You say sommelier, I say barista

[sagehen]

on 8/1/08 8:31 PM, David A. Daniel at dad at POKERWIZ.COM wrote:

>> Ron's message greatly reassured me; I was afraid I'd been victimized (once
>> again) by my white-trashy lack of taste!
>
>> I too find Dunkin' Donuts coffee superior to Starbucks coffee--and (of
>> course) considerably less exorbitant.
>
>> And here may be the "American language" connection that Ron was searching
>> for: Now that Baskin Robbins is frequently "bundled" with Dunkin' Donuts,
>> one can accompany a cup of the good coffee with a DONUT A LA MODE!  The
>> phrase "donut a la mode" gets only 8 Google hits, "donut ala mode" 5,
>> "doughnut a la mode" 4, and "doughnut ala mode" 1.
>
> --Charlie
>
> Now that the American language connection has been established I feel I can
> safely opine on the list... As some on the list may recall, I live in
> Brazil. We have really great coffee in Brazil. I have always considered
> Starbucks to be an economic manifestation of the Emperor Has No Clothes
> syndrome. Their coffee is totally ordinary*, overpriced, marketed 100% to
> snob appeal (sort of like most Napa-Sonoma wines) and completely lacking of
> any substance whatever - as the Emperor was lacking of clothes but no one
> dared say so. However, Starbucks and their competition in myriad other
> expensive-coffee joints, are my only, even imaginable solution to getting a
> drinkable cup of coffee in the USA. I go into a Starbucks or similar, do not
> look at the menu, disregard the frou-frou, and simply ask the attendant:
> Give me a double of whatever your strongest, blackest coffee is. It is
> always a disappointment, but it is closer than anything else.
>
> *Not many remember that Starbucks was caught out a few years ago as having
> been duped by Central American coffee suppliers who were selling them very
> ordinary coffee for very expensive prices, etcetera and such: even the
> Starbucks people could not tell good coffee from bad. What a scam...
> DAD
>
>
> _____________________________________________________________
>
>
>
>>
>> In a message dated 8/1/08 11:59:03 AM, laurence.horn at YALE.EDU writes:
>>
>>
>>> And they really do make better, stronger coffee than dunkin donuts, or Au
> Bon Pain, IMHO.
>>>
>>
>> IMHO, Starbucks is the biggest joke in American coffee history. The
> emphasis is on the BUCKS, and the methodology is pretentiousness. Their
> sense of how to make "better, stronger" coffee is to overroast it until it
> tastes burned, having us believe that that charred flavor is sophisticated.
> McDonalds has better coffee, on the whole, and Dunkin Donuts is right up
> there with Gevalia (in many cases better). And one can buy D.D. at Costco
> (who also carry Starbucks as well).
>>
>> Not sure what that has to do with American language, but then half of what
> is said here is pretty irrelevant, so there you are.
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~
My husband has found one solution to the problem of finding drinkable coffee
coffee while travelling:  We carry a jar of our own very dark-roasted beans
ground fine at home, which we simply add to taste to the strong hot coffee
usually available at (awk!) McDonalds, allow to settle, decant into our own
cups & voila! The trick is to find coffee that is served hot enough to brew
with.
AM

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org