Starbucks

Does Starbucks have different tea bags for pots of tea and single cups? I sure hope so, because if the size of my tea bag wasn’t an accident, they have a problem.
I ordered a small Earl Grey to go. Immediately I noticed the smell is quite strong. In fact, so strong, that when my friend finally arrives after I have been walking around outside for five minutes with this tea, he immediately asks if I am drinking some kind of ultra potent Early Grey.
So I take my first sip. And dear god it’s strong. Strong like Schwarzenegger in the older days. I don’t mind a strong tea, and rarely take my tea bag out, but this is out of control. Undrinkable, astringent and very, very bitter. So I open my lid, and fish out the fullest tea bag I’ve ever seen. There must be three individual servings in there. Yikes.
I emptied out the entire cup into the bushes. I’m sure it’ll make fine fertilizer.

This Starbucks was nothing exciting, but not particularly bad, either. I ducked in here on a Friday evening from the cold while waiting for a friend I was meeting at Kew Gardens for Christmas at Kew. Enjoyed a nice seasonal latte, but I got some banana nut bread as a snack… And it was very dry with not much flavor. Oh well, I’m not sure why I had any sort of expectations for the food! I was surrounded by chatty people, it wasn’t too crowded, and I was warm. Not bad.

I absolutely love Starbucks coffee and on average I drink about 3 cups a day. I’m a somewhat regular visitor to this one as it’s on a route I have to travel quite often and every visit seems to be more stressful than the last.
The place is absolutely tiny with an overabundance of small, circular tables that only seat 2 people, thus making it very difficult to walk about without bumping into tables and other people. If they removed some of these tables, I’m sure the place would have a much less claustrophobic vibe to it. The ‘bar’ thingy where you wait for your drink is at the mouth of an incredibly narrow passage which people walk down to get to the exit. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve been waiting for my latte and been shoved or elbowed by someone on their way out, which isn’t very pleasant to say the least.
The toilets are absolutely hideous; I’ve never visited the loo there and been lucky enough to have toilet paper in the holder so if you come here, make sure you have a Kleenex or two in your bag! The toilets are also always incredibly dirty and smelly but on the plus side, they are wheelchair accessible.
By far the very worst thing about this particular Starbucks (which is no fault of Starbucks themselves but still worth bearing in mind if you’re going to visit this one) is the type of clientele they get. If you try to go in there from between the hours of 2−3pm, please be advised that it will be absolutely packed to the rafters with so-​called ‘yummy mummies’ killing time before the afternoon school run due to it being in very close proximity to several posh primary schools. You know the type of people I mean: very middle-​class women who seem to exist entirely on organic wheatgerm products and gourmet coffee and give their children incredibly obnoxious names like Millie, Flower and India etc. One of the trademarks of the yummy mummy is the enormous pushchairs that may as well be juggernauts that they seem to think they have they right to push and park absolutely anywhere they want with no regard for other childless pedestrians. Given that I’ve already explained how tiny and unnecessarily crammed with tables this particular Starbucks is, you can imagine how impossible it is to move around in there when there’s 5+ of those pushchairs parked in ridiculous spots all over the shop. So please, just bear in mind that if you visit this Starbucks during those hours, you WILL have your toes run over with a pram being pushed by a rapidly-​approaching-​the-​menopause hag on the way to/​from her ‘coffee date’ with the rest of her coven.
Good points about this branch are that there’s always food, no matter what time you go. I went through a phase of being slightly addicted to the Starbucks BLT sandwich and more than once feeling the disappointment when the nearest Starbucks was all sold out. This one always seem to be fully stocked, no matter what. Also, the many other Starbucks shops that I visit regularly have all, at least once, messed up my order. However, the staff here are all super friendly and professional and have yet to make a single mistake with making my drink.
In conclusion; the layout of this café needs a lot of work, as do the facilities. It’s in a very picturesque location, just down the road from Kew Gardens. There’s PLENTY of outdoor seating which is wonderful when it’s sunny. The staff are lovely but he 2−3pm time slot must be avoided at all costs!