First McDonald’s and now Starbucks. Cool. Screw em.
Now do Chipotle next!
But only when they don’t have Carne Asada
I stopped eating at Chipotle many years ago when my local Chipotle caused dozens of food poisoning cases. Luckily there are lots of mom-and-pop burrito joints where I live, and their food is almost always better and cheaper than Chipotle.
Damnit, they’re Union Busters? Fuck man, there goes my adult sugar drinks D=
On the other hand you can now support local businesses instead of Starbucks!
Workers are trying hard to unionize
Cool, union busting is unfortunately one of my own battle lines, so hopefully this means I wont have to avoid Starbucks for long! (Because yeah, I guess I am avoiding them now)
Starbucks gives me apple fanboy vibe…
I have learnt coffee oxidizes quite fast giving that horrible burnt taste, which even milk won’t hide. The longer it has been in a open-to-air-pot, the worse the taste gets. Storing in an air-tight container (thermos) it stays “ok” for days. So actually, I think all such servings from the coffee shops are thus inherently worse than brewing your own coffee.
(There are no starbucks in my country, but I think McDonald’s coffee really is somehow heated past 100*C and it’s the first sip away to burn your mouth, so you wouldn’t taste it anyway.)
It is technically possible to heat water beyond 100° and I wouldn’t put it past McDonald’s to do it for no reason at all. I’m not a big coffee fan, so I don’t drink a lot of it but from what I’ve heard McDonald’s coffee is actually okay.
If anyone remembers the McDo hot coffee lawsuit, 85°C is enough to cause serious burns and permenant damage (McDo was found to be at fault)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald's_Restaurants
Watching them trying to bust unionization efforts in their shops just totally turned me off the brand. I haven’t been into one of their shops or bought any of their products at retail since.
At this point I’ve found better local places but mostly I just got used to making my own iced coffee and it would be silly to bother going back.
Yep, this too. They used to feel cool despite being a large corporation. Now they feel like a corporate cesspool with Apps and anti-unions and $10 sandwiches smaller than the size of a drink coaster. It’s not fun anymore, and it’s not fun to just be there, especially with people running in and out with the App to just grab things.
But look in the positive side, although they probably lost or will lose 30% of their customer base, at least they can increase profits by 1 percent by having more back-end tracking data to sell from some remaining customers willing to download a shitty ad-infected closed source App!
The real surprise is how burnt coffee every became popular in the first place
Why is it consistently burnt? It’s the worst coffee around. Is it actually the coffee that they burn or is it the milk?
Anyway never supporting those genocidal freaks again.
I’ve only had it black as I always take it, there is no coffee I’ve had that tasted more over-roasted so consistently. Its like they made a mistake the first time, and just kept going with it out of tradition. Its vile.
Because it’s a massive franchise. When you go into a Starbucks they want it to taste the same no matter where you get one. People are creatures of habit and it’s easier to get someone to get the same thing than it is to try out local shops wherever they go because it might be bad or too different from what they normally prefer. It’s one of the reasons fast food chains are / were very popular in the US. It’s not about the quality, it’s about the consistency
Wait, isn’t espresso supposed to taste like a tire fire?
Ton of sugar. It disgust me but apparently pepole dont like unsweteened cofee .
Omg, the consequences of all the giant corporations inflating prices for the last 4 years
Honestly, it wasn’t the $7 coffee that turned me away from starbucks. It was the $7 coffee that taste like toilet water, when there are no shortage of local, cheaper coffee shops with amazing brews made by people who actually want to be there, who also won’t be fired for unionizing.
Why would you go to Starbucks if another local coffee shop was nearby? Their coffee is fine, but it loses taste tests to McDonald’s. They’re anti union. They’re too expensive. You can usually get a better coffee elsewhere.
That’s crazy. Someone told me McDonald’s coffee is pretty good for the lower price range. I tried it a few times since you never know if it was just a bad batch, and I gotta say it was pretty awful, not for me. I just avoid starbucks because they think they can charge you the most ridiculous price I’ve seen for ok coffee. I have a few local places I will go to if I need something. Sadly, they are pretty expensive as well these days, but they are still cheaper than starbucks.
I like MacDonalds coffee, but it is acidic, which I equate to the ‘breakfast blend’ Latin American type coffee that I assume it is. I can absolutely see that as tasting awful to some palates.
Also has been some years since I had the hot coffee. I did have their ice coffee a few years ago, and it was solidly okay for 1 CAD.
I wonder if the people who claim that only order the sugary stuff. I tried McDonald’s a couple of times recently after reading online that they got the Tim Hortons OG coffee provider and it was awful. I’m not a fan of Starbucks but at least they serve consistently good coffee (not great). I only get it if I’m on company expenses
The best mass market coffee I’ve had is, no joke, Sheetz. If their fancy machines are to be believed, they’re grinding the beans fresh every time and doing some kind of pressurized brewing method. For each cup. And if you buy something else it’s usually free.
Wawa has great coffee, too. I don’t think it’s anything to do with the coffee itself or the brewing process - it’s because they sell a shit ton of it so you never get stale coffee that’s been sitting in an urn all day.
It’s almost Pumpkin Spice coffee season! I look forward to seeing the pumpkin on the wawa door. Then I buy like 10 bags!
