Why Starbucks is on Top, Again...

Today I ordered a tall half-caf from Starbucks for $1.91. It is the second of the three Starbucks I pass on my walk across 42nd Street to Madison Avenue. Across Madison Avenue there is another location. I drank my coffee with a splash of half and half, no sugar.

The girl in line behind me was about five foot tall. Wearing no makeup and using a cane at the very young age of about 35 I'd say, she ordered her tall iced chai tea latte with a little spunk. And this was not really a spunky girl, but more of a frumpy girl. However I think stepping up to that barista wearing the green apron, cinnamon wafting into her nostrils and saying "tall iced chai tea latte" truly empowered her. I think it may be the boldest thing she might do all day. She just looked like that sort of person; quiet, shy, a "behind the scenes" job.

Anyway, I'm back at Starbucks after Joe's and Rize (who serve Stumptown coffee) and even Screme Gelato Bar. Screme actually opened about a year ago as D'Espresso coffee bar, but after they installed a gelato cooler right in their front window business started booming and now gelato is priority--- and they also serve coffee. Funny how those decisions are made overnight it seems.

Their gelato does well in this office.... Our Managing Director seems to sneek out at least once a day for a scoop. Yes, sometimes more than once a day. But you didn't hear that from me. He's the only one with a key to the side entrance right next to his office and it's quite hilarious to see him step off the elevator and slide through that door after getting his sugar fix, instead of walking through reception and displaying his gelato to all the worker bees sitting in their cubicles on his way to his office.

I like the entrepreneurial spirit, the blue collar worker (although I'm not really sure how that relates here, but I DO!), the independents. I like the small business owner. I despise Wal-Mart and don't eat at chain restaurants when I can help it. However, Starbucks has it figured out. They have those red cups during the holidays with tiny white snowflakes, the have seasonal beverages like Eggnog, Pumpkin and Toasted Coconut.

Personally, the sugary (some of those drink have 55 grams of sugar-- in one drink!!) specialty drinks don't call to me like they used to. I want my coffee to taste like coffee, dark and smokey and bold. When I do order a skinny cinnamon dulce latte- I inevitably regret it; the $4.50 that it cost, the sweetness, the way it doesn't taste like coffee. I want to eat my dessert.

Last week the girl in front of me ordered a grande white chocolate mocha. Her total was $5.17. I peeked around to see if she ordered a bagel or something, maybe a bottle of that expensive Ethos water. Nothing. Just one cup of sugary energy. I'll admit to you here what I thought:

Gee, that set her back $5.17! And about 500 calories. I looked up the nutritional information when I got to work that morning. It was actually 470 calories. I'm that person.

Rize (roasting Stumptown coffee) is the best coffee. For coffee flavor, boldness, overall taste, hands down- they are the best. The thing is a small there costs $2.00 and it is a true 6oz. coffee. You walk out carrying one of those Dixie cups your grandmother kept in the bathroom to rinse her mouth out after taking out her dentures. Cost aside the biggest issues for me is:

They DON'T SERVE DECAF. I'm so affected by caffeine and sometimes it's not pretty. I need a half-caf!

No hard feelings to Rize Coffee. I understand that MOST people drink coffee for the buzz, not the flavor, but the last cup I had from there left me doing circles around the reception area like a puppy who needed to be taken outside.

Joe's is good, and so is D'Espresso, I mean Screme, but I just have something for that siren. (And at Joe's you can't really do a half-caf unless your willing to mix two different blends, and I've done it. It tastes gross. And again... I can't do leaded coffee, so unless you have a really good decaf (which most places don't) I'm hard to satisfy. Oddly enough...

Starbucks pumps in that fresh baked Snickerdoodles fragrance. They have that lighting you'd love to have in your own living-room but would never really consider buying; it's too trendy, too much of a risk. They have squishy chairs to sit in and free wi-fi and more than anything it is familiar. You know what you're getting, no surprises.

I don't need to drink my coffee from a ceramic mug. I just need a little jolt; half of what the normal person needs evidently. I'm high strung even at 7:30 in the morning!