I think Starbucks gets a bad rap, just a backlash to its success, and personally prefer their lattes over anyone else.

But yeah – this (the sign) is wrong. I’ve had the Intelligentsia coffee and it is far and away the best I’ve ever had.

I should note that I drink a fuck of a lot of coffee and I like to think I can tell the good stuff from the crap, and so me saying Starbucks is passable isn’t negative, they have decent coffee for sure and I don’t mind going there, but it’s not amazing and considering the options that are in my neighborhood… well, yeah. I have to call shenanigans on it.

Starbucks as you stated is at best…passable. Sure, their drinks are enjoyable and since they are all over the place, when an inkling for a cafe strikes, I’ll take one.

However, I live in Gardena and they recently put up a Tea Station about 4 blocks away from Starbucks and I’ll be damned if on more than one occasion I’ve pulled into Starbucks, remembered that Tea Station up the road….and zipped right out to drive the additional 4 blocks, because…sometimes taste does matter!

Thanks for the heads up on Intelligentsia, I love a good cup of coffee. I especially like the fact they are going to be doing their own roasting locally.

I tend to go towards the smaller non-chain shops myself. We have a local one that selected its beans and with the help of a custom roaster put together a couple of really disctinct coffees. Since they are the local guys they my coffee bucks. Probably explains why I have a balance sitting on my nearly 2 year old Starbuck card…small local guys just do it better.

I’ve never had a decent cupa joe at Starbucks. Occasionally, if I’m lucky, I’ll get a good espresso.

But of course my biggest beef is their predatory tactics with regards to local shops. I’ll never drink there if there’s an independent place nearby (hurray Priscilla’s!).

Cold Espresso?