Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

CB, et al:

I never tip for drip coffee, and always tip for any kind of espresso drink. Standard? Weird?

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

CB,

"what you get here as Chai tea is the standard tea in India, I think."

I have just today found out that "Chai," which for years (since Chai became popular here, I dunno, what, 10-15 years ago?) I thought was some drink distinct from coffee or tea, is what I have had served to me as "tea" in India and in Indian households all my life. This is really sort of mind-boggling to me.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

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If you feel bad about it, here's what I would suggest. If you pay cash, drop in your change. If you pay with a card, drop a buck in maybe once a week? If you are a true regular, and you want to be really awesome, give us a Christmas card with a 20 in it.

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This is a good idea. Thanks. By the way, I can't stand change - I'll use a debit or credit card on a 70 cent purchase just so I don't have to deal with 30 cents jangling around - but that just means I'll end up paying with my card and not getting any. So I'll slip a buck in here or there.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

Don't know why ElD felt he needed to apologize for his blarg impersonation not being up to par.
I thought it was awesomely hilarious and reasonably accurate.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

[ QUOTE ]
CB, et al:

I never tip for drip coffee, and always tip for any kind of espresso drink. Standard? Weird?

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This sounds fine to me, and a decent standard to follow. I always dropped my change in for drip coffee, and suggest others to do the same, because previous to the price range, it worked well. A tall coffee was 1.68, drop the 32 cents. Grande - 1.89, drop the 11. Venti - even 2, well, didn't get your change. Now, tall coffee is 1.73, grande is even 2, and venti is 2.11. I don't think you should have to drop your 89 cents for a 2 dollar coffee. So, your standard sounds as good as any.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

CB: Weird, so frappucino is a completely different drink in the store and the bottle. Now that I think of it, I HAVE actually had a frappucino before, but it was years ago and I didn't put together that the blended ice drink I had was called the same thing as the bottled drink. Weird. I will maybe try this "Espresso Frappuccino" sometime. I'll also run some coffeeshop doubleshot experiments on my own. We can do this!

oT: I feel like the Blarg stuff keeps this thread active while CB takes breaks from his awesome posts.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

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cb/traz,

i basically never pay for anything at the starbucks i frequent...

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You should start paying, or at least tip really really well. Like, at least 2 bucks. I've never consistently given someone free drinks, and it sounds [censored] up that it's happening. If a regular comes in and forgot their wallet, or has less money than they thought they had, etc, I'll hook them up that day, no problem. But your situation sounds really shady. But, I'm not you, so do what you feel.

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i have a new question about tipping. usually when they do the 'don't worry about it' thing and i've already got $5 out to buy my drink, i just toss it in the tip thing. this is typically once or twice a week. should i instead tip $1-2 every visit? it would work out about the same for me, but i don't know how you guys pool your tips.

i used to be totally okay with the free coffee, because i was regularly hanging out with the people hooking me up outside of starbucks, but now i'm getting free stuff from people i barely know. in some cases, i'm not even sure of their names. i used to work as a bartender though, and it was pretty well understood that all the bartenders would give out a reasonable number of free drinks to regulars and customers they liked. i thought maybe starbucks was the same and my special treatment wasn't that out of the ordinary. now that i know it's not, i think i'll start paying.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

CB,

"venti is 2.11."

I would probably do the "slyly palm two quarters" thing and drop 39 cents. In spots like this at regular places, what I'll do a lot is just not tip a couple of times, then leave a dollar. Or tip the change when I order multiple things and it's like 8.60 or something.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

[ QUOTE ]
CB: Weird, so frappucino is a completely different drink in the store and the bottle. Now that I think of it, I HAVE actually had a frappucino before, but it was years ago and I didn't put together that the blended ice drink I had was called the same thing as the bottled drink. Weird. I will maybe try this "Espresso Frappuccino" sometime. I'll also run some coffeeshop doubleshot experiments on my own. We can do this!

oT: I feel like the Blarg stuff keeps this thread active while CB takes breaks from his awesome posts.

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We use a premade base for all our frappuccinos. We have base for Coffee, Coffee Light, Creme, and Creme Light. We make new ones daily, so don't worry about them being old. We then add the flavorings, ice, and blend them up, top them with your whip, caramel sauce, whatever.

It's possible/probable that the bottled versions are simply that base, with the flavorings, and then a bunch of preservatives, obviously not blended with ice.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

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The best way to mix booze and coffee is still a mystery; stay tuned for further developments.

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When I was a soph. in college, my roommate got his hands on his first bottle of Bailey's. He, I, and another friend got to thinking about how we'd want to drink it. "Coffee goes with Bailey's," I said. So off to Starbuck's we went. Inside, we did a little figuring about how much each of us wanted, and then my roommate went up to the counter and said, "I'd like 12 shots of espresso, please." The barista was kind of taken aback, not really sure how to serve us all that, or how to charge us for it. Apparently her register had an extra shot button, a 2 extra shots button, and a 3 extra shots button, but nothing beyond that. Eventually, she gave us a full Venti cup with them, and charged us the incremental 3rd shot price for the shots above and beyond 3. It was pretty good drinking, and we certainly got a pretty good buzz that night.