Time Magazine Starbucks rant

[mbg963]

Re: Time Magazine Starbucks rant

Can any coffee be THAT bad? Im dying to find out (no pun intended).

--Robusto

Load up on Big Macs and fries then.. thatll get you there quick.

(Disclaimer to Macas lawyers - I didnt write the above :-X

[JavaB]

Re: Time Magazine Starbucks rant

Confession time... :

Yes, I have had McCafe a couple of times.... both capps...

Once it was, well coffee coloured milk with a sudsy froth and lots of chocolate....

About the only thing which was reasonable was the temperature... no repeat performances there :P

The other time was in Perth City, It looked like a cappuccino... and surprisingly tasted like a coffee from a middle range cafe here in Perth.... thats really faint praise as their coffees arent that good either but their gear is much better, and so should be their training...

From a super auto- almost certainly standard with little or no optimising adjustment - I thought it was pretty passable...... The only reason I went there was for a "social" coffee with some friends..... I could probably go back - but only if I had to!!! :-/

[robusto]

Re: Time Magazine Starbucks rant

I switched on the radio at 5.00 AM once and the announcer came on, started his breakfast shift with a breathless rant about how the night before hed seen the worst film in history.

A film so bad he walked out on it. That it was singularly unfunny. Etc etc.

Well, that was a gauntlet for me. Could any film be THAT bad?

So that night I had to see for myself "Theres Something about Mary".

Im still in stitches laughing. That scene, eh.

So, all these less-than-rave reviews about McDonalds et al....Im gonna have to bite the bullet and try for myself. Ill wear a disguise, naturally, because I always said I wont be seen dead in there.

Can any coffee be THAT bad? Im dying to find out (no pun intended).

--Robusto

[Dimal]

Re: Time Magazine Starbucks rant

Ive tried a couple of different Maccas McCafe Bar coffees and to be truthful, I wondered if they had actually put any coffee into the PF before hitting the Brew Switch .... The resulting brews were so weak I could barely taste any coffee at all.

Needless to say, after that I havent really been very enthusiastic about giving them another try. One of the Maccas in question was our local franchise and the other a few hundred Kms away in Coffs Harbour.... might have caught them both on a bad day :-? but thats it for me,

Mal.

[marcstolk]

Re: Time Magazine Starbucks rant

I have some FT ORG Ethiopian Harar which is just a stunning bean...But I do see your point though 2MCM

[TC]

Re: Time Magazine Starbucks rant

Yeppers- companies like them and charbux are the reason fairtrade came to be in the first place- which is probably why fairtrade in most cases has little if anything to do with quality :

2mcm

[marcstolk]

Re: Time Magazine Starbucks rant

More recently (last year I think), they dumped Mocopan and aligned with Nestle which they apparently buy at $7 per kilo roasted and delivered .

This is where the coffee farmer gets ripped off and cant make a profit! Disgusting isnt it?

[marcstolk]

Re: Time Magazine Starbucks rant

McDonalds Coffee is disgusting!

Wushoes, what did it taste like you ask? Id rather leave that horrible experience in the past and move on ;-) Seriously though, its very bland! Dont know how people drink the stuff.

Milky StarBucks Coffee - yep, fallen victim to this also... from the Coffee Cart at Westmead Childrens Hospital (Where my young Son was at the time). Be warned! Stay WELL away. Its foul!

These experiences really help you appreciate what you can do at home with the fresh stuff and decent skills.

Marc

[TC]

Re: Time Magazine Starbucks rant

The cafe part used to use semi-auto machines but now even they seem to be using some form of super-auto. The regular maccas have always used super-autos behind the counter though which dont even have a steam want. They put the milk in first than the shot in those machines as well (or maybe jsut later in the process but definately not first).

Yeah- bizarre....

In the beginning, when they were with Mocopan, they sent perhaps 6 sites worth of Melbourne McCafe staff through the academy and they all did Advanced espresso with me. They used real machines at their sites and there were quite a few staff who did really well. Perhaps they all got jobs that pay a fair wage and left? I guess most of their staff would be considered transient.

Mocopan actually did some work on their blend and for what it was, it was actually not too bad...

More recently (last year I think), they dumped Mocopan and aligned with Nestle which they apparently buy at $7 per kilo roasted and delivered . Not surprising that they have dumped their machines for superautos. With the rubbish beans that they are using, it wouldnt make much difference anyway.

Makes me think I must manufacture a superauto chip cooker, hamburger maker and checkout bimbo/himbo! Retirement here I come! ;D

[robusto]

Re: Time Magazine Starbucks rant

Good rant, Meanbean. Hopefully it was a cathartic experience which has lightened your emotional baggage! Coffeesnobs can be therapeutic.

--Robusto

[Wushoes]

Re: Time Magazine Starbucks rant

Well some places leave chocolate on the bar so u can have the option of dusting it yourself or having an italian style no choc business

[rgow6208]

Re: Time Magazine Starbucks rant

It also depends on the individual Maccas store. The one close to us does a decent drinkable coffee -- to a certain standard. And I guess that this is the point with such places: if you dont expect a boutique coffee house professional barista-made coffee, then you wont be disappointed. The important thing here seems to be expectations and whether they consistently produce the coffee to whatever the standard you expect from that type of establishment.
At my Maccas, I expect a lower standard than from the cafes I frequent, but I expect a higher standard of broth than the burnt-mud-scolded-milk-muck one gets all too often from no-name takeaway shops (and most cheap restaurants). What I like is that it is consistantly to that middle standard. While it is never fantabulous (as if!), it is never crap, either. It took me a while to work out that Maccas served two very similar, but crucially different ways of making coffee. The Pronto coffee that is more common is fully automatic including the milk frothing. The McCafe coffee is the same as the pronto, but a person hand-froths the milk, and this is where the quality can vary by individual store. My store has obviously trained its staff how to do this properly, but the next nearest store is not nearly so reliable.

I can understand how starbucks is popular in the US -- and even I am drawn by the name and the look of the stores and all the paraphernalia on sale -- but the coffee... yikes!!  :P
Gloria Jeans has a better look in its decor, but again... why pay so much for consistently burnt, weak, scalding hot blagh that youve got to dump 15 sugars into to make drinkable!?
And (why not do the full rant, Ive already gone this far!) it peeves me the way they demand your first name, make you order at one end of the counter (heaven forbid you try to order at the wrong end of the counter!) and then leave it on that little platform at the other end -- for you to finish off!! The first time I ordered a cappucino and it was dumped there without the chocolate powder -- I had to do it myself -- I felt decidedly put out. A very novel idea for promoting what was then a new franchise: offer the customer lower standards -- that should pull them in by droves! Strangely... it did. For some reason we like to go to Gloria Jeans, we like to be seen in Gloria Jeans 8-). We just dont like the coffee!  :-?

Well, thats it for now. All ranted out.  

[COFFEECHASER]

Re: Time Magazine Starbucks rant

The cafe part used to use semi-auto machines but now even they seem to be using some form of super-auto. The regular maccas have always used super-autos behind the counter though which dont even have a steam want. They put the milk in first than the shot in those machines as well (or maybe jsut later in the process but definately not first).

[Thundergod]

Re: Time Magazine Starbucks rant

When will someone invent a superauto that cleans its own steam wand?

[nunu]

Re: Time Magazine Starbucks rant

Last I remembered, Maccas uses superautos.