Bitter Taste?
On Tuesday I met up with Cheryl in the evening for a coffee and a chat in Starbucks at Borders. I wouldn’t be a huge fan of Starbucks, but there’s a dearth of late opening coffee shops near us, and I do like being surrounded by books.
Cheryl has posted up her version of the evening - I haven’t read it yet. We agreed to post them up today.
Anyway, after we’d been there a while an unusually enthusiastic (for Ireland) Starbucks guy came over and asked how our drinks were. “Well, fine thanks, but it could be a bit hotter.” Cheryl replied (or words to that effect.) With lightening fast reactions he whipped her mug out of ther hand and declared he would replace it, and replace it he did. He also handed over a voucher for a free coffee next time. Blimey. Had to have lived in America for a while. That’s not Irish customer service.
So, we carried on chatting away, and then some, and it came to time to go. Just before we got up he appeared again to speak to Cheryl. “So, how was the second cup?”
“Much better, thank-you.”
“If you’re ever in here and the coffee’s not hot enough, don’t hesitate to let us know and we’ll change it.”
“Well, to be honest I don’t visit Starbucks that often.”
“Oh. And do you mind me asking why not?”
“Well, to be honest, I find the coffee a bit bitter.”
Now, in hindsight, honesty may not have been the best policy here.
This launched a series of questions on where exactly in our mouths we tasted the bitterness - at the front of our tongues, in the middle, at the sides, or at the back. Apparently most people mistake acidity in coffee for bitterness. We received a lesson on taste. A long lesson on taste.
We then foolishly both admitted that we had no recollection of where exactly the bitter taste occurred.
Starbucks guy disappeared, and returned shortly with this:
Yep. A tasting tray. We received a lesson on coffee tasting, which, although quite bizarre, was actually pretty interesting. One was a dark roast, and one a light, and they did taste different.
So, all in all, great customer service, and I can confirm that the manager of the Starbucks in Borders really does care about his customers, really believes in the company he works for, and really loves his job.
And my new view of Starbucks coffee?
It’s not bitter. It’s too acidic.
That’s funny.
I worked at Starbucks briefly and they are that crazy. If there was anything wrong with an order, you should offer a free drink coupon. We also did regular coffee tastings with food pairings. Some of the die hard employees (cult members) would use terms like “earthy” or “smokey” or “tastes like lemons” to describe the coffee.
25 May 2007 at 6:44 pm
First of all, Happy Birthday!!!!
I prefer my lattes so I never get the coffee lesson. But at least now you have learned a bit more. They do offer up some decent teas though.
25 May 2007 at 6:50 pm
And the acid? Did he explain that you get the acids because, in the roasting process, you’re supposed to gradually caramelize the sugars present within the beans, and if you roast too quickly or too darkly for a given bean, you end up burning the sugars, producing acid? And that Starbucks works very hard to burn every bean it comes across, just because they can roast more volume that way? Never mind small-batches, hand-roasted, blended, or any of that rot: Starbucks is the coffee like your great grandmother used to make, roasting her own beans in a frying pan on the stove, so that she’d get mostly burned green beans.
Yup.
Too acid, because each and every bean is made to squeal, and that’s after they’ve made the environment squeal, and the peasants who farm the beans, and their employees (some of whom aren’t given health benefits, because they’re not really Starbucks employees, oh no, they’re Borders employees, and thus exempt from Starbucks’ benefits plan).
The McDonalds of Coffee. Somewhere there’s a clown molesting someone, you can be sure.
25 May 2007 at 7:08 pm
Being a coffee lover myself and I have also visited Starbucks with varying results. Often the coffee is different and sometimes bitter, but not so bitter if your drinking it with something sweet like an apple and cinnamon muffin for instance. Perhaps this is their idea, to offer ‘bitter’ coffee so that you might be tempted to take a sweet treat too.
Anyway, Isobel, rumour has it that its your birthday today, well
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AND HOPE ITS A GREAT ONE.
With my very best wishes
26 May 2007 at 10:00 am
Andrea - that’s exactly how he was describing the coffee.
David - he did explain about how coffee gets too acidic, but claimed that it wasn’t the case in Starbucks. He also started on about how they were a lovely friendly eco-conscious company, but to be honest, I just wanted to get out of there at that point so didn’t get into that particular argument. Plus, by being in there I was hardly in a position to take a higher stand.
26 May 2007 at 11:30 am
Too strong, too bitter, too acidic - whatever. I still occasionally long for a cup of Starbucks - and I love my Starbucks T-shirt purchased in Seattle, the home of Starbucks.
27 May 2007 at 8:50 am
Oh how I love this story, just read Cheryl’s blog…I’m still ROTFL!!!!
27 May 2007 at 6:41 pm