Dunkin donuts offers more coffee cheaper.

Starbucks taste like shit IMO. I've always felt the Vanilla Lattes had this vomit-like aftertaste to them.

Starbucks is a symbol of the wonders of capitalism. It's a cultural artifact, truly, and I know we all recognize this on some level.

Still I don't see Starbucks going out of business. There may be less people able to afford, but there is still an working people who can dig it.

C'mon, apart from having Wi-Fi networks in its stores, what does Starbucks have to do with Silicon Valley?

It's a coffee shop chain headquartered in Seattle, for christsake.

starbucks will probably be bought by Pepsi just like Microsoft will buy Yahoo!

$4+ for coffee is Ridiculous - I don't care if it's this so-called premium, latte/espresso bs

no coffee should cost that much/cup.

Starbucks is a prime example of selling the 'sizzle', not the steak - fuckers

@BartKela: Yep.

@lawrence: No, that's simply not true. When it launched it was far above other coffee outlets in quality. I lived in an Italian neighborhood and there was only one cafe out of maybe a dozen that had coffee as good. What's happened is:
A) existing coffee places caught up or exceeded Starbucks quality
B) Starbucks cut quality of service and product to cut costs and slid from being a premium brand to a better-than-average one
and
C) inevitable backlash for ubiquity and laurel-resting, of which they are indeed guilty.

The coffee doesn't cost $4 a cup; the low-fat double sugar-free vanilla soy pretension with whipped cream does. I wouldn't put that stuff in my mouth; it is just an example of the lowering of standards I was talking about.

But yes @BartKela: Isn't this simply an old-person's issue? Don't all the yoof drink that fancy RedBull (at three bucks a microcan)?

Try their hot chocolate. It's truly craptastic. Who the hell uses DARK CHOCOLATE to make hot choccy? BTW at the corner of Robson and Thurlow Sts in Downtown Vancouver, BC, there are two Starbucks facing each other. Really a bit stupid. Every time I read one of those University of Starbucks comlibtard sayings on the back of their cups, I want to vom. I remember they put a call out for such sayings awhile back. I sent in the following:

"Magnificent! Compared to war all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance. God help me, I do love it so!"
- General George Patton

I haven't seen it on a cup yet though.

@Rachel Marsden: Depends on your definition of stupid. From the very first year the second one opened they've each made more than three million dollars per year.

@raincoaster: Not stupid from a capitalistic standpoint, certainly. Perhaps I should have specified that the stupidity is in reference to the Vangroovyites who buy their glorified moose piss at five bucks a pop.

7-Eleven has the best hot choccy. However, when you're paying only 1.50 for a bucket of hot choccy, you have to settle for it being made by a machine and not a "barristard". Plus, you don't get the University of Starbucks leftist indoctrination quotes on the cups. Conclusion: When you frequent Starbucks, you're getting the coffee for about a buck, and the comlibtardic bonus on the cup for about 4 dollars.

Since about 4 years ago, their coffee tastes like its been burned. Not sure if it's intentional by the SB baristas. The coffee has an overcooked bitter flavor. Won't touch the stuff anymore. Surprisingly, McDonald's coffee is better these days and that's what I get when I'm the road.

@Bricked: "Since about 4 years ago, their coffee tastes like its been burned"

Next time that happens, lick your arm. Do you taste like you're being burned, too?

@Rachel Marsden: The coffee is about a buck-sixty. What happened in your past, did Howard Schultz turn you down or something?

@raincoaster: Why must I have some sort of underhanded motivation to post such things? Do I go around asking the men on this board if their smartass remarks stem from the fact that they didn't get laid last night? No, I don't. But I suspect that I would have grounds to, on this site.

@raincoaster: I read somewhere that in the Victorian era England one could tour the insane asylums. Before the tour one could rent a stick to poke the committed.

Would you kindly put your stick away? Thanks.

In my village I have only Starbucks to choose: self-standing Starbucks, Starbucks in Pavillions and Starbucks in Barnes&Noble.

@Spy from the Land of Rainpeople: Who are you to have the luxury of being able to tell a man to put his "stick" away?

@Rachel Marsden: I'm just a nobody coming from nowhere. I do like to participate in somewhat gentle ribbing on a public forum. But I'm against brutaly poking other people wounds to elicit the reaction.

Lets keep this place civilized and funny in a non-mean way. My appologies to anyone offended.

@Rachel Marsden: For somebody who doesn't shop there, you've got a lot of typing invested in a Starbucks comment thread. A lot more than me, who worked there seven years. Were you brutally traumatized in a cocoa attack at Thurlow & Robson or something?

@Spy from the Land of Rainpeople: Oh, we certainly disagree about poking people, but you're so much nicer than I am that I can't hold it against you.

@Rachel Marsden: I'm not a man, but I don't hesitate to tell them to put their sticks away if I'm not up for a game. Why would anyone?