Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

Does SB really use 10g coffee per 6 oz. of water? It it precisely weighed? Do you think that is too much coffee? I personally use probably 3-5g/6oz. and think that is best. Finally, off topic but where does Seattle's Best get off? Their coffee is the worst crap I have ever drank and it is popping up everywhere, including being the official coffee on my college campus.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

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Does SB really use 10g coffee per 6 oz. of water? It it precisely weighed? Do you think that is too much coffee? I personally use probably 3-5g/6oz. and think that is best. Finally, off topic but where does Seattle's Best get off? Their coffee is the worst crap I have ever drank and it is popping up everywhere, including being the official coffee on my college campus.

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That's about right, and yes, we measure accurately each time. Don't know what to tell you, I haven't had Seattle's Best in a long time. Pretty much all I know is that Starbucks bought them out a few years ago.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

Outsmarting the system or being cheap?

Iced venti, no water Americano = about $2.80 (4 shots on ice, where I then add my own cold milk at the fixins bar)
Iced venti latte = about $3.80 (3 shots on ice with cold milk added

To me it is a crazy price discrepancy that when you factor in the extra shot is roughly a 50% difference.

I basically only order the Iced venti NWA in the summer and venti drip with room in the winter. I am a big fan of coffee and hate how they kill it with all those syrups.

2 More Questions:
when you empty the garbage from the fixins bar, in general how much coffee is there in each garbage bag?... Seems everyone pours some in there (one could only assume it is for their fallen homies).

Does Strabucks charge for simple syrup (ie. the one that is just sugar, but unflavored?)

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

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Also, am I just a coffee moron or does anyone else have problems with spillage coming out of the base of the lid where it's supposed to be tight.
I don't think I have this problem with other coffee-lids. But with Starbucks all the damn time I am always spilling a few drops out of that area.

GF laughs when there's yet another coffee-stain on my shirt from the Starbucks lid and thinks I'm a total coffee-noob for still having problems with this when nobody else she knows has had any such issues.

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In my experience, the cup is too full and the sipping hole in the lid is right over the seam in the cup. Bad combo.

Try having the coffee only come up to about 1/8" below the top of the cup when unlidded, and move the hole away from the seam.

Also, if there are any obvious ugly spots (bulges, creases) on the rim of the cup, forget it, it's either going to leak or it's going to start to leak soon.

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Ask for "travel room." This should usually get you a bit of room so it's not too full, but not a ludicrous amount because they thought you wanted room for a lot of cream.

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I am an idiot as has been well documented. I should have prefaced my question with that caveat.

In any case, I imagine back in '89 Short/Tall seemed like a cute idea. Now, it all seems a little absurd with grande as medium and venti as large or 20oz or whatever. What is the change Starbucks may one rationalize their sizing?

BTW: I think Starbucks makes a damn fine cup of Joe no matter the various complaints about corporate homogenization, etc. I am always happy to stumble across a store when I'm needing a fix. My sister lives in Seattle where I got my intro to SBux in the late 80's. When I saw a store at O'Hare in Chicago in 95 I started by their stock. Profit!

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

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Yes, Americano is watered down espresso... I dont get it either ... may as well buy folgers ...lol

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In Italy, coffee is referred to as "cafe". It is really espresso, they dont have what we call "coffee" over there. Since americans bitched about it, they made up "cafe americano", which is adding hot water to their normal "cafe" (espresso) to "simulate" our regular coffee. It tastes a little different so its become its own item over here in America. Its a little more bitter and oily-er than a smooth normal cup of joe.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

[ QUOTE ]
Outsmarting the system or being cheap?

Iced venti, no water Americano = about $2.80 (4 shots on ice, where I then add my own cold milk at the fixins bar)
Iced venti latte = about $3.80 (3 shots on ice with cold milk added

To me it is a crazy price discrepancy that when you factor in the extra shot is roughly a 50% difference.

I basically only order the Iced venti NWA in the summer and venti drip with room in the winter. I am a big fan of coffee and hate how they kill it with all those syrups.

2 More Questions:
when you empty the garbage from the fixins bar, in general how much coffee is there in each garbage bag?... Seems everyone pours some in there (one could only assume it is for their fallen homies).

Does Strabucks charge for simple syrup (ie. the one that is just sugar, but unflavored?)

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You're cheap, but whatever.

There's not a ton of coffee in there, but it happens. I hate people who do that.

We do not charge for it in Iced Coffee, but I think we do for everything else. I've never actually gotten official word on this.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

Hey ClassicBob, hopefully you're still watching this thread. I have a question, today I went into Starbucks and ordered two venti fraps and got a 30% discount, it comes up on the receipt as "employee disc -30%". Is it common to give a discount?

I go to Starbucks maybe once a month, never had it happen before.

I read somewhere else that someone got coffee for free once for being nice. I suppose I was nice, but I didn't really do anything other than smile and say hi and thanks. I asked the barista who gave me the discount, he said "its a starbucks thing." I dropped off 94 cents into the tip container on my way out and he said thanks.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

CB,

If I go to Starbucks and ask for a "Double Latte to go" what should happen?

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

Well, they'll probably explain to you that both a grande and a venti comes with two shots of espresso , and ask which of the two you want. That's what I'd do, anyway. I'm assuming since you posted this, that wasn't your experience.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

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Hey ClassicBob, hopefully you're still watching this thread. I have a question, today I went into Starbucks and ordered two venti fraps and got a 30% discount, it comes up on the receipt as "employee disc -30%". Is it common to give a discount?

