This is what coffee used to be:
Thanks to Starbucks, this is what coffee has become:
The Frankenstein drinks that Starbucks foists upon the masses consists of obscene amounts of sugar. In other words, they profit on the sale of sugar for sugarholic Americans. They deceive people into thinking that they are drinking “coffee.”
With most of their drinks masked by sweeteners, they have no incentive to refine their coffee product to have a robust taste that you could get in South America or Europe. The best thing that can happen for the future of coffee is if Starbucks goes out of business.
Don’t Miss: Jack Lalanne Predicting America’s Sugar Epidemic
Starbucks is just meeting the tastes and preferences of Americans. They’re not pushing these products on people, Americans are demanding it.
Both Americans and Europeans, and infact everyone on this planet are, infact, human. I am no expert on nutritional science, but I know that Humans, everywhere, are born (in a sense) addicted to, or at least with an innate crave for, sugar – Carbohydrates are how Humans got most of their nutrition in the not-so-distant past – think rice in Asia, and other grains, elsewhere.
Supporting Starbuck’s taking advantage of a natural human craving on such a huge level would be like supporting a company giving crack to children. I’m not even being hyperbolic.
As I said, it’s not as much an American fault as it is a human fault. Theres a shit ton wrong with American society, but this is more a problem with human biology.
Ridiculous. There are plenty of societies around the world where there’s little to no obesity and access to fast food is widespread.
People simply aren’t indulging on those parts but they are here. Yes there’s an addictive component to food, but taste and preferences drive market demand
Even when people do go to fastfood places regularly, they don’t grow fat half as much because the food itself is different (compare McDonald’s worldwide) and the portions are adapted to the local diet.
In the US, fast food burgers use meat that is pressure-washed off the bones after the carcase is butchered. Here in Oz, it’s illegal to sell that stuff to humans as food.
There definitely are differences by country.
Well, yeah for now. Starbucks is less than a decade old as an international company.
People are eating and drinking the shit just as much abroad as here. You have too much faith in the intelligence of Europeans. People are dumb everywhere.
Obesity is increasing abroad. It is just that they had a late start on the obesity wagon, and are thus behind us – They will catch up.
And I don’t believe european culture will stop it. American culture, before fast food spread, was a collection of those cultures, and they all combined and changed . Culture is easy as fuck to change.
Starbucks is an institution in the US, but I think I’ve only seen one here (France). It doesn’t attract masses either, it’s extremelly expensive and people who actually want coffee would go anywhere else (cafés being absolutely everywhere).
“Humans, everywhere, are born (in a sense) addicted to, or at least with an innate crave for, sugar”
Incorrect. Frequent availability of sugar in our diets is a relatively new thing for the human species. If you lived in a remote area two thousand years ago with no access to sugar, were you destined to live a life of craving and walking around like a zombie looking for sugar? Uh, no. It’s an acquired addiction.
This isn’t really an accurate contrast anyways because coffee in America wasn’t like those top pictures. It used to be crappy diner coffee you can eat all night. Starbucks showed there is a market for real coffee and everything has stepped up their coffee game. Even McDonalds coffee is pretty decent now. I agree that way too many people order the specialty drinks. They’re good but they’re basically desserts.
agreed. this is more of a fantasy post of euro love and amero hate.
i go to starbucks occasionally.
order:
large coffee, black.
it serves a need
the rest of those fat pigs eating their sugar bombs has absolutely nothing to do with a cute girl in a cafe in a 500 year old plaza in old europe. though i wish i were there, this is america baby
Yes, indeed, McDonalds coffee is good! But I can’t stand drinking it there. I take it with me outside.
Even the bags of whole and ground beans they sale is crap compared to smaller retailers like Community Coffee
Starbucks may be catering to demand, but the sugar is what makes that burned crap palatable. Your local roasters are better at making coffee. I also second Merc’s Community Coffee recommendation.
Yes, the sugar that I don’t put in my coffee is what makes me love it. Perfect logic.
I’ve had plenty of coffee from local roasters that is worse than Starbucks basic drip. You just have a romantic idea of what coffee shops should be, so you hate Starbucks and build up excuses to justify your opinion.
When you’re in line at Starbucks, are more customers ordering black coffee or sugar-bombs? Yes, some love their basic drip, but I see far more ordering glorified milkshakes.
Buy a hot-air popcorn popper and roast your own.
Is it just me or are fat east Asians extra appalling? If you are a fat east asian girl, then you have given up your race’s biggest attractive advantage over other races: your smallness.
Interesting observation. I’m also disgusted by fat Asian women. What a waste.
I find them even funnier than black or caucasian fatties. They all make me laugh!
