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What is something that you completely can not understand why it exists?
From time to to time I notice something and I am like wow there is a market for this.
One big one for me has always been Starbucks. I can not imagine paying their prices for coffee. And I generally want a coffee within the first 15 minutes of waking up so the idea of putting on clothing and going to a coffee store everyday seems both a huge waste of time and money.
So for the most part I can’t understand the volume of business at coffee stores.
on going out for coffee generally - coffee varies between roasters and shops. I enjoy the variety, and DIY can be some effort (e.g. timing cold brew so it's not under or over-extracted). Cafe drinks don't cost that much more than doing it at home, and it forces me to go outside and go for a 5-10m walk, when I might otherwise spend the entire day indoors.
on Starbucks specifically - known quantity, not terrible coffee. Their staff around here get paid decent wages and all speak English as a first language. (unlike Tim Hortons, our budget chain, where 95%+ of their staff are temporary foreign workers on slave wages). I don't go to Starbucks often, but definitely pick up the free birthday drink, and occasionally use it for reliable app pickup because it has locations everywhere.
I make brewed coffee at home, but I can't make a cappuccino at home without buying a bunch of special equipment I don't have room for in my kitchen and only would want to use a few times a year, but it's nice to get one before Christmas shopping or when you're on another fun outing.
My dad loves their drip coffee and it seems as cheap as any other restaurant's version.
With the increasing dominance of expresso-based coffee (paradoxically partly driven by Starbucks), Starbucks is actually one of the best places to get decent drip coffee. At least in London, any of the other major chains will just serve you an Americano without warning you, and the good independents will check you are okay with Americano before serving it.
Paris used to have a culture of decent drip coffee, but I'm not sure if they still do. The last few times I was there I was with kids in a way not conducive to serious coffee exploration.
I've never understood the appeal of espresso over drip coffee, unless all you want is an instant caffeine hit. The whole process is just over so quickly. With a nice big cup of drip coffee, I can have a pleasant chat or get in a solid reading session, I can nurse it through all my morning emails. I can choose to take it to go or spend an hour leisurely drinking multiple cups. It helps keep me warm for an extended period of time on a cold day. An espresso is like 3 sips and you're done.
I mean, I totally get that it's gone quickly, but I personally love a good espresso and I'll tell you why. The idea of espresso is to extract everything that's great about the taste of coffee into that demitasse cup and to leave everything nasty and bitter in the puck of coffee grounds that the water is forced through. A good shot of espresso will light up your senses the moment it hits your palate in a concentrated flavor burst, and can be a whole new level of amazing, especially when getting one from places that know their craft--every single sip will bring that powerful, concentrated flavor. And yeah, the caffeine does in fact hit more quickly when drinking espresso. That said, if you like to sip your beverages leisurely, coffee is always going to be a better choice. But yeah, just talking about it like this makes me want one and maybe I'll treat myself tomorrow!
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