I go to Starbucks maybe once a month, never had it happen before.

I read somewhere else that someone got coffee for free once for being nice. I suppose I was nice, but I didn't really do anything other than smile and say hi and thanks. I asked the barista who gave me the discount, he said "its a starbucks thing." I dropped off 94 cents into the tip container on my way out and he said thanks.

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I never saw this question. This is not a "starbucks thing," it sounds like a guy who is trying to give people discounts so they can give him bigger tips. As partners, we get 30% off on everything, so someone typed in their (or someone else's) partner numbers in to get that. Sounds awfully fishy.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

CB,

I had a meeting at a Starbucks the other day. I mainly go to local coffeehouses, so I rarely am at Starbucks - usually just if I'm at an airport or something like that.

Anyway, without thinking, I asked for a double latte. Guy responded "what size" which given your explanation makes sense. I was a bit flustered by the question and just said "large" and he gave me a Venti. That explains why it was a little "milkier" than I am used to my lattes tasting.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

it's funny, because when I hear "double latte" I automatically think tall with an extra shot.

This happened on one of my first shifts...a lady (bitch) came in and asked for a double latte. I asked what size, and she sarcastically was like "well a grande and venti both have 2 shots, so a double would have to be a tall wouldn't it?"

I wanted to punch her in the face, but I think she had a point.

In any case I always ask what size if it's not stipulated

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

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CB,

I had a meeting at a Starbucks the other day. I mainly go to local coffeehouses, so I rarely am at Starbucks - usually just if I'm at an airport or something like that.

Anyway, without thinking, I asked for a double latte. Guy responded "what size" which given your explanation makes sense. I was a bit flustered by the question and just said "large" and he gave me a Venti. That explains why it was a little "milkier" than I am used to my lattes tasting.

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This is probably one of the trickier things that Starbucks does, because a lot of other coffee shops base their size off the number of shots of espresso that are put in. We don't. Whatever, wasn't my decision. I don't see anything too off in his question, especially if he's never experienced other coffee shops other than Starbucks. That isn't too uncommon, either. Several partners don't know much about coffee or coffee shops when they first start.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

CB,

There's nothing wrong with his question now that you've explained it. I just had assumed that all three sizes had the same milk/espresso ratio.

I'm travelling the next few days and will likely be at Starbucks again. I think I'll try venti with an extra shot.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

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CB,

There's nothing wrong with his question now that you've explained it. I just had assumed that all three sizes had the same milk/espresso ratio.

I'm travelling the next few days and will likely be at Starbucks again. I think I'll try a triple venti

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come on sir, this is a starbucks thread :P

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

traz,

Thanks for saving me from further Starbucks ordering embarrassment!

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

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how the hell do you pronounce dulce de leche? I've heard it said like 4 difference ways by employees.

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how could it be anything but

doolsay day laychay

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Correct, or close enough.

This coming from the ex-wife of one of the inventors of the flavor.

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Dulce de leche is Spanish; the phonetic spelling is correct but be careful not to pronounce it like a yankee; it needs a Spanish accent applied or you will end up saying it wrong. Dulce de leche is a caramel-like fantastic wonder that is incredibly common in Argentina. People will spread it on crackers and enjoy. The leche part is because you can actually make the stuff from scratch with milk as the main ingredient though I've never had the pleasure of seeing it done.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

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CB,

How often would you say that a hot Starbucks chick gets asked out by a customer?

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Looking through this thread again, and wanted to point out that some dude asked my manager out the other day. She has a boyfriend, so dude got shot down. But from he way she was telling the story, if she was single, [censored] woulda been on like Donkey Kong.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

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CB: Yerba mate. This is a chai-like thing that apparently actually IS different than tea. Has Starbucks ever sold this? Tully's here sells it.

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Another Argentine/Uruguayan thing. As far as I understand, yerba mate is not tea, but very similar; the plant is called yerba mate (as opposed to a tea bush) and the drink is just the plant crushed and put into a mate with hot water added and drank through a bombilla (or in the bastardized USA-version put into a tea-bag). If you want to pronounce it correctly (from the region it came from) it'd be SHER-ba MA-te (I said I sucked at these phonetic things but you get the idea).

Edit: If it doesn't look like this, you got some bastardized mate.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...3_calabaza.jpg

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

Do they drug test?

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

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Do they drug test?

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No.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

My wife might try to get a PT job there. Are they like a lot of places and always hiring? Is it a good place for PTers?

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

idk if this true but do starbucks employees get apple discount now?

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

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My wife might try to get a PT job there. Are they like a lot of places and always hiring? Is it a good place for PTers?

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Excellent for part-timers. There are lots of stores, but it obviously depends on your market. As far as PT jobs go, it's pretty desirable, so it's kinda tough to get.

Hint: Everyone "loves coffee" on their application. Come up with a way to stand out.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

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idk if this true but do starbucks employees get apple discount now?

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Pretty sure Starbucks employees can get a discount (kinda like students), but I'm not quite sure how, haven't really bothered. (Brag: sis works for apple, hooks it up with her discount)

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

I went to Starbucks for the first time last week. My only other experiences with coffee was instant. Starbuck's coffee was good, but really expensive. Is there a list of cheap brands that taste like starbucks, preferably available on amazon.com by any chance?

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

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Have you ever used any flavorings or other starbucks ingredients on your or a sex partner's genitals during unprotected sex?

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No, but I am going to start.

Re: Ask me about Starbucks
 

This is kind of late, but I completely understood what Blarg was saying and how it was different. It found it pretty lucid and concise.