Starbucks

Brewing battle for Cleveland Circle as Starbucks gets ready to open up shop

adamg — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:48:04 +0000

The Boston Licensing Board today approved a license for a Starbucks at 1944 Beacon St., across the street from a Dunkin' Donuts.

The coffee is always blacker on the other side of the fence

adamg — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 13:41:25 +0000

Rhea Becker reports she was feeling kind of bad when a woman who turned out to be a Dutch tourist asked her if she knew of any nearby coffeehouses and all she could think of was a Starbucks:

I told [her] that I don't like to recommend chains. In fact, when I visited Amsterdam a few years ago, I loved the multitude of little cafes all over the city, all independently owned. She countered with, "But you don't know what you're getting in each of those cafes. The coffee could be bad. With Starbucks, you know what you're getting."

Rich Uncle Pennybags visits Fenway Starbucks today

adamg — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 23:09:04 +0000

The Phoenix reports a 40-something guy walked into the Starbucks on Brookline Avenue this afternoon, shouted "I'M RICH! I'M RICH!" and then flung fistfuls of dollar bills into the air before walking out.

Who says we're not world class? Boston area could get 24-hour Starbucks

adamg — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:20:39 +0000

Starbucks is seeking Cambridge's permission to keep its planned new Harvard Square outlet open around the clock, Stephanie reports.

Why not just open a new Starbucks in the restroom of one of the current Starbucks?

adamg — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 11:41:34 +0000

The Crimson reports Starbucks has filed paperwork to build a new outlet in the old Alpha-Omega jewelery store in Harvard Square, roughly 500 feet from two existing Starbucks.

Eerily prescient Onion story from 1998.

Starbucks to catch up with Oak Square Dunkin' Donuts

adamg — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:51:03 +0000

Tim O'Reilly tweets that as of July 1, Starbucks will eliminate fees for using wireless in its stores.

The chain coffee center of Massachusetts

adamg — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:25:38 +0000

View Larger Map

For some reason, the Globe today posted a map showing every single Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks in this great state of ours. Not surprisingly, greater Boston is just one giant blotch of red (the color they used to show Dunk's outlets). But that got me to thinking (often not a good thing). Where, exactly, is the galactic center of this vast coffee way?

Theoretically, should be easy enough to calculate: Just grab all the coordinates of all those pushpins, average them out, and voila.

Starbucks might want to consider reducing the caffeine in its coffee at Logan Airport

adamg — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:10:25 +0000

Makes some people a bit too jittery.

Patrick not a Dunkin' kinda guy

adamg — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:47:42 +0000

Megan Johnson provides the proof.

Teamsters vs. Starbucks supplier

adamg — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:27:01 +0000

Our roving reporter notes a Teamster picket outside the Starbucks at 755 Boylston St. this morning. He says the issue is not the taste of the coffee but "SB's supplier DPI has fired employees for trying to organize a union. DPI supplies SB with everything except the coffee beans."

The bejeweled man in the Benz outside the Starbucks at Charles and Beacon

adamg — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:20:10 +0000

Megan Johnson reports that whenever she goes there, there is always this older guy at the corner, sitting in a Mercedes convertible just reading. Hermoves takes his picture.

Straw-crushing Starbucks lids

adamg — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:05:15 +0000

Tammy loathes the lids Starbucks now slaps on its cold coffee drinks, because they wind up crushing the straws you put through them:

... I hate it. Especially since I get a Caramel Macchiato… and one of my favorite things about this drink, is that the caramel settles at the bottom of the cup and then gets sucked up through the straw. However, when the straw collapes like this, the caramel gets stuck on the other side of the crease! ...

With shocking photos of a straw being crushed.

It's a wonder nobody died of carbon-monoxide poisoning at one downtown Starbucks today

adamg — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:04:52 +0000

Because I refuse to get a CrackBerry, I didn't get the last minute e-mail that the guy I was supposed to meet at the Starbucks at School and Province streets this afternoon got pulled into a sudden meeting. So instead I spent 20 minutes inhaling pure diesel fumes and carbon monoxide. Inside the Starbucks.

An NStar crew was doing some work down a manhole right in front of the place. They had their truck running the whole time. The truck was in bad need of a tuneup, or something, because it emitted a constant fog of smoke and fumes - except for when it would belch every so often and put out even more smoke and fumes. The exhaust pipe was pointed right at the front entrance of the Starbucks, maybe four feet away. Whenever somebody walked into the Starbucks, you could see the smoke come in with them. After awhile, I neared my limit and went outside for some fresh air. Still not knowing the guy wasn't showing up, I went in the back entrance for one last look. It was like walking into the Back Bay Station waiting area right after a commuter train has pulled in. Gag.

I pity the poor workers, and wonder where I can get my lungs washed out.

The streptomycin shot is extra

adamg — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:12:42 +0000

Alicia goes down to the Quincy Market Starbucks with a gift card, buys one of its new fruity Vivanno drinks, reports:

... The smoothie had a unique taste to it; it definitely didn't taste like oranges, mangoes and/or bananas, but it was sweet and I became slightly nostalgic drinking it. About halfway through the drink, I realized what it tasted exactly like: amoxicillin! Amoxicillin is the pink bubblegum flavored medicine I used to take for ear infections, and it was delicious (for a medicine.) I'm not sure if drinking Vivannos will cure a bacterial infection, but they sure taste like they will.

How Starbucks is meeting the Dunkin' Donuts challenge head on

adamg — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:28:48 +0000

By developing a line of tasteless breakfast sandwiches that drip grease on your shirt - but still with that classic Starbucks faux-European name - Brian Kane reports:

... Even though their turbo oven is supposed to make things nice and toasty, this sucker was like half-cooked pie dough when I got it — not firm enough to retain its shape when picked up, so that it sort of drooped on my fingers like Silly Putty, but just firm enough to start to crumble when I tried to fold it up a bit. It was also almost completely devoid of any discernible flavor. ...