sunday scriblings #70 - Phenomenon

Well I feel that Starbucks is one of the craziest phenomena ever. They are kind of like McDonald's in that no matter where you go it tastes the same. The difference is that Starbucks actually purposefully burns it's coffee beans slightly because that is something than can do exactly the same each time. The difference in the size, weather variations, where the beans are grown, climate, hell basically anything can be covered up by doing this. I guarantee you can't even make instant coffee ten times and have it taste as similar as Starbucks coffee would taste at ten locations if you ordered the same thing. Like Wal-mart they are driving the little coffee shops out of business.

Here in Winston-Salem where I live (which is about the 5th largest city in NC, but that is not saying a whole lot compared to states that actually have big cities), we have three Wal-marts and more than six Starbucks and they just keep coming. Starbucks already had the coffee shops inside of Barnes and Nobles book stores and now their brand has also taken over Borders book stores with "Seattle's Best," which is owned by Starbucks and even has the SB initials. Even the idea of someplace that wants you to order the most complicated drink like a "half decaf white mocha latte with an extra shot of espresso and a dash of whole milk with whip cream on top" instead of just coffee makes me laugh.

Don't get me wrong. I love their coffee but I prefer to support the local business whenever possible. I just spend a lot of time in Borders playing chess. It's also quirky to me how people are complaining about gas prices when oil is actually expensive and coffee costs nothing, yet a gallon of gas is (here) $2.73 to $2.87 for regular and a gallon of coffee would be out of this world. What I order in a large (which is not really that big) is a little over $5. That is just too much to pay for coffee. I found it was cheaper to go buy an espresso maker and make my own, which taste very close to what I was buying, and I only have to buy milk (which also costs more than gas per gallon). On that tangent just like to point out that all of Europe has been paying higher costs for gas at our highest place in the nation for the last ten years and they don't bitch about it, they just find alternate ways to get around and don't buy idiotic vehicles like hummers. Enough!