And I’ve gotta say, sometimes finding a Starbucks when you’ve been travelling for weeks, don’t know anyone, don’t speak the language, and are staying in crappy hostels with no air conditioning is oddly comforting. The decor is the same, the music is the same, the product’s the same. I never thought I would be so excited to be inside an American mega-chain.

Absolutely.

That said, I did learn to appreciate it a bit more when I traveled to other parts of the country to visit my family, and Starbucks was the best thing available. When I go to visit my dad, I’m at Starbucks nearly every day.

I still give the edge to Peet’s though. :)

Ask and Ye Shall Receive
Posted by zuzu @ 8:40 am

You want more Junebug pictures, Jill? Enjoy: [...]

I guess it’s like Nordstrom…the further you are from where it started, the less the original corporate culture holds sway.

I’m not entirely sure about that. I’m a barista in the Kittery, ME, Starbucks, and we’re super-clean, warm and friendly, and always willing to work with a customer as long as it takes to make them a drink that they’re going to love more than any other. Drinks too sweet? Let’s try it with less syrup – a lot of us find it too sweet, too. Too fatty/high calorie? Try it with nonfat milk and sugar free syrup – and we’ll give it to you on the house. All the Starbucks in our area are superclean and non-jerkwaddy and quality-conscious, too. Then again, there’s only, like, 4 or 5 Starbucks within 15 miles of mine – not one every 1,000 feet or so like in the bigger cities.

One thing that I heard mentioned is our low percentage rate of Fair Trade Certified coffees. One thing that a lot of people don’t know is that -all- of our coffees -could- be Fair Trade Certified, but that would require the farmers that grow our coffee for us to spend up to 3 years’ worth of their income to -get- that certification. The company has the same strict standards for sustainable planting/harvesting, equitable treatment for the farmers/employees, etc. – if a coffee farm doesn’t meet those standards, it doesn’t matter how tasty their coffee is, the company won’t purchase from them. They will, however, help get them the funding they need to -get- up to that standard. On top of that, Starbucks works with their farmers to build health clinics, schools, etc. to help build and sustain the communities in and near the farms.

We write about whatever we want to write here, Amanda. Don’t like it? Start your own blog.

um…obviously, i don’t have a problem with it – which is why i further went off topic & discussed fair trade coffee something not mentioned in the original post. maybe you didn’t sense my sarcasm?

I guess it’s like Nordstrom…the further you are from where it started, the less the original corporate culture holds sway.

I agree that Starbucks is expanding too fast. I travelled from Washington through Oregon and California recently, and the WA and OR ones are pretty respectable. Clean, comfy, consistent coffee quality, et c. Once you hit CA, it’s kind of spotty, so I shudder to think what they’re like even further from the point of origin.

Yup. Starbucks in NY are disgusting. They smell bad, they’re dirty, and I’d have to pee pretty damn bad to consent to using their bathrooms.