• Their prices are so expensive. Corporate executives do whatever they need to in order to increase profits right now, even if it destroys a customer base.

    Starbucks also often don’t have bathrooms anymore. Starbucks used to be a place you could go to, sit down, use a bathroom if you wanted, use the Internet, and then buy something reasonably priced if you felt like it, but also just be there without buying anything.

    Now they want KYC through an App before you buy a $20 Latte so you can get a QR code in the App to use a bathroom, if they have one. The enshitification is real and then they are shocked-gasp, shocked!-that fewer people are there. “Why don’t they like the QR Codes?”

  • @RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Starbucks used to be a pretty decent place. I mean, your preference for how the coffee tasted aside…they used to have newspapers, magazines, couches and other comfy furnishings, nice seating, the pastries were fresh, pretty damn good, and there was a decent variety. Decent coffee-making merch for sale, too. Their menu was coffee and espresso drinks. None of this choco-frosted-sugar-ice-bomb with coffee as an afterthought - if there’s any in the drink at all.

    Now? Cheap-ass furniture that invites you to take your coffee and gtfo. Buy a mug or insulated plastic drink glass. Pastries? Let’s pop those out of a plastic bag. Coffee? Minimal. Now it’s the aforementioned sugary drinks or other fruity drinks that have no coffee at all. There is no reason to go there unless your diabetes needs a challenge.

    Literally the only thing keeping me buying Starbucks is the loyalty app that gets me a free bag of coffee a couple times a year. Otherwise I’d go elsewhere. Once the loyalty program stops paying out, I’m gone.

      • @Croquette@sh.itjust.works
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        19 months ago

        Because in a lot of places, it tastes like rubber smells.

        I’ve come to love that type of coffee because of cheap breakfast restaurants after a night out, but I can understand why most people put sugar in their coffee.

    • @b161@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      69 months ago

      Why is it consistently burnt? It’s the worst coffee around. Is it actually the coffee that they burn or is it the milk?

      Anyway never supporting those genocidal freaks again.

      • @VantaBrandon@lemmy.world
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        49 months ago

        I’ve only had it black as I always take it, there is no coffee I’ve had that tasted more over-roasted so consistently. Its like they made a mistake the first time, and just kept going with it out of tradition. Its vile.

      • @Krazore@lemmy.world
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        79 months ago

        Because it’s a massive franchise. When you go into a Starbucks they want it to taste the same no matter where you get one. People are creatures of habit and it’s easier to get someone to get the same thing than it is to try out local shops wherever they go because it might be bad or too different from what they normally prefer. It’s one of the reasons fast food chains are / were very popular in the US. It’s not about the quality, it’s about the consistency

  • Destide
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    89 months ago

    Delonghi bean to cup machine has paid for itself £10 of beans a month I have an an aero press at work. It’s ruined the thought of paying anything more than£2 for a coffee

  • @JCreazy@midwest.social
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    79 months ago

    I just doing drink coffee so that solves that problem. The last time I went to a Starbucks was when I was on vacation in Florida in 2012

  • Mark
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    179 months ago

    My local cafes are just better, and they’re just as close as Starbucks. It’s not that they aren’t busy, their sales just aren’t growing and shareholders don’t like it when the line doesn’t go up.

  • Flying Squid
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    189 months ago

    The only time I ever go to Starbucks now is if I’m traveling and don’t want to stop and run in somewhere and it’s the only real option at the exit.

    Their coffee is god-awful and always has been.

    I will always go to local places before Starbucks. And even if I don’t want to get out of my car, local places with drive-throughs are becoming pretty common now. There’s several here. There’s a guy in a small town nearby who owns a tiny drive-up kiosk with a Starbuck’s on one side of town and another chain called Biggby’s being built on the other side of town. I talked to him about whether or not he’s worried. He’s not. He has a ton of loyal customers and offers a bunch of stuff that the others don’t, like a huge number of smoothie flavors and multiple types of cake you can get slices from. There’s even a fresh vegetable stand a friend with a farm set up next to the kiosk so you can get some fresh produce after you get coffee if you’re so inclined.

    • A Phlaming Phoenix
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      79 months ago

      If you scorch coffee beans, all the nuance of their flavor is destroyed, leaving you with beans that taste like shit. However, the beans will also all taste the same no matter where they’re sourced from. I’m convinced this is why Starbucks coffee tastes like shit. They want it to have consistent flavor no matter where in the world you’re getting it. If you cover that with enough cream and sugar and artificial flavoring, you can make it palatable again.

      • Flying Squid
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        39 months ago

        Considering, like any other major fast food corporation, they likely have a large number of food scientists on staff who could absolutely make a better-tasting cup of coffee if they were tasked to, I think you’re on to something there.

        McDonald’s is similar with pretty much all of their food. No, a Quarter Pounder doesn’t taste like a normal burger, but it essentially tastes the same in New York as it does in Vancouver or (I presume) Mexico City.

        • @CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          If McDonalds tastes the same everywhere as it does where I live how the hell are they still in business? Crap tastes like greasy (yet somehow also dry) styrofoam at this point.

          • Flying Squid
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            19 months ago

            First of all, many people just like it. Secondly, if you’re traveling, even if you don’t like it, you know you can rely on it to be what you expect.

  • Waldowal
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    129 months ago

    I haven’t gone to Starbucks for a regular coffee since they changed to only serving Pike’s Place Roast (like 10+ years ago).

    It should tell them something when you go to the grocery store, Starbucks is on sale, and they are out of Breakfast Blend, House Blend, and Veranda Blend, but they have full shelves of fucking Pike’s. There are several gas station brand coffees better than that swill.

    • @Astronauticaldb@lemmy.world
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      49 months ago

      They actually don’t just serve PPR, generally, every store will have Veranda (Light) and either Verona or Sumatra (Both dark) depending on the week you visit. Some stores even have decaf Pike now.

      • Waldowal
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        19 months ago

        At all mine, they’ll only have the other roasts you mention for a few hours in the morning. I’m usually away from home when I want my noon, 3pm, or 7pm coffee.

  • @WeebLife@lemmy.world
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    49 months ago

    1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger 1 tablespoon coco Thoroughly mix with ground coffee Brew in French press You’re welcome.

    • @Machinist@lemmy.world
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      19 months ago

      Donut shop style medium roast in a percolator, add 1 serving powdered Mexican hot chocolate to your cup. Mmm, yeah.

      • Cethin
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        19 months ago

        Percolators look cool, but they are horrible for brewing coffee. It pretty much necessitates burning your coffee, because it has to boil the already brewed coffee to send it back through for more rounds to keep brewing. That’s not ideal.

        • @Machinist@lemmy.world
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          19 months ago

          That’s what I hear, but I still like the taste of percolator coffee better than any other. May just be bad taste on my part.

  • @hark@lemmy.world
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    129 months ago

    The other day I was walking around, thinking about all the different coffee shops I could see, and wondering why people waste their money on starbucks and their burnt-ass coffee.