Starbucks in Angel
I like Starbucks. I’ve always liked it. When I was in New York I used to go to the one in Union Square on a daily basis. I always ordered the same thing: blueberry muffin and Earl Grey tea. They were both fine. I mean, neither the muffin, nor the tea were the real McCoy, but, as I said, they were fine, even tasty if you were in a great mood. As a matter of fact, the strong points, or, in business lingo, the unique selling point of a chain like Starbucks is not its products. When you go to any of the nearly 20 thousand stores all over the globe, you enjoy a consumer experience which is based mainly on the design of the café, its soft lights, the pastel shades of the walls, the warm wood of the furniture, the attractive logo, the names of the coffees (which have become instant classics), and so on.
Soft lights and pastel shades
The whole Starbucks environment is so carefully designed that you don’t think too much about the rest, that is the food. Well aware of that, I have always been up for it. That is, until a few days ago.
I was having a stroll in Angel and I decided to pop into the Starbucks store located at 71 Upper Street. As usual I ordered a classic blueberry muffin and an Earl Grey tea. Talking about tea, some months ago Starbucks changed its whole array of teas. It switched from a selection, which included a fairly good Earl Grey, to a new, full leaf sachet version which should prove better “because – as stated in the Starbucks’ blog – the teas and many of the botanicals are used in their whole form, the true flavour of the blends really come through!”.
Now, apart from the fact that I’m fairly confident nobody has the slightest idea of what that is supposed to mean, the point is that the new Tazo® Full Leaf Tea blend Earl Grey (that’s the name) tastes like a mixture of chemicals with a sprinkle of ginger. The only thing in it which resembles Earl Grey tea is a vague scent of bergamot.
The threatening Earl Grey full leaf tea blend
Despite the company’s deplorable choice, I hadn’t given up on Starbucks. So as I sipped my full leaf sachet Earl Grey I was already resigned to savouring that lab flavour but I was counting on the pleasure that I was about to receive from the blueberry muffin to counterbalance that discomforting feeling. Unfortunately, I was sadly unaware that all my hopes were soon to be bitterly dashed. Despite its remarkable ability to disguise itself as a real blueberry muffin, the “thing” I had the misfortune to bite into was closer to a gummy toy for children who want to play pastry making. Having my teeth stuck in that yellowish substance was no pleasure at all. In stark comparison, the blueberry muffin from Costa is high class confectionery for selected elites.
The Gummery muffin
Now, after having so mercilessly slaughtered my taste buds, I find myself wondering: is it still worth going to Starbucks?
The young man was sitting at a corner table of the pub and looked out of the window. He had ordered a glass of white wine and was drinking it in small sips. On a free chair next to him there were his professional camera and his MacBook Air laptop.
The young men who interviewed her seemed very nice, and appeared interested in her, and in what she was hoping to do in London. They were also very keen to tell her what they were doing.
A couple of days ago I was flying back to London from Rome, where I had spent my Easter holidays. I was sitting near a young guy in his early twenties and I started a little conversation just to kill time during the flight. The guy said he was from Birmingham and he had been in Rome to see a friend. So I asked him the usual, almost rhetorical question: “How did you like Rome?” and I was expecting to hear the as much usual answer filled with several “fantastic”, “amazing”, “beautiful”, “charming”, “fascinating” and so on.
