That's a TERRIBLE thing to say. Some of us go to the trouble of having DD beans shipped to us every month. Basic DD drip is much better than its bitter Sbux counterpart.

600 SBs closing is a good start. A brand that once stood for warmth and gracious ambiance now looks pretentious and ridiculous and out of tune with these parlous times. SB coffee is about as "special" or "premium" as McDonald's french fries, you feel like an idiot spending five or six times what the product is really worth, and their sweet milky premium drinks are dietetic atrocities.

Here in Seattle (where we are sadly DD-less ) there was a time when legions of obedient Starbucks zombies -- the same kinds of people who cursed McDonald's for covering the planet with cheap, uniform, mediocre junk food -- were thrilled that Starbucks was covering the planet with cheap, uniform, mediocre, burned-tasting coffee. Nowadays you will find very few Seattleites who admit to being outright Starbucks fans. They're an urban convenience like public toilets, but the brand is basically over.

DD is crap. They are so inconsistent in their products from one store to the other. They are all owned by individual franchisees who must decide on their own how to brew the coffee, how much extras to put into specialty drinks, etc.

I am a Starbucks drinker. Granted their coffee is not to everyone's taste, but it is more consistent than not from one Starbucks to another. When I go into Starbucks, I pretty much know what to expect.

When I go into a DD, I have no idea what I'm going to get.

BTW, I agree with Bamavol, I am not at all impressed with Ritazza.

And I have no problem supporting local, mom-and-pop stores of any kind. But they open and close too frequently.

I only buy one drink from DD and that's iced coffee. Since much of the flavor comes from the cream and splenda, I control that. So far, I haven't had a problem with product varying from store to store. I do find that home-brewed DD coffee is always weaker than what I buy already brewed.

It's not just Ritazza. I'm not impressed with a single cup of coffee I've found in the UK. I'm sure that includes a dozen places or more - from trolleys on trains to motorway rest areas to chain and one-off coffee shops and the bilgewater they serve in the plants I visit is beneath contempt.

I'd love a Mom 'n Pop. We've had a couple here but they haven't worked out. There was a small chain in Tracy CA when I lived there (The Roasted Bean perhaps?) that we frequented and loved. Maybe after I retire, I'll give it a go.

No it's not.

Me too: awfulness in a cup.

I do. Good coffee.

When's the next meeting of the Debating Society?

Variety is the spice of life, blah blah.

I am not particularly fond of either. The DD packaged coffee is vile. The Harbux is drinkable, but doesn't make my special places tingle with delight.

I think this should now morph into a coke v pepsi thread

I'm thinking we could take this any number of places, but this ain't OMNI.

Well back to the topic, my nearest Westfield megamall has a Starbucks tenant and i'm pretty sure all of the shopping mall SBs will be closed in less than 24hrs here.

Leaving just a few high street shops (if they can afford the rent) for US visitors. Mrs B has a few students now out of a job - with no notice from SBs...

I've been a convert of many years now of microroasters like Blue Bottle Coffee (my favorite, www.bluebottlecoffee.net), Barefoot Coffee, and Ritual Coffee. Luckily they are based in the SF Bay Area and I can get freshly roasted beans (which is very important) anytime I want.

Starbucks served a purpose a decade ago, by making us a take a (giant) step forward from Folgers/Maxwell House. Starbucks needs to reinvent themselves if they want to succeed these days, IMO.

Dunkin Donuts coffee isn't crap, but I don't see why there are diehard acolytes of this coffee and are willing to get the beans shipped.

It always amazes me how many Starbucks are open for business in Hawaii and how crowded they are since we have such great local coffee?!

"There must be twenty to fifty coffee shops within a four minute walk of my office and I would not miss Starbucks if/when the remainder are shut.

FTers who are addicted to SB, you still should get a fix for the moment... but you really should try some of the world's best, from Aussie shops!"

Why should you care if there are 1000 Starbucks within 50 feet of your office. Really, why would you give two sh**s?

Aussie coffee? I was in Australia. Coffee for the vast majority of people comes as crystals in a can and you add hot water to that. The only other place I could find espresso was at McDonald's and it was not very tasty. Lack of decent coffee was one of my biggest gripes with the place.

