Starbucks

The Galleria is sort of like Seattle’s Pike Place Market, only more authentic.*
I personally think Starbucks tastes awful anyway, but my companion really wanted a coffee so we went here and she insisted on buying me a hot chocolate. I actually only had about 3 sips and then gave up on it. Apparently Starbucks don’t have regular hot chocolates, just thick creamy white chocolate drink that is so sickeningly sweet and extraordinarily heavy that I didn’t even find it to be drinkable.
Oh well. I didn’t want a hot chocolate anyway. For $ 3 or whatever it is.
*sarcasm

I go to this starbucks all the time and always find the staff here wonderful and helpful. Any lines i have ever encountered move quick!

Re: Starbucks Coffee:
I love how the paper coffee cup feels in my hands and no waxy floaters in my coffee like some take out joints provide. Only fine china or a fired ceramic cup enhances the experience for me. Even porcelain upsets my enjoyment of the beverage. In my opinion, the lovely containers they sell, both metal and plastic affect the presentation to the taste buds. The cardboard sleeve keeps me from burning my hands and also fits the cup nicely. I have never been able to get someone else’s cardboard sleeve to work as nicely and there are other places, like McDonald’s, that serve the coffee to you in the «reconstituted or somewhat strangely textured cup that I believe is a Styrofoam at a finer mil because it does not resemble Styrofoam or plastic or paper.
As for the charge that Starbucks serves burnt coffee: In the Buffalo, York (England), St. Catherines, Chicago, Saginaw and, Birch Run areas, I have witnessed the baristas tossing a good urn of coffee when the timer goes off and starting fresh and, most of the time, when they do that, those who wait for the new pot are not charged for their coffee. As a connoisseur of their blends, I can honestly say that the flavor is exactly the same from store to store and Country to Country. In a larger city like New York, although I know it is against standard operational procedure, I would not be surprised if during rush-​hour they just keep pouring due to the volume of people and how rapidly they could pour the coffee. I have also heard people, like our Jo Marie, in my office; complain that the coffee made in her Mr. Coffee tasted burnt. This could be that it is too strong tasting for her palette and that if she enjoys a cup of Tim Horton’s which I cannot even taste, of course, anything much stronger would resemble her only basis of comparison, that the only time she tasted something so strong it tasted like burnt coffee sitting on the warmer too long. Also, the temperature of the water hitting the beans must be controlled or it burns the beans.
I went to McDonalds and tried the new bold blend once while I was there.
While it had flavor, the ladies behind the counter did not have a pot ready and I had to wait longer for them to brew it than I would have at Starbucks. They did not offer me half and half or the heavy cream that I have requested at Starbucks and was gladly supplied with. Only the non dairy creamers in the tubs that severely lack flavor themselves. The coffee tasted good but did not seem to have the caffeine kick their signature bland blend has. In a strange place with no Starbucks, a cup of McDonalds colored water is packed with caffeine and will get rid of a caffeine deprivation headache. Years ago, in New York, I noticed the McDonalds coffee tasted better in their location than in Buffalo, but they also served fresh squeezed orange juice, heavy cream for your coffee and real huge New York Bagels. If they sent tasters to Buffalo, McDonalds may not have won their vote. The deviation of the flavors’ between New York City and Buffalo should be noted as a quality control problem, not a geographic perk.
I will never leave Starbucks, unless Dean and DeLucca put a location in Buffalo. I pay more, but I get what I pay for. As a repeat customer I often get a free coffee, which their corporate encourages, something McDonalds would never be allowed to do. They count their cups!