I asked for a small black coffee at a Starbucks the first time in the US. It tasted like black, burnt coal. They roast the beans far too much. It is almost undrinkable without copious amounts of milk, sugar and what have you. (This was some years ago. Hopefully, things have improved.)
I don't like the taste of coffee. There used to be a Mocha Almond Fudge frozen yogurt I liked, and that chocolate/coffee combination was the only time I liked a hint of coffee flavor in something. I would guess that's the same flavor those Starbucks people are trying to emulate.
A European wanting to go out for coffee in the US would probably be happier going to a cozy sit down restaurant and only ordering coffee, or even a diner, instead of going to an American coffee shop. That would make a lot more than just a handful of "cozy coffee spots" per large city.
Very nice video! I am from Germany / Bavaria and can also feel your confusion, this has nothing to do with relaxing and drinking a coffee or enjoying it
My dad had a friend that he would meet at Starbucks and they would have a coffee and sit outside on the patio of Starbucks and people-watch and discuss life, politics, etc. Also, there's a coffee place in Sierra Madre, next to Pasadena, where they have couches, cozy seats, etc. It's called Bean Town. I recommend it highly.
PLEASE open a coffee shop in the US. Make it "cozy," etc., and sell NORMAL amounts of good coffee at a normal price. Please don't invent a new language for the coffee sizes like Starbucks does. Thank you.
And it is an unwritten law that anyone who comes to your house is offered tea. Any workman there for longer than five minutes must be offered a 'brew'. Also the answer to any bad news, crisis or disaster is "I'd better put the kettle on."
It is because in the US you don’t walk, you drive. That’s the root of it. The older pre-car towns in Europe are made for walking around, and then you need to sit and rest somewhere like a coffee shop.
but those starbucks coffee is as much coffee as a normal small cup of coffee. Plus its only starbucks that makes those coffee milkshakes. A lot of us just sit down for a cup of coffee.. that was my first date with my now wife was to sit down and drink coffee. Did you spend your entire time in the US in California and nyc?
I do enjoy a iced coffee probably because all the sugar. Hahah mostly I drink black with nothing no sugar nought & yes mostly instant but ya know hahah great vid thanks.
There ARE nice coffee shops in the US where people sit and hang out in a lovely environment, but it very much depends on the city and in that sense, forget LA or SF. check out user photos from Linnaeas Cofe Shop in San Luis Obispo for example.
The Waffle House, most diners actually, serve regular coffee, in regular sized ceramic mugs, without all the syrups and frills. And people sit there and socialize. ☕
In Slovenia, our cappuccinos are sometimes adorned with such artistic coffee drawings that we feel guilty drinking them, as if we're destroying a masterpiece just to stay awake. 😉
How much of those giant Starbucks coffees is actually coffee and how much is syrup? You reminded me of another European girl talking about adjusting to American hectic lifestyles when she said she realised early on that when she met up with American friends they often didn't stay long or would cancel at the last minute. She thought it was her. Later she realised many Americans like to fill their diaries with multiple meet ups during the day so would often be rushing from one to the other or running behind and have to cancel. I think just about everywhere in Europe you would not do that unless it was unavoidable. The aim would be to focus on one event and give that your time.
I didn't start drinking coffee until after college (1995), but then I found an awesome coffee house right in my town. It was very much like the one in Friends. Super popular, always full of people. Unfortunately, due to bad management, it closed suddenly and I haven't found anything like it since. But back then, even the one Starbucks in town was kind of like that. There was no drive-through, and the baristas were older and really knew their coffee.
@@HarpSealsDFW A lot of it was Starbucks. Cafés don't pay the bills with just young people buying drinks. Margins are too low. You can raise revenue with events. But a steady baseline is having things like a breakfast rush. Starbucks will sell you a McBagel on prime real estate.
In Slovenia, we don’t have Starbucks because our local coffee is so good it makes even the mermaid reconsider her choices. ☕ And sometimes we also get a free "piškotek" with our coffee.
People in America always seem to be in a rush to get somewhere else. We don't seem to just sit and relax for a few as much as other cultures. Don't know why that is.