Most of the people who ..... about Starbucks don't have a clue about coffee. They whine about how their coffee costs $4. Guess what. A regular drip at Starbucks generally costs less than Dunkin' Donuts. Nobody really thinks about things that way. Want the best coffee? You'd be having something made with espresso anyways.

I live in a Mecca of coffee and while I enjoy the indie coffee shops, generally every size of Americano comes with two shots of espresso. They don't keep a static ratio of coffee/water. Starbucks certainly does.

In the end, most of the Starbucks haters are the same kind of people who would look down on those who are more educated than they are. Why would anyone have such hatred and ignorance to a company that they don't even visit is beyond me. I get the feeling that it is more subliminal social leveling against those who have more sophisticated tastes and probably higher incomes than they do. Just my impression.

The Starbucks at the end of my street (a block away) is closing.

I think they are to blame for their own failure. You can never find a parking spot - its a stand alone building shared with a WaMu and there are only 14 spots shared between both businesses - by the time the employees take up 4 or 5 of those and the regulars from the med school and the mommies in the neighborhood each park for 2 to 3 hours at a time, there is no where for the rest of us to park. I'll go up there if I'm home and want a cup - but if I'm on the road and going somewhere, I hit the drive-thru a few blocks in the other direction.

For all the news of the 600 stores closing in the US, however, I haven't seen much mention of how many NEW stores they are opening. I've run across four under construction just in DFW in the last month - and I've seen others in my US travels. We are thrilled to be getting one near our office as our local (and much better) Kona Coffee closes at 2 pm which isn't good for afternoon caffeine fixes!

Sorry, but I'm with tonypct here. DD is the only coffee I've bought within the past couple of years that caused me to do a spit take on the first sip. I kept thinking back to my younger days drinking Folgers....

As for Starbucks, they're far from my favorite -- those spots belong to Intelligentsia for espresso (Black Cat Blend), or Greenwell Farms Private Reserve 100% Kona for drip. But for all the Starbucks bashers out there, consider a few things:

* Before Starbucks opened up the market for more drinkable coffee in the US, most folks were drinking complete swill. In response to Starbucks' success, new places have opened up (think back -- there were NOT loads of great local coffee places or smaller chains back in the 80s). Even previously existing chains (think McD's) have had to upgrade their offerings in an attempt to keep pace. Erase the history of Starbucks and you'll be re-introduced to 80s-vintage coffee at McD's. No thanks.

* While the espresso drinks on Starbucks' menu contain way too much milk for my tastes, you can get better-proportioned drinks upon request. Try ordering a short latte. Still not my favorite by any stretch, but certainly drinkable, and way better than I've found at any other large chain.

* Now here's the kicker -- want to know why the drinks have kept growing to the point where a Venti is a gallon of milk with "essence of espresso"? Because you -- the American public -- told them that's what you want. Back in the day, their primary drinks were straight espresso, and cappuccinos and lattes made with the right amount of milk. Then they discovered that those drinks don't sell nearly as well as the "super sized" ones. Blame that one on America's tastes, not Starbucks.

No, I don't like Starbucks nearly as much as I did when I first went to one in the mid-80s. Still, the people who constantly criticize them seem to be forgetting where we'd be without them, and why they've evolved as they have....

"I think they are to blame for their own failure."

Actually, their real problem is that they aren't a diversified business and they are disproportionately hit by the downturn in the economy. Of course, stores with no parking don't help that situation.

The first time I heard that people were "addicted" to DD coffee, I nearly died laughing. Now, I just don't die.

Same thing with KK.

JP

I'm standing on my balcony and can see 12 shops which serve espresso. I suspect that the main problem you had finding decent coffee in australia was that you only looked in Mcdonalds, starbucks (which according to the MD closed 3/4 of their stores because the couldn't compete with the existing coffee culture) and, well, I guess shoe stores or something. The rest of your rant would have a lot more impact and it didn't contain such blatant falsehoods. If you want to say you didn't like the coffee here fine, people have different tastes, but to say you couldn't find espresso outside mcdonalds and starbucks is beyond absurd.