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The Kitchen Table

What do non-coffee drinkers get at Starbucks?

15 years ago

I'm meeting some friends tonight at Starbucks. In the past, I've gotten mochas, but I don't want the caffeine tonight. What else is there to get? Maybe a steamed milk? With what flavor?

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Comments (20)

linda_in_iowa
15 years ago
You could get a delicious chai tea latte. You could also get a decaf coffee.
OklaMoni
15 years ago
indy, how about a hot chocolate?

At first, without reading your message I was going to say: used coffee grounds (ucg).

I get some all the time. Use them all over my lawn as fertilizer, use them as worm food in my vermicomposting bin, and use ucg in my compost pile.

They are free, bagged in nice silver shiny bags (that can be recycled as plant holders, when you share plants out of your yard) and plentiful.

At least, I am a non coffee drinker and get them at starbucks.

Moni
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In my experience (and I've used literally TONS of Starbucks grounds over the years) you cannot setup a schedule with them. It's first come first serve. If you are lucky enough to find a store that customers have not already started collecting grounds from (unlikely) it will not last long. Once people see you taking bags of grounds out, they'll either ask you what you are doing with them or ask the store employees. Soon you'll be competing to get to them first. If you have a regular schedule, someone else will figure it out and adjust there's to get there before you. The best strategy is to just be consistent and accumulate a pile of bags covered with a tarp as the sun degrades the plastic. If you collect from a store that collects the drip grounds in addition to or instead of the machine "pucks" - expect the bags to leak and ruin the carpet in your car - so use a plastic tote in your car. If you want, you can break up the pucks without staining your hands by making a frame of 2x4's and a 1/2" or 1/4" hardware cloth scrren and scrape them through the screen with something like a flat shovel. They really have many uses. Some are: -- layer around shrubs and then cover with mulch in spring. -- use in lasagna layers as a green (beans are green before roasting). -- compost them (again, as a green) -- mix into soil before and after planting a high N crop. -- sprinkle over soil as a slug deterrent - still some caffeine content - I haven't read prove this really works, but I believe it does. -- dry them on a board in the sun and break fine. Use as an organic, time release lawn fertilizer. Spread heavily when grass is dry.
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Ok I know the filter, being paper, is a brown in itself. However when used, soaked with coffee, is it now a green? I am talking the mass, not the orginal product. I don't think I will get enough to really make a huge difference in my compost making. But am just wondering if a brown soaked with a green now makes it a green as a mass, would a mass of paper soaked with liquid gold now be a mass of green? I guess I am wondering how much coffee in liquid form would it take to balance out the brown of the filter. Sandy
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Hi! I just wanted to give you my formula. I bought 12 plastic (3 gal.) trash baskets and I lined them with (8 gal.)bags. I drop off two lined containers in the a.m. and bring back two clean lined baskets a couple of days later in the a.m. When I pick those up, UCG and filters go in together. I make sure the trash containers are washed, rinsed and lined. after I dump them. I carry a cement plastic tub in my truck and set the cans, liners and all in the tubs. (just in case of a spill). I worked from three different coffee shops.I tipped and bought mocha or coffee regularly. This worked fine till I went on vacation for a month. My DH picked up only from his favorite coffee house and put the bags in a big pile out in the yard. I had made arrangements with the other two shops that I would be on vacation. When I got home and had to pry frozen bags off the grass and spread them out I thought I would freeze my fingers off. "Boy it was cold" After that I made arrangements to wait till spring to collect more grounds. I now have an acre of grass covered with grounds and 5 nice size lasagna beds waiting to plant. I now turn them about every month. Can't wait to get started again. In the mean time my Chiropractor saves me shredded mail and I am still collecting for the next bed. The Cement tub is always in the truck waiting in case I spy any thing I can use in my beds. I love collecting and gardening. This is very addicting!!!
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This thread is definitely getting some mileage... Evaluating and recommending coffee, especially grading outlets that brew it is a nearly impossible task: Consistency in roasting coffee is the main thing that sets a master apart from the run of the mill roaster. Good espresso is almost always a blend of beans from different parts of the world all contributing to a certain aspect in the finished cup. The finished flavor of the combined beans is controlled by the taste buds of the roaster that does the blending. So the first challenge is finding a flavor profile that you like. The next challenge is getting that same flavor the next time they blend a batch for roasting. It's not too tough if their supply of green beans is large enough that they can simply follow a ratio of this bean and that bean the next time they blend from that stash of beans; they follow a recipe. The thing that sets the great roaster apart from the typical is the ability to achieve the same flavor profile when new beans come in from the growers. Simply using the bean from the same variety, even the same farmer, is not a guarantee because growing conditions alter the flavor of the bean from season to season. The master roaster must be able to tweak the recipe, and at times even introduce an entirely new varietal into the mix, in order to achieve the same flavor. This is no easy endeavor! So saying, "I like Luigi's espresso roast from ACME Roasters" is no guarantee that it will taste the same the next time you buy it. Add to this the short life span of a roasted bean before huge flavor differences occur (2 weeks max), the ability or lack of ability to properly grind and brew the stuff, the quality of your water, etc, etc- coffee is a very crazy culinary world of variables. I pride myself in having a very good knowledge of the subject, over twenty years of personal experience and pursuit, a ridiculously expensive set of brewing equipment; and I am constantly disappointing myself in my own ability to make a great cup of coffee. Espresso is the hardest. Even with pro equipment worth several thousand dollars and all of my skill, I think I can safely claim an 80% to 90% success rate in preparing what I consider a perfect shot. To get a success rate that consistent takes an almost insane degree of passion and concentration. There are definitly some exceptions but I find it so hard to buy a decent cup of coffee, I usually don't. To repeat what I said earlier about the genious of Starbucks- their roasting style is the best one for producing consistency regardless of the person preparing it, assuming that person has a modicum of training. The delicate nature and subtle nuances of a light to medium roast is traded at Starbucks for a robust, almost singular monotone flavour. I don't like the stuff but I understand so many that do, because of the consistency and lack of surprise. Follow your nose and your tastebuds. Not every flavor appeals to every person. Consider Liver and Onions for instance... michaelp Here is a link that might be useful: the prize...
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naughtykitty
15 years ago
I like the green tea lemonade. The first sip is very strange but then it is wonderfully refreshing.
socks
15 years ago
Herbal tea.
junkyardgirl
15 years ago
the chai tea latte is to die for! I get it every time I go there, because I don't like their coffee.
okwriter
15 years ago
I have never set foot in a Starbucks. I drink my coffee black, so it would be a waste for me to order anything except water. LOL!
dilly_dally
15 years ago
Izze. The sparkling pomegranate is my favorite though they have others. Starbucks is the only place I've found that serves it to be consumed on premise. I have started to see it show up in grocery stores recently.
susanjf_gw
15 years ago
i love the green tea frappachino, but i'm pretty sure it's caffinated tea...(same for the chai tea)
stephanie_in_ga
15 years ago
Before I acquired the taste for a latte, when I met friends at Starbucks, I would get the caramel apple cider. Yum. If I meet friends at any coffee shop for a late evening chat I also don't want the caffeine. Then I'll have hot herbal tea.
carol_in_california
15 years ago
All I have ever gotten from Starbucks is a bad attitude by the server......but I am going to ask for used coffee grounds next time I go in.
intherain
15 years ago
Carol, you'd love my local Starbucks. They are the nicest people!

