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At home, I stick to the old fashioned Italian coffee made in the macchinetta (I'm Italian). But when I'm at school the only coffee place is Cocobun, Tim's, Starbucks and McDonalds and to me, Starbucks bold has the most flavour compared to the others.
FWIW, I almost never buy coffee or anything else at Starbucks. It's a colossal rip off and the quality of the products aren't good. I tend to only drink tea for the most part and I buy it at specialty tea shops like Murchies or Teavana
FWIW, I almost never buy coffee or anything else at Starbucks. It's a colossal rip off and the quality of the products aren't good. I tend to only drink tea for the most part and I buy it at specialty tea shops like Murchies or Teavana
Even if they haven't warmed to Starbucks (yet), as you say this doesn't mean they don't feel the pull of more plebean delights. The last time I was in Italy it was shocking to see how the drink of choice for groups of young people out for dinner seemed to be Coca-Cola (big 750 ml or 1 L bottles right on the table).
The need to have a soft drink to accompany every meal is indeed puzzling to me (yes I agree it is very uncouth). Every time I eat outside, after ordering, I am asked the same question "drinks?" - which means what soda do you want, as if that's a necessity. Sometimes when I ask for just water to replace a soda for a menu package, they charge more.
I almost never drink any soda - this entire soda/pop culture is weird to me. I have on average 1 soda per month probably, often because there is no other choice. It is not because they are bad for health, I just hate the taste as well as the market-influenced behavior.
It goes without saying the wide popularity of coca-cola is more annoying than Starbucks. Sad thing is it is not about the taste, it is about the cool/Americanization factor, which I think is extremely lame.
I think Starbucks is obviously a symptom of Americanization, but I also think there are much more variables that fit into it than that:
1) Canadians apparently drink the most amount of coffee of any nationality per capita.
2) Canadians, like Americans, probably drink more drip/filter coffee than any other nationalities. The concept of drip/filter coffees doesn't seem to exist with anywhere near as much ubiquity in the world. Independent cafes, or espresso-based bars are less likely to have this type of coffee. This alone should tell you why coffee preferences here are pretty much tandem with the USA's.
3) Most Canadians live in large cities; Canada's population is extremely urban.
4) Canada, in general, has a small population, not only compared to its size, but in general.
So, all of those factors compounded doesn't really make this outrageous. Also, I drink more drip coffee than espresso coffee because it's half the price. I have very little reason to hang out at some bar for coffee, outside of doing homework or meeting someone, because it would cost as much as stopping somewhere for a beer. It has nothing to do with me being obsessed with the USA.
Also, I have an immense problem with people who are condescending about 'coffee culture'. It's a drink, not a culture. I have preferences for coffee, but I think people who act like Starbucks taste like tar compared to independent coffee shops (as if there's some clandestine standard that prevents these from being anything less than much more terrific) have an axe to grind.
I don't particularly care for their coffee and it is overpriced in my opinion.
As a father to two teenagers, it's the trend nowadays.
But if I want a good cup of coffee, I drink it black, I go to McDonald's or Burger King. Just for coffee. Not for the nasty, non nutritional food they serve.
It goes without saying the wide popularity of coca-cola is more annoying than Starbucks. Sad thing is it is not about the taste, it is about the cool/Americanization factor, which I think is extremely lame.
Maybe this was true at one time, but it definitely isn't reality right now. Nobody with a reasonable amount of education that I know of thinks drinking soda is 'cool', and would avoid doing so in public at the very least. It is very uncouth, even here in weirdo Sudbury. If I think of soda, I think of people hanging out around the liquor store or on the back of a bus drinking from 1L bottles and yelling about their custody problems into a cellphone.
Maybe its an older generation thing.
Younger people will drink soda if it is birch beer or something, and was produced within a 50km radius in small batches and has a design-savvy label. Otherwise, its water, a smoothie, tea, coffee, or liquor when dining out.
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