I'm one of probably 3 people in this country who have never had Starbucks. I'm broke AF. I think you are doing it 180° wrong. Really lean into the Starbucks lifestyle. Lease a Porsche Panamera that you can't afford (gotta spend money to make money!), learn all the latest corporate buzz words and casually drop 3 or 4 of them each of the dozen times a day you are being condescending to the baristas and are refilling your Iced Venti Mocha Latte. Maybe get a Joel Osteen book or two to carry with you. The Right People will see you are part of their clan and they will shower riches upon you, like manna from heaven. Oh, also, if you aren't white, do something about that.
I'm one of the other 2... imagine that -- 2 of the 3 people in the same thread. Well, technically I've had Starbucks coffee at work (free!), but I've never bought anything from Starbucks, which is even more odd since I've owned the stock for almost a decade. I can't be spending that much money on coffee even with my caffeine addiction. lol. Though I did buy a Keurig a few months ago since I no longer work. Now that may have been a waste of money -- still deciding.
The closest I come to Starbucks is on the very rare occasion that I take a copy of Moby Dick off a shelf at BookPeople. It's here in downtown Austin by West 6th and North Lamar, close to the headquarters of Whole Foods. I like to take a seat somewhere and read a little of Moby Dick (in truth, more likely to be Dick, Phillip K.) while sipping some of their excellent coffee. I hope the bookstore, the finest independent bookstore in the country, in my biased opinion, is surviving our national disaster. I've seen Matthew McConaughey there before, and a few times just walking around the neighborhood. He has good taste. About 15 years ago it was named Best Independent Bookstore in the Country by some well known publication. Can't remember which publication, but it was national, not Texas Monthly or The Austin Chronicle. Actually, the "flagship" Whole Foods store used to be next door to BookPeople, where it seemed to fit very well. Nice synergy, if you know what I mean, but Whole Foods decided to construct their huge store/national headquarters about a block away. Kind of an eyesore, in my opinion, but at least it's organic. I remember going to both when they were a hell of a lot smaller. BookPeople when they were Grok Books, referring to Stranger in a Strange Land, Heinlein's classic SF novel, and Whole Foods was the little organic grocery on North Lamar, north a few blocks from that gigantic creation they have now. The coffee is better at BookPeople. I heard about Tesla. Looks like a good bet to happen, @Buck Turgidson. That'll be interesting. Should create several thousand good paying jobs. Eventually, at any rate. It'll be good for the restaurants, bars, clubs, and other local businesses, assuming the Plague ever goes away. Won't be so good for the traffic, though. At least it'll be east of town, a major plus. The city has been trying to steer development that way forever.
I buy Trader Joe’s coffee beans, grind them each morning and make them in my fancy coffee maker from the Netherlands. 99% of the time it makes good coffee. Dunkin tastes better for regular coffee and Starbucks tastes better for expresso. But I also only drink 12 oz of coffee each morning. No high caffeine sources otherwise during the day. Too much and I am become paranoid and anxious. Too little and I have a terrible migraine.
Count me in the never had Starbucks crowd. Grew up poor white trash, and as an adult I'm just not not much of a coffee drinker. Sure as hell not at their prices. My blood is basically pure Dr.Pepper at this point.
Years ago Starbucks was good for one thing only. If a lady wanted to meet at Starbucks, that almost always led to copulation. No idea why.
My uncle was a contractor. When going on bids he always had a long sleeve shirt to cover up his prison tats and a Starbucks cup filled with regular coffee. That s**t works like a charm when trying to give off the phony air of affluence.