Nope – you’re not alone. You know that feminism has made American/Canadian women feral when even Asian girls, who have genetics specifically optimized to consume more carbohydrates than other races, are getting fat. I saw an Asian chick at Toronto airport the other day who had the figure of the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man.
Catering to the customer. If you change the name to sugar shake they would still chug it down. Name it coffee just makes it more politically correct for fat pigs to chug it down each day.
I go to Starbucks a lot but never get the milk and sugar drinks, always drip or americano. The local coffee outfits are sometimes better, but not always.
I don’t think they are going away any time soon. They sell a combination of sugar, caffeine, and chocolate with a certain status appeal, that is affordable to the masses. It’s crazy nobody thought of it sooner. I think I read Starbucks is now the #3 fast food place in America.
Now that I think about it…there is no such thing as pink coffee. And thank feminism for it. Because of their higher purchasing power, large corporations are catering to their childish whims. This includes sugary mixed drinks which your average European or South American would not consider spending their money on.
Last night at a local bar, my cousin’s girl ordered a Christmas themed mixed drink that had peppermint schnapps and chocolate whip cream and tiny cookies on top. It looked like one of Starbuck’s monstrosities.
I see straight guys order this shit and I just have to shake my head.
Same with “flavored” liquors and “flavored” cigars.
I think companies are just going more for the female demographic and their spending power, and some idiot guys go along with it.
Starbucks will never go out of business, only way to rebel against them is either get a regular coffee or just not go there. Personally, I just make my own these days.
Says it all……
Tea shops and traditional tea houses have become quite popular in some North American cities. Tea’s a far healthier, tastier and multi-flavored option than coffee and it’s harder to turn it into saccharine shit.
Uhm, bubble tea?
Flavoured, sugared, “iced tea”?
I mostly agree but starbucks has one saving grace. If you are in some country that doesn’t normally have good coffee, like almost anywhere in asia, or most of the us outside of big cities, at least you can reliably get a drinkable regular coffe or americano at starbucks. Its not great but seriously better than nothing
their machiatos and espressos are good enough. you don’t have to order the dessert in a clear cup.
starbucks is also a godsend in asia where there is no coffee culture.
I am always amused to see some fat manatee order a frou frou “coffee” with 1,000 calories and then put a Splenda in it.
I never liked greasy diners. Shitty burgers, crappy pies, populated by low class truck drivers or other blue collar assholes. I was a graduate student snob who had no where to go after the library closed pre-internet. Now, one by one, those shitty diners are closing down and being replaced by hipster coffee houses, Yes! MY kind of people. I go to Starbucks, order a small (tall) black coffee and croissant, add some brown sugar, fire up the WifI, and I’m good to go for three hours. And thanks to Rooshs’ Day Bang, pulling exotic chicks too. I have no problem with Starbucks, Seattle’ Best, or Peet’s Coffee, etc, but I know a loser when I hear one pining away for the loss of those Greek diners.
Nah, that’s not what coffee used to be in america. Before starbucks coffee in the us was acidic, diarrhea inducing tar water. The so-called ‘third wave’ coffee houses–a term used to describe the influx of artisinal roasters on the coasts–really do owe their viability to starbucks. Coffee used to be viewed as purely functional substance until starbucks successfully mass marketed the concept that coffee should be appreciated on its own merits.
As it stands, starbucks’ incredible marketing sucess is in fact leading to their decline in major us cities at least, as artisinal coffee becomes more and more sought out.
“The so-called ‘third wave’ coffee houses–a term used to describe the influx of artisinal roasters on the coasts–really do owe their viability to starbucks.”
Exactly. Starbucks paved the way into the American economy for these small coffee houses to even exist. Nobody ever heard of coffee houses in the early 90s. All these fucking hipsters like the writer of this article are morons who can’t figure out how to use critical thinking to question their gut feelings. The author is an idiot.
The coffee at those old timey european cafes was actually worse than what Starbucks serves now. The beans used to get off the docks covered in thick mold. The quaint old cafes in Japan still serve lousy coffee.
That said, starbucks is pretty bad once you get used to higher quality stuff.
With all due respect, maybe you’re too young to remember Roosh, but coffee in America before 1992 was Maxwell House and Folger’s. For better or worse, Starbuck’s was the driving force behind that ending and showing that at least better coffee could make money in America. As an American, I owe them a debt of gratitude even though until the recent advent of Blonde Roast they reveled in burning their beans. Given their late entry to American chain restaurants, their milkshakes disguised as coffee are more of a symptom of feral obese American women than a cause.
I would actually argue that Starbuck’s less than optimum coffee made room for smaller coffee shops to thrive by offering a better product. Yes, it’s annoyingly hipster, but in most major US cities you can find at least one coffee place that makes it like they do in the former Yugoslavia.
