I love Dunkin’. Karen likes foo foo Starbucks.
My coffee-drinking career started at gas stations.
Every once in a while, I’d pull in during my 35-mile drive to work those days and buy a cup of pick-me-up. I was already an adult, on the north side of 30. Why, after all those years of sodas, I experimented with cup ‘o joe, I’m not totally sure. I think it was a cold day in winter and I craved something warm.
That was before the era of brand names, during the American period of plain pots, black handle for regular, red handle for decaf. It did not taste great.
But it started to wrap its beanie aura around me.
In the work cafeteria, they had a machine that spit java into tiny cups emblazoned with playing cards — poker hands, I recall. I began to bring change for a second cup a day. It tasted worse than the gas station eye-opener.
Then the big daily hired a guy to bring in a food service. That coincided with the arrival of designer pots, filled drip-by-drop with far more tastier varieties. I do believe Green Mountain made me smile.
Soon, I discovered a Dunkin’ Donuts on the route of my lunchtime walk. I ventured inside for a third daily cup. It was the best-tasting coffee. Ever.
Now that smart company packages its ground-brown so you can start your day with that aroma, that taste, that totally embracing experience, before you pull on your big-boy pants.
I am a coffee drinker, along with my dear wife Karen, measured by pots instead of cups.
Notice the lack of the mention of Starbucks here.
I do not enjoy the upper crust of corner boutique coffee pourers at all. I do not have a barista on my daily agenda. The coffee is just too strong for me. Its taste clobbers my buds. It makes my tummy hurt. After that quick discovery, I loved my smooth — OK, middle-of-the-road — Dunkin’ even more.
So one day this month I was in line at the Destiny USA Dunkin’ Donuts to pick up cup four during a walk. I noticed a T-shirt in that little island of take-it-home they place just before you get to the counter. Friends Don’t Let Friends Drink Starbucks it proclaimed, a DD-logo’ed cup proudly beside the adoring message. I told Karen about it, a little birthday request.
Got it.
But Karen, you see, enjoys her occasional Starbucks on top of that morning Dunkin’. She particularly covets what I call the foo-foo line from the Seattle behemoth.
Yesterday, in our visit to Destiny USA, she grabbed a cup of Peppermint Mocha. I was wearing my birthday shirt. I asked the greeter in the Apple store to capture the conflict with my iPhone 4.
He obliged. Friendly family feud.
Are you a member of the coffee brigade? Are you brand-specific? What do you love? Are you a hater?
Mark Bialczak 
Mark, you do have an understanding wife – that she would get you that shirt promoting YOUR favorite coffee over hers. 😉
During the week, Dave and I drink Fair Trade coffee. But on the weekends, he goes to Dunkin Donuts to get me a loaded (cream and sugar) regular coffee. Love it. (I do drink Starbucks coffee at Barnes and Noble, but I prefer DD.) I recall after a severe snowstorm in Liverpool, many years ago, that people were getting cabin fever. The first place we headed to: Dunkin Donuts. YES!!
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You are lucky that you can partake in the good stuff and the super-strong stuff, Judy. No Starbucks-or-equivalent shocking blend for me. Long live DD for you and Dave.
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I have been a long time militant against the Starbucks evil Empire. I too, am a Dunkin’ man. I got to get me one of those shirts bro….
I might consider divorce. It is obviously an attempt to undermine your manhood…..Just saying. LOL!!
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Because my wife bought me the DD shirt (and many other reasons) I care not a bit that she indulges in an occasional Starbucks foo-foo, Trey. Yes, I am a secure man …
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Be watchful…. Ever so watchful
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Man, I do love me some coffee. 🙂
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You betcha!
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BLEND MY OWN FRENCH ROAST WITH BUTTERSCOTCH CREAMER. IF NOT THAT START THE DAY WITH A HUGE DR. PEPPER. NO DIET STUFF THOUGH. THAT WILL KILL YOU.
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A diet soda will kill you but a HUGE Dr. Pepper to start the day is OK. I get it, Angie. Maybe.
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i love it all, more of a dunkin’ woman though as i usually drink my coffee black or with cream, none of the foo foo for me – great pic
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Cream only. For a treat, I get the blueberry DD flavor. Thanks, Beth. Fi, fie, foo-foo, fum. I smell plain DD coffee and to it I run.
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Great photo – and t-shirt! I’m not a coffee girl – yet. I have my Diet Coke in the am and stay pretty set for the rest of the day. However, when I’m really, really dragging…I’ll put about 3/4 cup of cream in with a splash of coffee…I have baby tastebuds! 🙂
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You have yet to hit coffee age, youngster. Here’s a good way to introduce yourself instead of that 3/4 cup of cream … ever have Bailey’s in coffee? Now that will warm ya’ good.
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You’re speakin’ my language!
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I love coffee but I have never been inside a starbucks. Not even once.
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You are not missing anything but a pretty good soundtrack (usually), Rachel. Is there a java spot you prefer in London?
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I have two! Both local: one an independent where I go with my daughter on Mondays and the other part of a small chain of Italian places (I think the staff could be Italian or they put on the accent). Loved the place we visited on Friday but it was way too late for coffee.
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Plain coffee or more advanced latte/espresso/chai drinks, Rachel. I will guess: plain coffee, spoon of sugar, splash of cream.
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I am a latte girl. No sugar though. Not ever.
I am full of surprises!
At home I like my caffetiere (can’t spell) but i think that may change at Christmas.
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I loved this. I didn’t start drinking coffee until I was 42. I always loved the smell of it. Couldn’t stand the taste of it. Now I do. Bizarre. But, I cannot handle the Starbucks either. It is tooooooo bitter for me. And I am thinking great coffee should not be bitter. 🙂 I love the picture!
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Isn’t it something how we can develop a taste for something halfway down this path of life? On the second half, I, too think bitter coffee is a no-no. Thanks, CM!
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😉 I apparently have your coffee back on this!
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Good post! And, cute picture!
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Thank you, PJ!
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Mark … I’m a loyal fan of Freedom of Espresso (especially the “Joe Heath is the Man” blend) and Cafe Kubal. I can’t deal with Dunkin’, so we have to agree to disagree. I do buy the whole bean bags of Starbucks dark roasts, but I agree the stuff they serve at Starbucks is way too strong. You can’t beat the aroma inside a coffee shop, and when Freedom in Fayetteville roasts their beans a couple of mornings s week, it wafts up the hill all the way to my house a half-mile away. Can’t beat it.
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I know you go local, Jim, and respect you for it. I won’t talk badly about the CNY places you love, but I also find that their blends knock me over. I can’t drink strong coffee, and the smell even knocks me back a foot or two. Agree to disagree. Done.
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I love coffee…and I do like Dunkin over Starbucks anyday! I usually use Maxwell House..dark roast.
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Yes, coffee is an easy way to rock our world, Mer. I have sampled Maxwell House, and like it.
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I wander around town giving the local coffee shops my love. I avoid Starbucks. I love the less commercial feel of the local coffee places and how they seem to be so much a part of the community. But I recently began using the coffee maker at work and I bring my own brew bought from the local grocery store. I’ve saved a ton of money by not going out every day for a latte.
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You remind me that my post neglects the whole economic aspect of DD vs. Starbucks. The fancy cup can cost as much as lunch. Good choice to BYO, SDS.
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