Several of the blended drinks don't have coffee. My son love the vanilla bean frappacino.
western_pa_luann
15 years ago
This non-coffee drinker has never set foot in a Starbucks.... so I am of no help!
jayokie
15 years ago
Don't drink coffee & can't see myself in Starbucks. With them closing all over the nation due to falling sales, they spent no-telling-how-much re-doing a corner (busy intersection) to build a new bldg in the town where I work. Once the old bldg was torn down, in-ground area filled in, etc. it took them 'forever' to actually build! What a waste, IMO.
angela_nor_calif
15 years ago
Vanilla Bean is my favorite. My DD got blended lemonade recently and it was pretty good too. I also like the blended chai tea frappacino. Very yummy.
jannie
15 years ago
My husband doesan't like coffee at all, but I do like Starbucks. About once a week, I coax him in. He orders a Frasppaccino, it tastes like a milkshake.
dilly_dally
15 years ago
Soooo? Indy_anna, what did you order? did you get the Izze sparkling fruit juice I suggested? Steamed milk? Apple cider? What? How was it?
flowerpotmama
15 years ago
I would get the Chai Tea Latte when we lived near one. It was heavenly. I should try to make one.

What did you get? What did you get?

Danielle
joyfulguy
15 years ago
I entered a Starbucks ... once.

Prices caused my eyes to cross - or something.

Didn't buy anything ... left.

Haven't been back.

(Caffeine before bed doesn't seem to interfere with my sleep).

o j
FlamingO in AR
15 years ago
Gosh, all these things sound wonderful, I've never heard of Izze before, I'll have to google that. The lemonades sound good, too.

Dying to know what Indy ordered!
Indy_Anna
Original Author
15 years ago
I had a great visit. Two friends from high school who are still close friends of mine. One is returning to work from maternity leave next week and wanted to get away from the house. The other is 34 weeks pregnant.

I learned at Starbucks they can make ANY drink decaf. I also saw that bags you guys talked about for used coffee grounds. I thought about asking for some for our compost bin. I was having too much fun with my friends to bother with it at the time.

I don't know what the new mom got, but she forgot to ask for decaf. Pregnant mom got hot chocolate. I got steamed low fat milk with hazelnut syrup. It was 8:30pm, so it was a good choice. I got my calcium and not too many calories.

Steph's caramel apple cider sounds great. I may have to make another visit this fall.

Thanks for everyone's input. It was fun reading through your responses.

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