeshop is being renovated. The coffee sucks at the place with the wicked good muffins and the place with the beyond stratospherically wicked good donuts, and Wild Oats is pupating while it turns into a Whole Foods. That leaves Starbucks.
At least the Medford one never gives me a skinny drink unless asked.
I agree on Rachel Ray. I'm
I agree on Rachel Ray. I'm also seeing the Hill Holiday ad's making a comeback, which I was never fond of.
I don't know why'd they be stale, they're all still baked from 9pm-5am the night before, and trucked into the store... Usually from close by. Downtown I believe is supplied from a large bakery / warehouse in southie. You can smell them at night sometimes, working away.
Never had that problem with the coffee on a regular occasion, but they do burn it now and then, and that's when you get that flavor.
Right on
RayRay aside, Dunkins is on my shit list since they stopped making doughnuts in the back. When I buy coffee from a place that sells doughnuts I get a doughnut and it better make me want to come back for more. I will eat Honeydew or bakery doughnuts now only. As for the coffee, my conclusion is that Dunkins is fine if you drink your coffee with stuff in it (which is fine too). However, if you drink it black, something ain't right at Dunkins. The graph of my putting stuff in my coffee is inverse to the one of my drinking Dunkins coffee.
Unfortunately,
the doughnuts at Dunkin' Donuts are often stale and not fresh. What a bummer.
Their coffee has a strange
It's called 'not burnt'.
Um, not burnt
I know what burnt coffee tastes like. The funny taste is more like cleaning solution not rinsed out properly with a side of styrene monomer leachate, at least by the smell of it.
I do love their iced coffee, though. Perhaps they brew it differently and put it in a plastic cup?
A regulah is good for me
I love Dunkin Donuts regular (with cream and shoog). I love Starbucks black. The best coffee with cream and sugar or black is Maine Roasters Coffee's Rocky Coast Roast. Sometimes I like a latté or cappuccino. It all depends on the mood. Same with beer. Love a Sam Adams, Harpoon IPA, Pilsner Urquel, Stella Artois, or a Bud Light. Whatever's on hand.
Dunkies
I forget exactly where I read this - otherwise I'd credit him/her - but it perfectly sums up my feelings concerning Dunkin' Donuts coffee. Hot Dog Water.
DD coffee is a pleasure if all you've ever had before is Instant Folgers or weak Chock Full O' Nuts. If you're used to grinding your own beans, or otherwise truly know good coffee, then you know that Dunkies ain't the place to get it.
Just my two cents, of course. If you like it, more power to you for being able to find your fave in so many places.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Starbucks:
The management is often surly and not very helpful.
There are often long lines, plus their merchandise isn't that wonderful.
A theory
Thinking "too much" is the only mental defense against customers who have made it part of their daily routine to take out their deep-seated anger and frustration against people they can get away with treating like crap.
The trouble is, Arborway, that
unfortunately, Customer Service here in the United States generally, has become poorer and poorer, with relatively rare exceptions. While one really can't excuse some customers treating Customer Service reps like garbage, the impatience on the part of much of the public with much of customer service is understandable, given that Customer Service, often has become much, much poorer than 25 -30-40 some odd years ago.
While customer service isn't always what it used to be...
...it's unfair to say that the general impatience of customers can be directly connected to poor service across the board.
It's rather sad to read blog after blog from people on the verge of nervous breakdowns because the line was long at 8 am in the morning, and that "they like, totally made the wrong drink when I said I wanted a grande, non-fat, double-shot, soy latte with extra foam and a 3/4 shot of caramel."
If their lives are damaged to such a degree by such simple things, then they should be thankful that they don't have any real problems, and the "disaster" they experienced is the most pressing issue in their lives.
I would argue that common courtesy has suffered more than anything in recent years, and this has had a dramatic effect on the morale of customer service reps. People are often more than simply rude, they are downright abusive, and impossible to placate to boot. They want and apparently need that level of drama in their lives to make themselves feel powerful. It's really quite disgusting.
Both Sides
The problem is a general rise in rudeness on both sides of the counter.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
"Sugar free" in paper and ballpoint also helps
My point in bringing up the article was to show how oversensitive people can get and how they take a small thing like a drink order and turn it into some kind of culture-jamming, anti-establishment, passive-aggressive screed.
If the baristas are not comfortable to call the drinks "skinny," perhaps they could suggest to their managers to offer a more accurate or fun name - in other words, instead of publishing manifestos, they could use creativity and approach Starbucks management to work around the dilemma.
Even putting up the word "sugar free" next to the drink in ball point pen would solve the problem, curtailing the histrionics - and tell those who can't have sugar (i.e. diabetics, those on restricted diets) that Starbucks has your back and your delicious sugar-free hot/cold drink.