They are all here...the short, the tall, the fat, the skinny, the student, the retired, the businessman, the transient, the old, the young, the indifferent, the writer, the photographer, the artist, those with hope, and those without. Sometimes I feel all or some of them are me.
Starbucks is a phenomenon all to itself. It all started when an entrepreneur with a small coffee store in Seattle accidentally burnt some coffee beans in his roaster and could not bear to throw them away. People liked the coffee they made...and a whole empire was born. Now, Starbucks is everywhere...and I have been to many of them. You see, I love their beans for my home use and their coffee when I am on the road. It's strong, dark and delicious, just the way I like it.
In fact, I write these words from inside one of them right now. It doesn't matter where. There is a comfortable sameness about all of them, both in atmosphere and flavor, which is what they tried to achieve...and succeeded.
Anyway, it is around 8:00 AM and the joint is packed. The line inside is long, but moves quickly as two employees are servicing their customers. Outside is an even longer line of cars lined up for the drive-up window. It always amazed me when gas prices were over $4 a gallon how people would queue up in long a line of cars, motors running, just to get a $1.50 to $4.00 cup of coffee. I never waited in that line. In fact sometimes I would park my car, walk in, get my cup of coffee, walk out...and the same cars were still in line. I would lift my cup of coffee in salute to their stupidity and wastefulness. God, I can be holier-than-thou sometimes. Save your gas and save the planet, baby.
This morning the line of cars is so long they are blocking my car from getting out of my parking place...but I am happily ensconced inside for a while...reading, writing, and watching the parade of people. Some are talking, the lady next to me doing a crossword puzzle, the middle aged man across from me reading his paper. Still others like me sitting at their computers doing the Net thing. I am not connected...today I just want to write about what I see.
On this journey, I always look for a Starbucks when I enter a new town. In larger cities I use my GPS to find them. In smaller places, I can usually scope them out as I drive through. Sometimes they are in a grocery store. I found it ironic that for the 16 years I lived in Ephrata there was no Starbucks. For many years, I had them ship me coffee every month automatically until they had so many stores they shut down the mail-order service. Then, as I prepared to leave Ephrata forever, they opened one in the local Safeway. Too late!
On my last trip to London, I was surprised to find them everywhere in that vast city. And they were all doing a thriving business. It didn't surprise me as prior to their arrival, Great Britain had the worst coffee I ever tasted. It was almost always instant. And they thought it was good. Imagine their surprise when they tasted the real deal.
Lest you think that I am a coffeeholic, be advised that I stick or two, sometimes three cups a day, almost always in the morning. And I like it strong. Blame the Italians for that. For years I drank ordinary Mr. Coffee. Then after several weeks in Italy and staying in an Italian home, I could only make strong Italian espresso and cut it with water (here it is called a Cafe Americano). When I got back to America, Mr. Coffee and I separated in a New York minute. It was just too weak. It is Cafe Americano for me.
For this trip, I bought an Italian Espresso coffee pot for $8 and every morning make a cup of Espresso (Starbucks coffee ground for espresso, of course) and cut it with hot water, all done on my camp stove. If I am staying in a hotel or camped near a city, I will come into Starbucks like I did this morning and let them do all the work.
And for a total cost to me of under $2.00, I can sit here and write a blog or browse the Net all day long and get 50 cent refills. I just wish they wouldn't play nostalgic Christmas music.
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