Have a favorite place to get coffee or cappucino?

semiferal

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Starbucks is my favorite treat. It definitely counts as "retail therapy" for me. I guess the good thing is that it costs less than I would spend if I went to the mall, and I'm not cluttering up my apartment with more useless junk.
 

semiferal

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Originally Posted by Loveysmummy

Totally agree here..Also, they have some less than stellar and highly unscrupulous business practices when it comes to outing small independent run coffee houses
...To me, they are like the Walmart of coffee places
I have to disagree strongly with comparing Starbucks to Wal-Mart. Unlike Wal-Mart, Starbucks pays its employees well and gives them good benefits. Starbucks pays its growers about twice what other coffee companies (read: those that supply Folgers and Maxwell House and probably your neighborhood coffee shop too) pay them - and this is for the coffee that is *not* labeled "fair-trade". It's even better for the fair trade labeled coffee, and Starbucks is the largest seller of fair trade coffee in the world.

And unlike Wal-Mart, Starbucks does not have prices that are so low that other businesses cannot compete. Starbucks' prices are comparable to other coffee houses, sometimes even a little more expensive.

I am opposed to the policies that Wal-Mart uses to make its fortune. But Starbucks makes its "bucks" simply by selling a higher quality product than its competition. Starbucks does nothing to make the playing field uneven for its competitors. It simply out-competes them. There's nothing wrong with that, any more than there's something wrong with beating someone at any other fair competition.

I buy Starbucks because to me, their coffee tastes better. If local coffee shops made coffee drinks that tasted as good to me as Starbucks, then I would get coffee from them more often. But if I am going to pay $5 for a latte, then I am going to get the best tasting latte I can get for my money.

I've done a fair amount of research and the only thing Starbucks has done "wrong" is be successful. They have competed fairly, sometimes more than fairly (e.g. I can't imagine that my local coffee house offers health benefits to its part-time workers, as Starbucks does), and won. I don't have a problem with that at all.
 

pat

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Starbucks remains my favorite. I always spend all my mypoints on getting a prepaid Starbucks card
 

zak&rocky

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I can't believe only one person mentioned dunkin donuts. My husband's new joke is that he has a problem with his car. It keeps swerving into dunkin donut's parking lot! We have tons of dunkin donuts. In Worcester Mass there are also a lot of honey dew donut shops. We have one tim hortons which I think is good, and a bit cheaper than D & D. I don't like star bucks , plus they are expensive. I got some kind of coffee freeze there once, and did I end up with the jitters!
 

AbbysMom

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Originally Posted by zak&rocky

I can't believe only one person mentioned dunkin donuts. My husband's new joke is that he has a problem with his car. It keeps swerving into dunkin donut's parking lot! We have tons of dunkin donuts.
I don't think Dunkin Donuts shops are as concentrated outside of New England as they are in New England. I can tell you where every Dunkin is within a 30 mile radius, and that includes the ones inside WalMart and Stop and Shop.
 

snosrap5

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Originally Posted by yasmine

I like Starbucks but i go there to "treat" myself, its not a usual stop. The gas station down from my house makes the best vanilla caramel cappucinos- yum and its only .99!!!!!!!!!
That's me!!!
 

vespacat

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Here in Canada we have a coffee chain similar to Starbucks called Second Cup. I prefer their coffee over Starbucks in a heartbeat.
 

missy&spikesmom

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I love Starbucks, Caribou, DUNKIN' DONUTS!!! (WOW--I went in there originally to get just a donut--and got a cup of coffee to go along with it! NOW, I often just go there to get ONLY a cup of coffee.....wellllllll.....Sometimes, only a cup of coffee!!!
)
I buy Starbucks and make it at home too.
 

eupnea

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I'm a big fan of the cheapo coffee machine in the student lounge.

French Vanilla cappuccinos.
I doubt there is any real milk or anything in it, but it still tastes good and keeps me warm!
 

fwan

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The first time i tried Star bucks was in Austria, if i do go there its usually a Caramel Frappucino.

But starbucks isnt my favourite.
I love gotchis i think thats how you spell it, its lovelyyyy
 

lisalee

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Dunkin Donuts all the way for me!
There's nothing like Dunkin Donuts coffee, I also love there marshmellow latte's too.
When I go to Starbucks I usually prefer there vanilla lattes over coffee.
 

chester&piper

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Another Timmy's fan here! I used to have a coffee from there every morning, but I've stopped to save $$. I do have one once in a while though. I also love their french vanilla cappuccino and their iced cappuccino in the summer time.
 

jdpesz

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I very seldom drink coffee from the espresso shops. I buy Seattle Mountain whole bean from Costco and brew my own at home. And they give us free Millstone at work, so I don't have to spend much outside the home on coffee. Of course I normally only drink three cups a day, so I don't cost the boss much either.
 

MoochNNoodles

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If I get a coffee out, I get it at Wawa. I usually only drink coffee at work and we just make it there. But occasionally I want a cappuccino. They have an excellent English toffee cappuccino.
 

mom of 10 cats

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I second the recommendation for the Wawa English Toffee Cappucino, they are awesome! I miss Wawa!



Starbucks bottled Frappuchino's, wherever they're on sale at the moment!


I don't like the store-made fraps as much. And I don't like Starbucks' brewed coffees, they're too strong.
 
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