I first came clean on my addiction in this earlier post. However, I have a new confession to make. I have fallen off the wagon. I have stumbled into the abyss of my drug addiction again. My drug of choice? Starbucks Coffee.
I fell off bad... having now consumed the equivalent of 7 shots of espresso in 2 hours! Damn me. (Damn you Mike for buying me another latte!)
I moved to Buenos Aires 10 months ago and was free of my vice. There were no
Starbucks triple-venti, non-fat, no-foam, 1-splenda lattes to be found for thousands and thousands of miles around. I thought I was safe.
And then today came. Starbucks has opened up its first store in Argentina at the Alto Palermo shopping mall. I thought I could stay away. I tried.
I woke up early and took my shower, and lied to my wife on the way out on where I was heading. But after dropping my son off at school, I hopped in a taxi and high tailed it over there. I had to get my fix after all these months.
The place was packed and there was a line out the door almost down to the street corner. But I waited patiently in line for 30 minutes. Fortunately, they were well staffed and handed out samples of their coffee to tease and taunt me while I waited. They even had a doo-wop group signing Mowtown songs to keep everyone entertained while we waited.
I had my first latte after 10 months and damn was it good. It tasted just like I remembered. I ran into the Yankster he bought me another 4 shot grande latte. And of course I had plenty of free drip coffee samples from this guy:
All in all, it was a disaster of a morning for me. For Starbucks, it was a huge success.
More to come in another post. In the mean time, I'll be looking up to see if there is a 12 step program for Starbucks addicts here in BA. I'll leave you with the Doo-wop group singing Blue Moon:
12 comments:
I am surprised they kept the same flavors over there without trying to accomate the local taste.
I drink starbucks, but I cannot stand the lattes. The coffee tastes burnt. I still remember the first time I tried one, in NYC, I could not drink it. After that 1 year passed until I tried a cappuccino, and I could drink this one.
Pablo
I have since abandoned Starbucks altogether since I have discovered FRESH ROASTED Columbian beans that are not cooked into flavorless oblivion as Starbucks is notoriusly known for around the world.
However, I am sorry to hear that you fell off the wagon, but hey at least there is a starbucks now, right?
Yeah, and there will be at least 3 more before the year is out.
Pablo:
They have a few unique flavors for the local pallet. One is a "Mate Latte". It is steamed milk infused with mate. Don't know how big it will go over.
The other of course has Dulce De Leche. I think it is a Mocha with Dulce de Leche.
James:
I miss a good fresh roasted coffee too and do think that Starbucks does burn their beans.
However, their bad beans beat a large majority of the under roasted beans here. With the inflation, more and more coffee stores are using the really awful coffee roasted with sugar. Now, that is some nasty stuff.
Frank:
That's what one of the corporate guys said to me this morning. BTW..I took my daughter there this afternoon and your cookies were are big hit. She said that they were bringing in another truck load while she was waiting (over an hour) in line.
Congratulations, It must of been a big day for you too!
How funny! I was the truck load.
They called me this morning asking me to please send them more cookies because they were not going to be able to wait for their own shipment from their own warehouse.
This volume caught them off-guard. It also caught me off-guard.
Dave, Does Starbucks here sell ground roast coffee to take home? I can't find decent dark-roast coffee in BA, and even the stuff from a reputable place like EST tastes like it has stems and dirt in it.--a New Yorker in BA (Stu)
Stu:
Yes they are selling beans. Even if you think Starbucks over-roasts their beans, they have to be better than the crap they have available in the stores here. (To brew at home -- not to have at a café.)
Hi Dave, Yeah, I went over to Starbucks this afternoon and got the Cafe del Dia. Tastes exactly like the house blend I get in NY (which is my favorite for straight coffee). Picked up a bag of espresso. I don't think Starbucks is the best espresso available, but it's so much better than anything else I've found here that I'm overjoyed to finally be able to get NY-style beans. Now if only it wasn't twice as expensive as in the US...
DAVE,
YOUR DAUGHTER SEEMS MORE MY TYPE, SHE ACTUALLY TALKED ABOUT THE COOKIES!
WHAT DID SHE SAY?
Cookie Monster:
My daughter didn't taste the cookie, but my son did. He said they were the best Chocolate Chip cookies in the world. But I guess you know that since you are working undercover for these guys.
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