Thanks for this post. We recently returned from a 12 day trip to Slovenia. I must say Micha, the barista at Jezersko Lake, made the best cappuccino I've ever had. He said it was the best because he made it with LOVE because we were in sLOVEnia ! In my 12 days in Slovenia I'd estimate I ordered 30 cappuccinos. I did miss my 'cafe mocha' I get here in the states, but yes, cappuccino in Slovenia is the best! Having said that, my new favorite coffee shop here in Columbus, Ohio checks all of Barbara's boxes. Nice atmosphere, comfy furniture, plants all around, ceramic cups ( if requested ) and the friendliest owner and baristas in any coffee shop. Yes, I gave a 'Shout Out' to Koffee Paradise ! :)
Rural Midwest in the 70's, every town had a diner that opened at 5:30am, serving coffee to farmers, that would gossip for an hour or two, before work, I really miss it. You might try looking for 24hr. diners, to get coffee closer to what you are used to, or even truck stops, fair warning the coffee may be strong & hot. Sorry to ramble, but coffee culture, bugs me for the same reasons, I love percolators. ☕️☕️☕️
those "coffee" abominations from Starbucks are just diabetes in a cup... as the old joke goes " I like my coffee like I like my women....hot and bitter!" 😉
So accurate and as a Swede our social coffee breaks at work is kind of holy and seen as positive for the work spirit and foster the good climate vs other co-workers and even bosses to some extent. The plutarchy and religious work "ethic" in America is very alien to me.
Sitting down for hours with a friend, ranting about the state of the world, reinventing society, gossiping about neighbors, this is life, this is a community!
DOES AMERICA DRINK COFFEE? COME ON! It s anything you want but no coffe .500 kinds of coffee and all mess. As for the cafe culture, it's like the grandparents were digging
I don't get Americans putting cream in coffee, bleaaugh, it's like having a pick-me-up with a bedtime drink or maybe speed with downers. As for those weird sTbuX concoctions . . . I don't even know what purpose they serve, h@rt attax maybe?
Starbucks is overrated and overpriced. Those sizes you can see with bottles as well, the USA smoll ones r or same same as European biggest ones or even bigger than that. The adding of so much things, those ppl who do tend 2 be very pretentious as far i have seen. I am a big eater and i wouldn't even call those things a dessert, but more a smoll dinner. That is why these starbuck junk is getting pushed here, because governments can get more yachts. The French restaurant called magot issa funny. Is the Turkish coffee made with a Turkish fruit? I do say the quick 2 go thing seems 2 more in big cities, even in a lot of European place, at least more in western side of it. While in USA the smaller cities you can find more sitting places compared 2 the big cities. That car looks like it have 2 behinds. Here the outside chairs do tend 2 be wooden or plastic, but inside you have the more cosey sitting places. It is because lots of rain. Those fancy ones you do have 2 look a bit for here, but they do exist. The coffee is only afordable here if earn a decent amount, it is pretty expensive here from what i have seen and heard. As i don't like coffee much myself (although haven't tried icecofffee yet). I know lots of other drinks have risen up a lot, than add a very high taxation on top of it, even though it is supposed 2 be food/drink tax, they don't do that with restaurant and suchs, it is weird. In some states the profit margin is lower compared 2 others, because they have higher taxation, well the profit margin of government is higher in those states, while the corporation it is lower. Some supermarkets you can get free coffee or tea or just water, but cups tend 2 be very smoll. Stay awesome and postive, Little Squirrelie🐿☕.
I agree. In Chicago the coffee is human fuel, not a social drink. There’s no habit to drink coffee for relax. Coffee is more like I need it to keep my regular 125% of productivity
@@soojoe you probably right. In the sub people spend more time together so probably coffee might be a social event. But on the other hand - in Europe (I’m from PL) it’s kind of obvious that to see someone, you call him/her for coffee.
waffle houses and cracker barrels still use ceramic coffee cups but any places that just serves coffee just uses paper. If you want a ceramic cup coffee experience you would need to go to a restaurant
Starbucks is to coffee what McDonald's is to food. It's an outsized, distorted, low-quality replica of something great. I live in a city which has locally owned coffee shops, yet, Starbucks is still thriving here. I just don't get it. I think a reason to consume coffee while walking around is: if there's 5 tablespoons of sugar in the coffee, one needs the exercise to fend off obesity. I only add milk or cream to my coffee; there's already enough sugar in everything else.
I haven't noticed any of this to the extent you're talking about, but then again, I live in the countryside of the United States. We do have Starbucks, but I never liked it. That company's coffee has a weird aftertaste. I just make my own at home. Also, we have cafes and restaurants that serve self-roasted coffee & brewed teas. I suppose it just depends. From observation though it's the cities that have just accepted the selling of coffee in that manner that are like that too. The whole hustle and bustle burnt bean type of coffee and dessert type of coffee.