As well, if you are willing to buy the right equipment and beans (both easily available and affordable online), you can make coffee like they do around the Med Sea.
Another thing, some of us like drip coffee (filtered or French Press). After 4 days in Sarajevo, despite drinking world class espressos for next to nothing, I was so desperate for drip coffee I ordered an espresso and cup of hot water and made myself an Americano. If there had been a Starbuck’s in Sarajevo, I absolutely would have broken down and bought a Tall Black Coffee.
Finally, while people love to bash American chains, there is no more wonderful sight than when you have food poisoning and a hangover in the third world than a McDonald’s that serves breakfast next to a Starbuck’s.
This post comes across as aspirational SWPL. I concur with those above who have pointed out that pre-Starbuck American coffee was filtered crap. That is still the case in many places too small to have a Starbucks. Even in many European countries the coffee that is generally available is below Starbucks quality. Of course, I prefer a place serving coffee that is better than Starbucks (and I am generally able to find such a place in large cities). But Starbucks did a good job of making drinkable coffee generally available. As far as the fatties – this is the US. They’re everywhere.
I’m young, so I don’t know what things were like before, but I will 2nd people above saying that there’s been a flowering of “artisanal coffee shops” in the US. Just last night I saw like 5 separate cafes on the same street. These places are fancy as hell, some of them have live music and serve fucking crepes, and have sofas that are comfier than the ones I have at home.
That’s why I drink my coffee Cuban style – Cortadito baby!
Well actually I lie.
The real reason: Have you seen a Cuban girl’s ass in Miami?
This article is nothing more than a rant from some sap who thinks he owns the idea of coffee. The “before Starbucks” pictures are absolutely nothing like the America I knew pre-Starbucks. I had never seen espresso, and the only coffee was “water dressed in brown,” as Ani DiFranco put it.
The post-Starbucks pictures do not compare like to like. You make it seem that Starbucks doesn’t sell espresso or lattes. Guess what? They do. If you are on the road and stop by Podunk, USA, you will not find another cup of coffee in town besides the gas station muck that’s been sitting on the burner all day, or a Starbucks.
Just order a regular drip or espresso and stop being an idiot whining about frappucinos as if that’s all Starbucks sells.
Real coffee comes as 30 ml of goodness poured by a skilled barista. (A short black, restricted pour or “ristretto”). Lesser places can still make the default one — the latte (espresso with milk).
McDonalds makes better coffee. So does the Donut place. So do most diners. And, in my view, they all make shit.
Starbucks make liquid meals with the taste of bad cola and all it coffee. Roosh is totally correct on this one — which is a bit galling to say, but he is correct.
“The post-Starbucks pictures do not compare like to like. You make it seem that Starbucks doesn’t sell espresso or lattes. Guess what? They do”
Even the basic coffee they sell taste like shit, is shit, and obviously Statbucks sent a shit-head to post something positive about a disgusting franchise.
i dont really care that much for coffee, sure i drink it occasionally at work and when im bored, try it whenever you havent drunken it for weeks, the caffeine kick is a lot stronger when you haven’t drunken it for a while, if u want a real buzz hold back on coffee for weeks, drinking it too much makes ur body become immune to the buzz not allowing your brain to send out kicks
i might add milk if i want some protein in my coffee but most of the time black coffee or just some coffee with sugar, i dont care for all these fancy dancy names
Starbucks is the free market at work. If you don’t like it, you’re free to find your hot beverages elsewhere.
This is one reason why I’m not a libertarian – people don’t know what’s good for them. The future of the free market is a tubbo masturbating with a chocolate dipped fried banana – forever.
Right on! I usually hate this blog but A stopped clock is right twice a day and this was SO on.
Advertising to idiots creates “demand” for self-destructive disgusting products that cause a national obesity epidemic. So why is the free market good?
what’s more, most of these products seem to have something Italian in them, but they don’t, in Italy no one sells that bloating shit. Normal cappuccinos have only about 5 per cent of froth on top, and they are consumed more by yuppies than the majority of people, most people consider cappuccinos a drink for pussies. Let alone a big container of 900 ml with 70 per cent froth in it. They would go ‘WTF are you giving me all this froth for, so that I can swim in it?’
Hate it when they spoon a big gob of foam on top of a “cappuchino”.
With 8000 locations around the world Starbucks cannot have good coffee. It is marginally better than Timmy’s over roasted crap. Most package coffee is not fresh when you buy it and if you use a coffee maker its taste is even more distorted. I agree with the people who say that thank god for starbucks when you are in some far corner of the world and havent had a coffee in a while. At least Starbucks is consistent and withsugar can make the stuff drinkable.