I like their Christmas blend the best. I always buy a bunch of bags thinking it will last me until summer, and then it’s gone by the end of January.
Funny how everyone’s tastes are different. There is a Sheetz with a gas station on the way back from where I go skiing a lot and I often stop for gas and coffee. I keep hoping the coffee won’t be garbage, but it always is.
I don’t even like Starbucks but there are plenty of blends they have that I would pick over sheetz any day.
Yes but Sheetz has that dumb creamer machine that jizzes French Vanilla into your coffee.
I personally do not like any sugar in my coffee unless at a Viennese coffee house. I have a lot of amazing coffee roasters in the area.
I still find McDonald’s coffee to be good for the price. Well, as long as there is a bit of creamer in it. I don’t ever eat at McDonald’s, I only go there for coffee if I need something quick and cheap that is better than gas station / 7-Eleven / Starbucks coffee.
I don’t use creamer/milk in any actual good coffee. I prefer my coffee black to actually taste it, and normally it’s already sweet without anything added. And don’t like drip coffee usually.
I mean it’s a low bar. Starbucks coffee is fucking terrible.
It’s no contest for my taste buds. Black coffee from McDonald’s tastes like carbon, whereas coffee from Starbucks actually has a coffee flavor.
I love the Starbucks sugar and fat loaded frappucinos.
Fortunately, there’s a unionized Starbucks near me! A little out of the way but I make the trip. I feel ok supporting that branch and only that branch.
The reason is the app. If you’re in a hurry, being able to walk in and have your coffee ready is huge. I love to support the local coffee shops and I do on weekends, but it can be risky in the middle of the week if you’ve got to get to work and the local place has a long line or someone ahead of you orders a fancy drink and all you want to do is grab a cup of coffee, pay, and leave.
My local cafes are just better, and they’re just as close as Starbucks. It’s not that they aren’t busy, their sales just aren’t growing and shareholders don’t like it when the line doesn’t go up.
The longtime running critique of Starbucks was that they were already an expensive luxury. Why push it and try to raise prices even further? That takes some serious delusion.
The funny thing is that Starbucks isn’t even “luxury”, their product is mediocre at best and mostly mocked by coffee enthusiasts
It’s affordable status.
I doubt say, a Gucci handbag is of significantly greater quality than a handbag one might buy from target, but the former has that sweet, sweet logo.
Also, see Payless sold discount shoes at luxury prices — and it worked
No one thinks anyone has status because they drink Starbucks though
It’s not what other people think. It’s what the Starbucks customer perceives what other people think.
On the rare occasion that I buy retail coffee, it’s usually from the Race Trac gas station which has machines that grind the coffee beans and brew it fresh by the cup - nothing to erect a historical statue over, but a solid coffee for a low price.
When Starbucks loving coworkers see me walk in with my ghetto gas station coffee cup, they’ll generally mock me for it.
So I suppose you and I each have our own anecdotal data samples, and they apparently vary from each other quite a bit.
The sugar filled drinks are an insult to coffee.
Isn’t this because they were supporting Israel?
As much as I wish it was, it’s more likely people are cutting back spending across junk food, see McDs having the same problem.
I think it’s just a combination at this stage. Something for everyone to hate about them.
They’re anti-union. They’re meme levels of expensive in an era of strapped cash. People are conscious of “local” business over something they know is a chain. Brand reputationn for low quality for the price has set in. And lastly people are aware of their stagnation. There’s nothing “revolutionary” going on in the coffee industry to draw customers who have been turned off back to them. Even McShungles can draw people back to them with a special sale on something. Starbucks never does that I’m aware of (and if they do they’re doing a shit job of advertising as evidenced by my lack of knowledge)
Maybe it’s because their coffee is garbage, their prices are high, and many people have less disposable income than they used to.
Whee hee! Look! Another signpost for a recession. McDs also are taking a hit bc of pricing and such
Here in the NW, in their own home territory, they’re few and and far between these days. There is way too much good coffee around for them to support being on every street corner like they used to be.
There is way too much good coffee around for them to support being on every street corner like they used to be.
Frankly, I don’t know what they were thinking, the barrier to entry to get a good coffee shop going is a lot lower than say a restaurant or fast food joint. They don’t need kitchens or seating areas or food stuff or even a big enough lot for a parking lot and I’d bet the margins for coffee are a lot bigger. It was never going to be very long before competitors were everywhere lol
1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger 1 tablespoon coco Thoroughly mix with ground coffee Brew in French press You’re welcome.
Donut shop style medium roast in a percolator, add 1 serving powdered Mexican hot chocolate to your cup. Mmm, yeah.
Percolators look cool, but they are horrible for brewing coffee. It pretty much necessitates burning your coffee, because it has to boil the already brewed coffee to send it back through for more rounds to keep brewing. That’s not ideal.
Cardamom coffee is where it’s at!
We raised or prices and consumers stopped buying! What is the invisible hand of the market doing? We were promised everlasting growth!
Raised our prices while not just union busting, but outright trying to make them illegal.
Good! I boycott Starbucks because of their underhanded business practices.
Same here! Too much union busting for me to feel comfortable buying things there. I’m sure they’ve done other stuff, but that alone was enough for me.
