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As far as I know, there are two kinds of coffee beans - the original, and best,
is Arabica and the other, Robusta - a sturdier species of coffee bean with higher
acidity and high bitterness. I don't know what Starbucks uses, but I believe
Arabica and hard water make the best coffee.
73
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xiecsuk wrote: you really can't beat a freshly brewed cup of tea
Blue tea, red tea, white tea, especially.  
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Starbucks is to coffee as Trump is to politics.
Cheers,
Mike Fidler
"I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright
"I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright
"I'm addicted to placebos. I could quit, but it wouldn't matter." Steven Wright yet again.
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Not to defend the indefensible Star Bucks, but where are you guys getting better coffee? (Home doesn't count, we're talking about Coffee shops here). A lot of Starbucks have "Clover Leaf" Machines where you can have a cup brewed from some very select items not used on the front line. I find this coffee very good, but you have to pay for it, for sure. Having said all this, I am not a fan of cornered markets, and I miss the Caribou Coffee Chain - giving Starbucks at least SOME Competition. One more comment - if you put anything in your coffee besides coffee, well, you don't get a say. Anything else you put in makes it "not coffee".
Where there's smoke, there's a Blue Screen of death.
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Jet Fuel Coffee - A Toronto landmark[^]
The only place I know in Toronto that does it really, really well. And consistently. And they never change.
The fact that they are into cycling doesn't hurt, either. I grabbed one of their pro's bikes from last season for a steal.
Dark Horse[^] is a middling second. No bad, not fantastic, but solid.
My all-time, never yet been beaten place in the entire world (though a tiny place in the south of France came damn close) is The Brown Cow cafe[^]. Go there and go to heaven.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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I'm a coffee purest, I don't like flavorings, sugar, or creamer in my coffee. so if the coffee tastes like burnt S**t without the extras added, it's not good coffee in my book.
I'm not slamming anyone who likes the additives; feel free to enjoy them. I just like coffee for the taste of coffee.
Starbucks is definitely on my ban list.
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Concur. Starbucks coffee tastes like engine oil. A friend of my ex-wife who used to buy coffee for Dunkin' Donuts would run into the Starbucks buyers fairly regularly: according to her, they'd go out of their way to find the cheapest, shittiest beans they could. In the same way that Lady Gaga has nothing to do with music and everything to do with Lady Gaga, Starbucks has nothing to do with coffee and everything to do with Starbucks. The mystery is why it isn't all over yet. But (as evidenced by Lady Gaga) people do have dreadful taste...
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I don't know about Starsucks in the US or Canada or Australia... My experience with it, in Mexico City and surrounding cities, has been very positive.
When I go, I usually ask for either black coffee (or "Today's coffee or Daily coffee" or whatever they call it now) or black tea (English breakfast blend, usually). They charge me MXN$35 (pesos), which at today's exchange rate is a few cents under USD$2, and I get more than half litre of coffee or tea (100ml for 33 USD cents). While it might not be the cheapest, it has very good quality. The brews usually come from local states Veracruz and Chiapas, each producing very good quality of coffee, or Colombia, which is the greates brew I have tasted so far. Ocasionally they have coffee from Guatemala (which is Chiapas-like) or African countries, which IMO is good, yet not great.
Being in a coffee exporter country, it is very easy to find places with very good quality brews. You can get SB-quality coffee for as low as 25 USD cents per 100 ml. However, SB provides additional services, such as free WiFi and nice, cozy desks where to work. Given that, those extra 8 USD cents are well worth it.
Now, if you go for Italian-like coffee brews (cappuccino, latte, machiatto or mochaccino) then the prices escalate to MXN$55 and if you add extras (vanilla syrup, chocochips, mousse and such) your account can increase up to MXN$70. That is expensive, compared to what you can get elsewhere (cappuccinos for MXN$40 for example), and the beverage quality decreases (IMO) because the coffee taste gets diluted with all the additional sugar and milk.
So, all in all, I'd say I have had a good experience with Starbucks. Good quality, good prices for black coffee (which is what I usually drink anyway, coffee with steamming water and nothing more) or black tea, and a nice place to work or just hang out.
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I once made the mistake? of bringing a 4lb sack of ground coffee back from Columbia. It took me an age to get it through British Customs. They had sniffer dogs inspecting it before they finally let me through.
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Bad experience indeed, I hear you. I once made the mistake to land in Paris with unlabeled sodium bicarbonate and cajeta (some sort of toasted milk candy) that I had brought as a gift to a friend. It took me like two hours to convince them that the white powder was not cocaine (of course, they didn't take my word for it, they had it tested), that the cajeta was a candy (they did try it and tested it also, therefore ruining my gift), and that I was not a drug dealer. 
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I'm pretty sure Tim Hortons put crack in their coffee because it's disgusting but once I've had a cup I need another one.
It's very wrong.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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Hopefully this one isn't too difficult. Had to put it together this morning, good luck!
_ψ.ψ…° (6)
Winner: PompeyThree
Answer: DESERT
modified 23-Feb-16 4:49am.
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Correct! That was a quickie. You're up for tomorrow.
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That was a good one!
I might even have got it, if he hadn't! 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Defending again I hear with respect ? (9)
We can’t stop here, this is bat country - Hunter S Thompson RIP
modified 23-Feb-16 4:10am.
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Reverence -> respect
fence hear vence ??
again re??
with ??
I really haven't a good clue how I could make this fit!
"I had the right to remain silent, but I didn't have the ability!"
Ron White, Comedian
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Nope
We can’t stop here, this is bat country - Hunter S Thompson RIP
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Well, that figured! Still without a clue ... 
"I had the right to remain silent, but I didn't have the ability!"
Ron White, Comedian
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Glad it's not just me...I had REVERING, but I can't get VERING to work with DEFENDING no matter how badly I pronounced it!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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pkfox wrote: I hear
With your hearing I suppose you're up again tomorrow!
Life is too shor
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Regarding?
Re (again) Guarding (defended)
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Damn. I think you got it...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Well done - you are up tomorrow
We can’t stop here, this is bat country - Hunter S Thompson RIP
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