The best coffees are single origin and I am typically paying 15-25 dollars per pound from my local roaster. I am currently finishing Yemen Mocha cultivars grown on Maui. Last pound was Guatamalan and the one before was Colombian Supremo (it was). I make it with a manual Melita No 2 and an electric kettle. I manually grind. I drink it balck.
http://www.javajivecoffee.ca/ <—– the best coffee in the world.
http://www.zassenhaus.com/index.php?p=2&u=0 <— manual coffee grinders
Since I rediscovered my local roaster I do not drink any other coffee unless desperate. Starbucks is mass marketed mediocraty. Similar to what macdonalds has done to the hamburger.
Best coffees are single origin? I’m only inclined to agree if you’re drinking aero press, filter etc. As for fresh roast, the issue is it hasn’t degassed properly, coffee tastes best 14 to 21 days after roast as it mellows the acidity, and aids to the depth of body. Next time you’re at your roaster get on some yurgicheffe from Ethiopia or kalossi from Indonesia.
I take McDonald’s coffee over Starbucks, it’s fairly decent coffee. Until this month I hadn’t had a espresso as good as when I lived in Sicily.
http://www.coffeefool.com They roast it when you order it. Malawi is spectacular.
Anything labeled “hipster” or “urban” usually is just code for cock gobbler metro’s.
They don’t roast it when you order it in Sicily, unless you were there for hours. I have roasted coffee commercially. What you say is absurd.
A new Starbucks opened up in San Jose, Costa Rica. There was a line of people waiting to get in. This is so laughable. Gringos are going are going to teach Latinos about preparing and drinking coffee? Shame on the Costa Ricans for becoming so “agringado!”
That’s the depressing – Marketing winning over substance.
“That’s the depressing – Marketing winning over substance.”
They did the same for Mcdonalds too.
There is one starbux in my university town… and at least ten good places for coffee. The Bux makes money out of tourists. The locals go somewhere that there is decent coffee — which is almost anywhere in NZ.
sugar, toxic, moldy coffee are for the ignorant! research! educate!!!!!!!! starbucks, dunkun donuts, etc…. it’s a business and they’ll sell anything that the people want. step it up America! coffee is great but know your sources and quality! make sure the coffee you so desire and enjoy is nontoxic- mold free and fresh. Only than will you reap the benefits of coffee!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!11!1!!!ONE!ONE!ELEVEN!!!
In Vietnam this is popular
The best coffe I ever drank was from an ethiopian stall on a “food festival” in sweden.
I have heard that whenever they start a new outlet they source practically ALL the shop fittings from HQ. i.e if the new shop is in Serbia all the materials come from outside the country. One word: LOCUSTS.
I agree this is just a rant. Not on par with the quality I’ve come to know and respect from ROK. Instead of complaining about SBUX try owning some shares and making some money. They are up 60%+ YTD.
I never understood the american version of coffee, you take coffee then dilute it with a lot of water until it’s shite. That was some time ago (americana etc) Now you put in tons of shit in it making it sweat like fuck, if I wanted candy I’d go buy candy. They opened up a starbucks here in my town in sweden, worst shit ever. Seems people around here agree, their demographic seems to be young teens who substitute it for ice cream.
It’s all down to “robusta” beans rather than “arabica”. The robusta species is easier to grow, cheaper, but produces crap coffee. Instant coffee was invented because hey – it doesn’t make this swill any worse.
I’m happy that Starbucks canceled what was going to be their first shop in Croatia. Main problem was croatian coffee culture, which means sitting at the coffee shop and chatting instead of taking coffee-to-go and going to work/school/wherever. So our cofee stays like the one in first picture.
Um….. sorry, but coffee “used to be” lots more than dainty espressos in Europe. Geez.
serving sizes
tall, grande, big ass, big fat ass
now women can eat their buckets of icecream at work, dont hate it’s just coffee…
Starbucks shit a huge brick in Australia many years ago, and good riddance to them. However, we have our nemeses here which are an exact clone of the monolith that is known as Starbucks, anyway. Gloria Jeans, Hudson’s Coffee, and a few others. The ginormous servings of sugar laden frappe crappe are a hideous abomination on the coffee-scape of the world.
I remember as a child I hated sugary stuff but I was continuosly indoctrinated to it by parents, other kids and media. Always asked why I didn’t like it all the time. But the effects have hit me now I’m a cola addict. As a kid I had chocolates, cakes, bread, cola and candy shoved to me. For many kids that sounds like heaven but to me it wasn’t so great. It’s like alcohol, as a kid you are indoctrinated with sugar and as a teen to adult alcohol and coffee. Like enough of this shit apparently my child self was a lot smarter. I have to embrace that hate to get off my cola addiction. Reason I hated cola was because the fizz hurt my mouth got to remember that.