[Mule]

The reason it's hot is because Starbucks became trendy. The reason it tastes better is because most national brands are crap. In New orleans where there are 4 or 5 local roasters, there has been good coffee for a long time & "boutique" coffee is much less of a big whoop. I worked for Community coffee out of Baton Rouge. They bought coffee "by the field" in Columbia. Think about this for a minute. These Columbians have been supporting themselves for generations by selling to big co.s. Do you think they sell the crap to the guys who provide them with a livelyhood & save the good stuff for some guy buying 3 sacks? If you like, dark (aka French aka expresso) roast, you can get as fine a coffee as exists from Community's web site. As for flavored coffees, they're like flavored cigars, more crap.