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Bottom line - if you wish to skip the read: Coffee Snob works both ways: making Starbucks the whipping boy is as snobby as worshiping the bag it comes in.
Bashing Starbucks is often PC for the right-wing - possibly because they see Starbucks as a left-wing enclave. Then main difference, in the store, is that Starbucks puts much more coffee in their coffee.
I'm no coffee gourmet but there is a difference in coffees. I prefer "Latin roast" to standard "American roast", the former is a darker roast. Other people don't like the acidity that increases with the darker roasting. A lot of time it's just what they're used to, or getting on the band-wagon with those around them.
They actually do Folgers where I am, now. I donated a bag of Cafe Caribe, which actually cost less, and everyone loved it. Still, it's back to Foglers because they bought a lot.
Starbucks (or any other coffee), if brewed out-of-the-store, will be better or worse more on your technique then the coffee, itself. I was quite OK with the Folgers when they finally put in enough coffee so it didn't taste watery. None-the-less, there are serious taste differences in coffee. For a Starbucks type, for example, I like the "Sumatra" type - but there are others types because other people like others better. Some I don't like at all.
As I said - I am no coffee - and am glad of it, so I can be content with anything that's strong enough (and not made from rancid beans). If the coffee's a bit unsavory - there are extremes in all things, I can drop some Star Anise into the pot and it will soon be rich and mellow. The Star Anise is reusable, too, for quite a few pots of coffee (works better after the first).
So - really - my coffee taste is rich and mellow. I don't need to put a brand name on that to love it or hate it. That would be a real waste.
Ravings en masse^ |
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"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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As a Melbournean it's my destiny, or possibly doom, to be a coffee snob.
I'm also not right-wing. I'm common-sense-wing.
Coffee goes wrong (in my view) two ways
1. They burn or otherwise do horrible things to the beans.
2. They burn or otherwise do horrible things to the milk.
Grinding the beans incorrectly, not cleaning the espresso machine, scorching the beans, pulling too long, not having enough pressure will make the shot 'orrible. Then the bizarre need in North America to steam the milk to around the melting point of tin. Have they not heard of protein denaturing[^]?? Crikey.
Starbucks nails it on both counts: they love their beans black as the Ace of Spades[^] and their milk ready and able to inflict 3rd degree burns.
Tone it down a bit on both fronts and they have a chance.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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You do know their are non-Espresso options both in and out of StarBucks?
And I never met a latte . . . that I liked.
Protein denaturing . . . unless you always eat your eggs raw, that shouldn't bother you.
That, however, all distances itself from coffee - which, if basically just flavored milk is just that - flavored milk. REAL PROGRAMMERS DON'T DRINK LATTE ! Actually, the only practical use for any steamed milk beverage is to spill on someone else's keyboard.
My favorite coffee cooker is vacuum drip - followed by mud (very finely ground coffee just dumped in the mug, then add boiling water). Only myself to blame for good or bad -
Ravings en masse^ |
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"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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LMAO!
Have you tried drinking coffee in Japan? I have never had a good brew other than from out of a tin (yes there are hot coffee vending machines in Japan). Brewed coffee is very expensive and tastes like a squeezed sweat laden t-shirt!
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Yes to having a preference of Coffee type, does that make me a Snob? I drink Tea at work now as the coffee is not complimentary, but Hot Water is! If it is free then really there should be no complaints!! i generally like a dark roast coffee and the smokeyness makes them all much of a muchness!!!
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I go to the shop and ask for my usual, "a black coffee please."
Can't be bothered figuring out what stupid name each different shop uses,
and putting other stuff in a perfectly good drink is stupid, would you add milk to your beer?
starbucks: is not coffee, even the airlines do better.
And those new machines that need special "pods" - boy did those companies see how easy it is to get [more] money from the stupid.
Sin tack
the any key okay
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Lopatir wrote: "a black coffee please."
Same here. I drink it like my Dad...no muss, no fuss, just straight black coffee. I'm not picky, but will splurge every now and then on Kona.
