clickie | coffee disappointments

Either my taste is getting more and more specific, or it is increasingly harder to get a good latte or cappucino these days. I used to think that Peet's did a consistently better job than Starbucks at basic coffee beverages, but alas, that no longer seems to be the case. I think the only place left that can make a consistently good cappucino may be Torrefazione Italia. That's hard to get to, though, and of course may merely be an idealization by me because of the infrequency of my visits.

In any case, I am formulating a new theory that Peet's fans are merely the same breed of coffee drinking yuppie as Starbucks fans, but even snobbier. I think that there is no evidence that Peet's is any better at making consistently good espresso beverages than Starbucks, and may in fact be less consistent. However, because the Peet's stores are fewer in number, they seem more fancy and hardcore, and therefore your people who shun Starbucks often say they prefer Peet's, when in fact, they're really about the same in quality. Their coffee tastes different, I'll grant, and some may prefer one over the other, but fundamentally both chains are yuppie snobby chains that cater to a select group of people willing to pay too much for a fancy coffee drink. I think that Peet's has just somehow managed to convince its clientele that it is somehow even fancier and more elitist than mass-market Starbucks, without actually doing anything to prove that outside of selling even fewer choices than Starbucks.

Peet's has better tea, though, and fresher pastries, but Starbucks has better merchandise and toffee nut lattes.