Coffee Coffee Coffee

My Love/Hate Relationship With Starbucks

My twin sister and I LOVE Starbucks (I have yet to meet a person who does not); whenever she is in town we try to make a trip there for some of our favorite drinks.  Our favorite drinks include Café Mochas (I’ve never had a better one), Iced coffees with coconutmilk and vanilla, pumpkin lattes (same as the mochas-never had a better one), Salted Caramel Lattes, and Peppermint Mocha (HAVE to have during winter!).

But this post is not just about my love for Starbucks; it is more about my attitude/personal feeling towards it.

Today, my family and I went to Starbucks after breakfast; we usually go there when I am craving a coffee drink I know I cannot get anywhere else.  We also really enjoy getting out of the house for whatever reason, and we love car rides.  The drive to the closest Starbucks for us is roughly 20 minutes.  Makes for a quick, but fun little road trip to get my coffee fix!  Since I am still on the iced coffee fix, as many are in the warmer weather, I had a tall Iced Coconutmilk Mocha Macchiato.  It  was pretty good, not the best, but definitely was good enough to be satisfied. My sister ordered a Café Mocha, which tastes a lot like hot chocolate, and my husband ordered a Caramel Frappe.  We also were succumbed to the delicious smells and views of the pastries/desserts, so we ordered coffee cake, cake pops, lemon bread(these are always so delicious; however, the employee could have given my husband an intact lemon bread-it was still yummy though!), and of course, I had to have a banana as I am on a health kick.

I have tried many coffee shops throughout my adult life; my favorite cafés are the ones that not only offer a wide variety of signature coffee drinks, but also ones that are warm and cozy, with fireplaces and brick walls, couches and comfy chairs to relax in, and ones that are a bit dark since I typically head to a coffee shop to relax and the darkness evokes some sense of peace when I sit there and sip my coffee.

I have been to Starbucks too many times to count, and over the years I have noticed something that I usually don’t do and things that I don’t notice anywhere else.  Whenever I go to a Starbuck’s, it is usually to grab a quick cup of coffee; it is never to sit and do some work, or to sit and chat with friends or family.  My coffees are on the go and I drink them rather quickly.  This is not a bad thing; it is just something I don’t normally do.

Today when we went to Starbucks, we chose to sit down outside at their metal tables/chairs.  It was fun chatting with my sister and playing with my two girls, but it wasn’t as relaxing as Latté is and certainly not as comfy.  I am sure many people would disagree with me on this, as I do see many people on their laptops as they enjoy their coffee.
However, whenever I have chosen to sit down and complete some of my work at Starbucks, I have always gotten very distracted.  I would usually sit and people-watch; I would try to guess what someone is ordering; I would wonder why the heck I didn’t order someone else’s drink as it looked amazing and more delicious than mine; then I would find myself wanting to leave and go home to finish my work because I got so damn distracted and was not relaxed enough to focus and be attentive to my work.

It seems to me that most people who drink at Starbucks are quite busy and are in a rush to get their drink and get back to whatever they were doing, or to simply head to work.   This is not the lifestyle for me, and it is the main reason why I don’t go to Starbucks too often; I don’t enjoy the feeling of being in a rush or being around people who are also in a rush.  People seem less courteous there too, perhaps because they ARE in a rush? I don’t get this vibe at other smaller coffee shops; people are always so nice and respectful.  They make time to engage in small talk and are just all-around very hospitable and social.

Maybe I am the only one who notices this? If so, oh well.

Good thing I don’t ALWAYS go to coffee shops to sit and relax.  So, while I love Starbucks, they will forever earn my money, but not my seat!