Lord help me, but our rinky-dink grocery store which is out in the middle of nowhere, just like the rest of us in this small town, just put in a Starbucks. Yes. A Starbucks. Which is quite ironic given the lay of the land around here. But hey, it’s coffee and if there’s coffee, I’m there. This oasis just opened two days ago, and I’ve been there 2, 3, 5, okay, fine, 6 times.
Now, you have to understand that previous to this, we had two Starbucks nearby – if a 30-minute drive in one direction and a 45-minute drive in the other direction can be considered “nearby.” So obtaining the desired bounty of a spontaneous craving for caffeine was just a bit time-consuming and often simply not worth it. This was a good thing. Both for my weight and my wallet. But now, now that delicious, overpriced, heaven in a cup is just 5 minutes away. AND it’s literally next door to the high school, soooo…dropping my daughter off at school and picking her up just became that much more fraught with peril.
Even more so because like a local, lower-level drug dealer trolling for victims, this Starbucks’ marketing ploy was to offer free samples…then they upped their game to coupons…you know, to get you hooked – if you weren’t already. And can I just take a moment here to ask “just what the hell does Starbucks put in their coffee anyway??” I mean, what kind of person spends $4.00 on a cup of coffee?? An aficionado addict. That’s who.
The fact that there are few carry-out coffee choices here notwithstanding, I was perfectly happy with McDonald’s coffee, if not the grumpy employees who run our McDonald’s, thank you very much. Now? Arrgghh! Now there is the very real possibility of my waistline getting fatter while my wallet gets thinner on a daily basis. But my espresso fueled productivity? Through the freaking roof.
Musings from a Tangled Mind 
Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’entrate!
I have never understood wasting good money in Starbucks when I have got a perfectly good kettle in the kitchen!
If starbucks came to The Holler, their customers would be coyotes, vultures, and hawks.
Not much profit in that. But the wild ones would eat the trash, saving those pesky styrofoam cup disposal fees.
Starbucks are few and far between here. There’s one in a nearby city (population 76,000), but I doubt that one will ever appear in my home town (Population 14,000). Besides there’s at least 10 local baristas that can make a far better cuppa than Starbucks.
I got around the cost of my daily caffeine fix by buying my own espresso machine. There’s no way I could afford one at the usual prices, but I managed to pick up one that was a shop display model for $199 instead of the normal price of $1399.
I buy my coffee beans from a roaster that sources his beans from some 50 fair trade, sustainable and organic co-operatives around the world. I generally have beans from 6 to 10 co-operatives in my pantry at any one time and enjoy trying out different blends of my own.
As well as grinding and blending my own coffee, I distil water for the espresso machine so that I don’t get all the crap that comes in the tap water. It makes a huge difference to the taste.
As you can probably tell, I’m a coffee aficionado of the first order 🙂
Well, it’s COFFEE !!!!!!!!!!! 😀
I don’t think praying will help. Not at all.
hmmm. is it even possible to have an over-caffeinated southern lady?
Fun! I like Starbucks. They seem to have that caffeine thing right. I get a buzz like no other from their coffee.
I’ve given up coffee for like the 25th time now…but whenever I fall off the wagon and indulge it’s off to a Starbucks.