Don't Know What You Got 'till It's Gone

Famed political philosopher Joni Mitchell nailed it with that one. She was spouting green-wacko-enviro-nonsense at the time, but the sentiment has applications today.

I breathed a sigh of relief when none of my favorite Starbuckses were on the Seicento Guasti (dead 600) list. Some others were not so fortunate. The Wall Street Journal tells the sad tale of Kate Walker, a facilities manager for software company SunGard Financial Systems who recently learned of a store closing in New York City.

Now that it's going away, we're devastated.
[...]
Ms. Walker is in charge of consolidating 525 people from seven of her company's New York offices into a new building in January. The Starbucks inside that building, at Madison Avenue and 44th Street, "was something that we were using to psych people up" about the move, she said.

Her hopes were dashed last week when Starbucks released the list of the stores it plans to close. She jumped on the Internet to find a phone number for the company's main office so she can ask officials to reconsider. "Knowing Starbucks, there's probably [another] one within a few blocks," she said. "But that's probably two blocks too far."

"Paved paradise and they put up a parking lot..."

This link comes from a post by Tom Smith: Admit You Like Starbucks. Tom is a man of my own heart and bean. You try to tell these kids today, who are way too cool for Starbucks, what life was like before the white and green curse:

First, remember what coffee was like before Starbucks. Some of you (though I doubt it, with the readership of this blog) may have cut your teeth on micro-roasted craft coffee shipped straight from Kona or that African critter's butt to your grinding burr in Seattle. But most of us drank the usual American swill to be found in law firm coffee rooms and frat house kitchens. Akk. Dreadful stuff and I know because I drank enough of it. "I just made it" meant it had been sitting there getting foul for less than an hour. "It's OK" meant you could drink and not die immediately. I grew up in a house where my Mom drank 20 cups of coffee a day, not one of them not worth forgetting until, you guessed it, Starbucks came along and taught people about coffee the way everybody discovered wine in the 1970s. So yes, Starbucks is not as good as PetePeet's. Well, excuse me while I play the grand piano. No it isn't. But the point is, it's not Maxwell House.

Then there is the whole concept of espresso. It's not the same thing, but I discovered good coffee in New Orleans, I think when I went there for my brother's graduation from Tulane Law School. I was never able to recreate it precisely but I tried, scalding milk and using New Orleans style coffee with chicory. Espresso is a similar deal. You get more of the good stuff out of the bean and less of the bad. Americans discovered coffee did not have to taste like year old battery acid. They began to explore. In many instances this led to vice, such as caramel mocha fraps and chai tea in any form. But this is inevitable. There will always be those who take a good thing too far.

I have never been too proud for Starbucks. There is a Peet's in Boulder and it is wicked good. There are several indie places I love. But last week, I had the common experience of going to a new indie joint that was cute and sunny and cozy and had a really nice barista and attractive decor and was a really nice place. My Cappuccino was not dry enough to deserve the name (my wife's latte was the exact same weight). Worse still (yeah I hear your eyes rolling -- poor guy's cappuccino wasn't dry enough!!!) they had not pulled good shots and what I got was coffee flavored milk. I kind of like it the other way 'round.

Starbucks may never be the best coffee in town, but it is always way above the mean. Mmm coffee. Bye.

UPDATE: Taranto links and says "World Ends, Etc.":

Cafe closings hit minority areas
Starbucks lists 18 shops in, near city.

The humanity...

Posted by jk at July 22, 2008 11:40 AM