I avoid Starbucks as I always seem to get behind someone who has to use no less than a half-dozen words to order...tall non-fat latte with extra whip/no drizzle and a shot of hazelnut.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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I haven't had a coffee in over a decade. Sometimes I suspect that I'm the only developer on the planet who doesn't like the stuff.
Slogans aren't solutions.
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Just because I drink it doesn't mean I like it, free caffeine!
Hogan
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Coffee is just a carrier for sugar.
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A good brew that is not burnt needs no sugar...
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You seem to have missed the point. It's not about the coffee; it's all about the sugar.
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no, not missed ... sugar can help towards softening the burnt beans...
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Well, in my mind, coffee is the devil's brew that should not be allowed in Mordor. If I want caffiene, give my a good English Breakfast tea that has gotten 'stoopid' by sitting over night, then microwaved before I would willingly drink (shudder!) coffee
An elephant: A mouse built to government specifications. - Lazarus Long
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Starbucks is swill.
Software Zen: delete this;
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I was once on an airport in 'Murica (Houston) and found my first Starbucks ever.
That was a few years ago when there weren't a lot of Starbucks in the Netherlands yet (I actually still wouldn't know where to find one, but I know we have them).
I don't drink coffee, but we sat down and I ordered something with apple juice.
I burnt my tongue so friggin hard that I'll never go to Starbucks again, ever. It wasn't even a particularly good beverage
It's not their fault that I burnt my tongue, but I did, and someone's going to pay for it (besides me)
Anyway, to answer your question, I only drink coffee that does not taste like coffee. Usually something with hot chocolate.
Does that make me a coffee snob?
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Nope, that makes you smart!
Hogan
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snorkie wrote: My coworkers were complaining because we ran out of Starbucks
...and you're asking if we're coffee snobs.
Doesn't that mean the conversation should be about, you know, coffee? I've given up trying to classify that burned brown stuff they offload.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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I don't care, I drink whatever is available (and free). If they start charging for it, I'll go back to water!
Hogan
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I drink black coffee, and I can tell you there are differences between coffee brands.
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I agree there are differences. But I find the differences about the same as those between Coke and Pepsi. Basically the same thing.
Hogan
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snorkie wrote: Coke and Pepsi. Basically the same thing Burn the heretic! BURN HIM!
Software Zen: delete this;
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I am from Austria and every time when we are in the States we got coffee issues. On our project sites we try to get the strongest roast possible, and it still is just like tea, tasting too bitter overall. But not much flavor.
One day a colleague from Switzerland took his Espresso cooker with him, and along some real coffee. First problem was, with 110V AC it took ages to get it hot, but then this was really nice! However, our American co-workers nearly got a stroke from this strength
BR Florian
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Oh, I am so much of a snob, it's painful. I buy online only because nothing in the stores is worth a crap. I have several different coffee making utensils, like a ceramic filter holder that sits on top of the cup, a water heater with 1-degree accuracy so I can heat the water to the perfect temperature, an espresso press that I use at work, and a Japanese hand-powered bean grinder, because there's so much darn Zen in grinding your own beans by hand.
I prefer the Italian roast to all others, although a really good but not burnt French roast can be a pleasure as well. I've tried the flavored varieties, but I always come back to un-flavored.
As far as beans go, the Arabica is the one I most commonly drink, only because it is the most common bean to be found in these here parts, y'all. The Kona bean is interesting, but I'm not keen on the flavors. The Kenya AA is a darn good bean as well, but my favorite (currently) is the Jamaican Blue Mountain bean.
When I make my single cups of coffee by pouring 209-degree (F) water over Jamaican Blue beans ground moments before and letting the water drip for several minutes through an oil-absorbing filter to remove the majority of any bitterness, my wife calls me a snob. I love it.
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in a way, yes. the coffee has to taste good without any additives. for me if you need extras to dull the bitterness or change the flavor, then I don't want anything to do with it.
a good cup of drip or percolated mild black coffee I would gladly pay for, but a cup of Starbucks even for free I would have to be pretty desperate to contemplate.
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