When I was very little, my wonderful Slovenian grandparents, Katarina and John Slosar, would make a little cup of coffee for me, with 1/2 cup warm milk, sugar and 1/2 cup instant coffee. I’m 68 years old and I still remember how wonderful it tasted. Communication was difficult because they didn’t speak English very well. But the one thing they communicated to me that I understood so well and I still feel it today, was the love they had for me. I’m a proud Slovenian American.🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮
Here in the US, if you want to get your coffee in an actual coffee mug, you need to go to a sit-down restaurant. The coffee houses assume you're not gonna stay long, so they don't put much effort into amenities. That said, finding a sit-down restaurant with good coffee might be a challenge.
In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, we’d hang out at Starbucks or elsewhere. Come visit, and you will be my guest. My Great Grandfather was from Slovenia 💙Also, you’re right…we don’t have many cozy coffee places around here.
It is because in American culture the lifestyle is so rushed. There is never enough time for anything. Everybody is constantly running around going from place to place on the next thing. And coffee should be a time of relaxation and a break a time out, but it’s more used as a fuel to continue to keep going and moving onto the next thing. that’s why they don’t bother having cozy sitting areas and coffee because 90% of the people will just go through the drive-through. It is very true of getting coffee with somebody is driving to the coffee shop going through the drive-through getting the coffee and then driving to the next thing or the next place while drinking your coffee.
Down with American coffee culture!!! Now, I'm depressed. I'm going to take pills tonight. Or maybe I'll just have a Frappuccino and call the off-yourself hotline. But I won't be going to Starby's. Ever again. Because Barbie speaks only the truth. If I didn't believe her, I would be a bad simp, and that's not good for anyone.
Starbucks is sugary drinks made with burnt coffee. Total diabetes-inducing garbage. I'm putting Lavazza or Illy in my moka pot every morning. Flavor that needs no modification.
This is what urbanists call the loss of the third-place in the USA. For many, coffee is the quick-fix pill for not sleeping well, or enough. That $11 coffee, I don't know, is status, and Starbucks has to pay rent and for the parking lot. I'll complain that inflation made the cheap gas station coffee over $2, now.
Nah, you're over-thinking the size thing and extra stuff added to it. Americans just like things in excess, extremely so. Also makes me think that they don't really like coffee since all the stuff they add to it hides the flavor of the coffee. Currently there's a Coffee Mate commercial using the tagline "worlds biggest coffee lovers", and they sell flavors like 'Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie' and 'Crème Brulee', 'Frosted Gingerbread'.🤦♂ They want a liquid dessert, not coffee.
Europe ruined coffee in America for me. I lived in Spain and Germany and traveled all over Europe and the coffee practically everywhere was wonderful. Except for the small hole-in-the-wall coffee houses, frankly coffee sucks in America. I don't even waste my money anymore on buying coffee in shops. It tastes like dishwater to me. And our American habit of rushing through everything extends to restaurants. My wife is German and the first time she came to America, she went into a restaurant committing her first mistake by simply walked to an empty table and sitting down. Then she expected that she would be able to sit at her table as long as she wanted European style. Another mistake. Immediately after getting her food, the waiter put the check on the table. Not very enjoyable for her.
Can empathize with Barabara, the three hours I go without coffee are usually miserable. Don't consider "cafes" like Starbucks coffee, typically overpriced syrups and milk with average coffee blended in. Bless you in your quest for real coffee cafes wherever you may travel. ☕☕☕☕
Ireland seems to be halfway between US and Europe in terms of coffee culture. I see lots of young people with coffee on the go. And especially with those Frappuccinos. But I do see people sit down and enjoy the moment as well. I usually have double espresso ❤. But occasionally when I need something sorted out, my reusable cup is my best friend. Americans are missing out on a big, cosy mood.
I bought a horse and named him mayo, and sometimes Mayo-Neighs. Kawfee is weak, Red Bull is good No its terrible but has as much sugar as some of these starbucks drinks
I personally don't care for Starbucks coffee. If I want to sit and enjoy a cup of regular coffee, I go to Waffle house. The coffee is way better and much cheaper. And if you get hungry you can order breakfast any time of day or night.
