Does anyone know how many 'good, locally owned coffee shops' there were in Tucson before Starbucks?

Tom

Holy f**king christ...Chevron coffee? Starbucks may not be all that but I'll drive a couple miles out of my way to find one over Chevron/Shell/AM-PM/MCDs/7-11/bagel shop any day. Actually I prefer water over the crap served in those places. I am fully convinced the only reason the Krispy Creme donut place went under was because they served **** coffee. Donuts get boring but coffee rules.

If only Peets would open a store in North County San Diego...

I have a Starbucks barista espresso machine at home. I grind Peets Major Dickensons blend from the local grocery and make cafe Americano's (espresso + hot water). Double shot of espresso, 10 oz. hot water, dash of whole milk. Repeat. Yum.

You want bad coffee - visit a government software contractor facility some time..."Chock Full of Nuts" at 1/4 strength...

American's drink too much coffee based caffeine. The Government needs to intervene and help create a better balance. I would argue that the Secret Gov't (Zioninsts and the Trilateral Commission specifically) is behind the sudden and mysterious Starbucks closings.

I like black tea; it should remain unregulated.

I've drunk unregulated black tea since early childhood. Black tea contains more caffeine than coffee beans, but less of it leaches into brewed tea than leaches from coffe beans into brewed coffee.

How do I know this? I am very, very smart.

It's the tannic acid in tea that should concern you. NEVER use a tea bag twice! EVER! Why, you ask? Because you will have to steep the old bag much longer than you steeped her for the first cup and the ratio of tannic acid to the other stuff in the tea is MUCH higher than in the first cup.

Why is this bad? I don't know. I'm not THAT smart.

I generally avoid caffeine. If I crave a cold soft drink I drink diet, no cafeine Coca Cola which contains no sugar, no cafeine and no coca. It is not a healthy drink.

Why do I crave it? I don't know. It makes no sense to me at all.

Isn't he the guy that regularly plays racquetball during lunch with fella at the Iran desk?

Elitist. :p

The guy at the Tea desk agrees; however, the guy at the Coffee desk has more clout.

Already been done.

I did say it was symbolic for many of the things wrong with the country today. ;)

symbolism is a liberal concept.

Expanded too quick and, if our local joint is any clue, into poor locations.

Another term for this is 'greed'.

Execs didn't do their homework on locations and just wanted a bonus for getting more stores opened (and the likely buy in fee that franchisees probably had to pay).

GWB hates symbolism.SmileWavy

Am I the only person that hasn't tried Starbucks? I enjoy good coffee, but when I drive by the local Starbucks and see a line of cars for $5 coffee, I just see a bunch of morons. I'll make mine at home, thanks. I have better stuff to blow money on.

Starbucks coffee tastes like it's over-roasted, IMO. I only go there once in a blue moon.

These are the same idiots that will sit and b!tch about the price of gas, while drinking a $5.00 coffee and a $2.00 bottle of tap water.
I agree with Sniper. It exemplifies all that is wrong with this country. I dont blame Starbutts though. People have become so concerned about image, outdoing one another and trying to impress everyone else. " Hey look at me, I drink expensive coffee , I'm better than you". "I'm high class, I get my coffee served by a barrista, not some lowly clerk."
And its not just Starbucks. Many aspects of everyday life have become like this.

The darned place is frequented by too many college graduates and evolution believers. Baaaaad place.

It is. Their signature "taste" comes from roasting the beans to a point where the oils start to separate and go bad, then they grind it ultra fine, and use twice the grounds per pot than anyone else. This gives a burnt, oily, strong, and highly caffeinated drink. The numbers are staggering, their coffee is so caffeinated that it's damned near dangerous. Of course, now we have things like Red Bull, which IS dangerous, yet people will drink SEVERAL of them a day...


We're on the edge of what will prove to me a medical meltdown in America...people are freaking poisoning themselves with caffeine these days, and it's gonna do something REALLY bad to us REALLY soon.

Neato seeing this mention of Wegman's. Its a Rochester based company, my home town. Didnt know they had one in Virginia.

While i typically dispise companies that run local independent shops out of business, I dont feel the same way about Starbucks. Despite there being many around here, the independent coffee-shops that serve a good product and have a good environement, seem to survive just fine....the fact that they now have to share customers with Starbucks is well... too bad. thats life in the modern age and competition is healthy.

Also, I have seen whole blocks transformed from zero foot traffic to practically booming city streets because of Starbucks. I lived in a small Long Island town a few years back and when Starbucks was going to open a store on the Main Street, most of the people got pissed. Well, once they came, everyone seemed to love it, the line would be out the door, and people would get their coffee and walk around the village sidewalks in and out of shops etc....and you could see the immediate impact it had on the ecomony.

Im also grateful to Starbucks for always offering free usage of their restroom while i lived in NYC. One of the very few places you could count on to relieve yourself so you dont have to risk getting a ticket for public urination, or worse :cool::cool:

Didn't a recent poll determine McDonald's coffee was found to be the overall favorite?

Senior price is $.86.

KT

People who haven't bought coffee at a gas station over the past 5 years or so are unaware that most full service stations now brew several versions of high end coffees...not just the 13 hour old sludge that they were famous for. McDonalds is the same, they have significantly increased the quality of their coffee. Starbucks, if nothing else, brought a new level of knowledge about coffee to people, and now they expect decent coffee wherever they go. Sam Adams did the same thing with beer 15 years ago.