"Sticking it" at Starbucks

I've wondered this for a while, whenever I'm at the Starbucks sweetener/cream/napkin counter: how do you choose a stirstick? You know, the slim pieces of unknown-variety wood all stacked together, end-up, in a metal container? Do you rifle through them? Choose one that's already "standing" up? Pick an outside edge hoping no one else has touched there?

And if you fumble and touch two or three, do you leave them there with your fingerprints on them?

I'm more inclined to take the one reaching for me, that's been lifted out of place by the disturbance of its fellow sticks.

You?

Pick a stick

As I stood at Starbucks the other day, I contemplated the stirrer holder before I picked one out to mix my cream and sweetener into my coffee.

(Aside: At home I mix from the bottom up like my dad taught me: cream and sugar in first, then coffee. It gives it a much better flavor. Or maybe I'm just used to it.)

Still, looking at the stirrer collection, I wondered how other customers picked one out. Granted, you'll use the end that's still in the container, but do you touch them all before making your choice?

I tend to pick one that's by itself, or slightly disturbed, sticking up a bit.

Just wondering.

A neat coffee trick

So I'm at the salon awaiting my mani-pedi (trying gel-based polish on the fingernails, supposed to last 3 weeks, will let you know) and there's coffee brewed. It is thin enough to read the paper through. Yuck! I'm about to pass it by when a woman walks up, apprises the situation, and teaches me a new trick.

She took the basket of wet grounds, scooped two fresh tablespoons of coffee into it, and poured the thin coffee through into her cup. And just like that, strong coffee. See one, do one, teach one. I followed suit. Had never thought of doing that before.

So, if you make weak coffee and I'm at your house, you'd better hide the fresh grounds.

And this, a column about one of my favorite things--coffee--is my 500th! Hard to believe, but then since I started in Aug 2006, that's a more than reasonable number. I need to write more.

Everyone's a clown

I love Starbucks. I make no secret of it. So there we are in the San Diego Airport Southwest Airlines division and I'm at the Starbucks. Two talls with room is the order. The guy at the urn tells the one at the cash register: No charge for the room.

Now, that's clever. Hard not to smile and so I don't even try.

Let's hear it for levity in the most out of the way places. Thank you, Starbucks, San Diego Airport, Southwest division.

McDonalds, Starbucks and me, Part Two

I won't make you scan to the end of this post in order to learn the bottom line: Starbucks has nothing to fear in losing me as a customer, but, on the other hand, if McDonalds is my closest option for coffee, I won't pout about going.

After lunch today I was in the neighborhood of a large, very busy, McDonalds. The drive-through line being daunting (they had a clerk standing on the sidewalk taking orders so either the may-I-help-you box was broken, or this is more efficient), I parked and went into a virtually empty store. It was 12: 20. I ordered a small coffee, which for some reason was 89 cents instead of the advertised 99, was offered cream or sugar (took the cream, supplied my own artificial), paid, and waited. The manager (assistant or shift leader, perhaps?) poured my coffee from a carafe 1/3 full. He looked at it, looked at me, dumped it and the rest of the pot, and poured me a cup from a carafe nearly full and in the to-go window.

I was impressed. I swear I wasn't wearing my "I Love Starbucks" tee shirt. (Do they even have those? More importantly, can I get one?) But back to the day's adventure.

I doctored it to specs and was pleasantly surprised (as I had been previously) to find it quite good. Leaving it in the car while I stopped at a grocery didn't turn it bitter.

Now at this point, I had already considered making my usual stop at Starbucks for an iced coffee. Instead, I poured this over leftover ice and drove on.

Was it as satisfying as Starbucks? No. My customer loyalty is firm.

But that new McD's chicken wrap did look interesting...

Starbucks, McDonald's and me

When Consumer Reports stated that McDonald's coffee was actually better than Starbucks, I was, well, verklempt. I'm passionate about my coffee, and in an atypical stance, I'm brand loyal. And that brand is Starbucks.

I wasn't always a coffee aficionado. I shied away from coffee until I was 25. Truth to tell, I don't know how I stayed awake in all those 8 o'clock morning college classes. Oh--now I remember--fear of failure. That aside, I didn't start my affair with coffee until my husband's grandmother laced a strong cup with sugar and cream and sent us on our way when we moved from Texas to Georgia. Coffee (and talking to the truckers on the CB--"you got your Lone Star, here, come back!") kept me awake as I drove one vehicle and husband the other. I fiddled with coffee for the next several years, knowing for sure I was enceinte when I couldn't stand the stuff, dying for a cup the morning after delivery. (I had a similar experience with bacon.)

Over the years, I developed a real love of coffee, the strong stuff, and when Starbucks first offered its Encore program of mail-order goodies, I signed on for 3 pounds every other month. There wasn't a Starbucks within 60 miles of me at the time, but as the brand has spread like a weed and came within 25 miles, the program was discontinued. I think it's back in full swing, but I manage to buy and have ground to my specs, what I need now.

Being picky about one's coffee means taking it with you to morning meetings, emptying the pot into a (Starbucks) to-go mug and sipping what you like while everyone else has the house's. I don't do this everywhere I go; I know who serves the good mugs.

So having Consumer Reports say McDonald's is better was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. We have a local McDonald's. If it was really better, than it would be really better here, too.

I timed my trip to coincide with my after-lunch cup. This is when I usually visit a Starbucks, so I thought that a fair comparison. My caffeine level would be the same for either. McDonald's does not have Sweet'n'low sweetener, so I provided my own. I usually treat myself to a dollop of half and half, too, but I knew I'd have to forego that. I didn't go through the drive through, but walked in.

Small town McDonald's, after lunch, place just recovering from the girl's basketball team who were all munching on fries and burgers, drive through line long. I'd been wise to come in. Ordered my coffee. Cheaper than Starbucks. I like a bargain. And then she poured me the absolute bottom of the decanter. Shook out the drops.

This was not a good sign. Starbucks would have asked me to wait and they'd make more.

I took my cup, doctored it, and tried. I'll give them this: even for the bottom of the pot, it was far superior to what they used to serve.

But it wasn't my usual experience. To be fair, I pass the arches every week on my sojourn into the city. I'll stop and try another cup. I've already stocked my purse with Sweet'n'low.

But if I were McDonald's, I wouldn't be holding my breath to have me as a new customer.