Oooh... cheap drip and free refills.

Yes! One small but definite step closer to handjobs at Starbucks.

first good idea starbucks has had in years.

that and pumpkin scones...

now if they would just treat soy drinkers with a little respect and didn't charge them up the ass for it.

And I still won't go to Starbucks.

Bring back Chanticos!

Howie Schultz, Paul Allen, Frank Brickowski. aka the seattle wrecking crew.

What they really need is for the baristas to dress up in slutty outfits.

@2 just go to the Gay Starbucks on Olive and you can get a HJ in the bathroom any day of the week (for the record I'm kidding but wouldn't be surprised if true).

I'd take this moment to rag on Starbucks, but a cute guy flirted with me in a Starbucks on Sunday, (yes, it IS a rare event), so I'm feeling benevolent.

But their coffee still sucks, and the prices are ridiculous.

I've completely changed my opinion on Starbucks to being very pro. First, the drip coffee, which is mostly what I drink, is better than about 75% of the independent places out there. Of course anywhere there is a variation in quality in terms of when and how it was brewed, but in general I believe Starbucks coffee is certainly above average. Second, the employees are almost always friendlier than just about anywhere. This leads me to suspect they are treated better than most comparible jobs, which is something I've had confirmed by first hand accounts.

But, will a small drip actually be a "small drip", or will $tarbuck$ give it a pretentious, pseudo-Italian name such as "piccocino"?

Why is the Olive Starbucks the gay Starbucks? I've always thought of it more as the SPD Starbucks.

All I know is the diner across the street near Gasworks sells refilled coffee for something like $1.50 - and we're talking big cups, with creamers and sugar and nice friendly people at Varsity ...

@3, hmmmmmm pumkin scones.....((drool))

The only coffee I EVER get at Starbucks is a double short americano with several ice cubes. And they only get that drink right once or twice a week. Soooooo... instead of cheap coffee how about GET THE FUCKING DRINK ORDERS RIGHT??!!!!!!!

Hmmm. If they were to do that it would probably be the beginning of the end. Starbucks doesn't sell coffee. Rather, it sells a "unique experience". At least that's their marketing philosophy and it's served them well.

If they were to abandon this approach they would never be able to differentiate themselves from the rest of the world. Their cachet would be lost forever.

Too bad their actual coffee is the most awful, burnt-ass, turpentiney brew you'll ever drink.

An average American idiot (Luke Wilson), frozen in a government experiment 500 years ago, wakes up to find that humanity has gotten so stupid, he is now the smartest person on Earth. Everybody watches Ow, My Balls! on the Violence Channel and buys hand jobs at Starbucks. America is run by the House of Representin'; the secretary of state is brought to you by Carl's Jr., AOL Time Warner and Taco Bell.("Idiocracy")
$1 cups? Kinda gives me the jitters just thinking about it.

Starbuck's drip coffee, as The CHZA mentioned, is horrendous, and eats a hole in my gut. They can keep their free refill.

In fact, they can keep the initial fill, too. Ugh.

They should give away their drip coffee, it sucks ass.

Soon Seattle coffee drinkers will lose their stupid pretensions, and start looking for simple, cheap coffee. Then and only then, Dunkin' Donuts can make their triumphant return to the NW.

In some ways Starbucks helped revolutionize America. They are definitely a part of the movement that brought back the neighborhood coffee house (to a neighborhood near you)

Have they lost their way in their quest for world domination? Perhaps they have. Too much marketing of junk, too much high calorie fatty shit on the menu.

On the other hand, when I leave the PNW I can usually count on Sbux for a decent cup of something. For instance I was recently in Austin and went to a indie coffee house. I then got in the car to drive to the hill country and as I took a sip I gaged on the horror of the coffee. Then I went past a Sbux and grabbed a very decent cup of coffee. Same was true in Philadelphia and recently in Florida.

I am sure there are great indie coffee house in all of those places (i have even found some) but I have also run into some very very bad coffee. At least I can usually count on Starbucks to be decent. Just sayin'

At that price, its worth it to buy one just to dump one on a bicyclist's head, as their running you out of the crosswalk. If you don't get run down, hand it to a bum. Everyone wins!

The CHZA nails it. $tarbuck$ doesn't have the slightest idea how to brew coffee (as opposed to that overpriced fru-fru crap with all the milk and soy and sweet syrups and shit). Selling that stale burnt stuff cheap doesn't make it any less burnt or any less stale.

Would that there were a Dunkin Donuts or three on every corner like in New England. That's coffee.

Finally the voice of reason. Dunkin' Donuts rules. And the decor -- straightforward, honest formica, steel and glass -- is good too. We have places like that here in Seattle, but they're few and far between, and getting scarcer. Westernco Donut on 15th NW, for instance. Now you're as likely as not to run into some dweeb trying to sell you CUPCAKES for chrissake. CUPCAKES! What, are we going to have bloons an' noisemakers too? BLOONS! Fuck off.

Dunkin' Donuts fucking sucks shit out of donkey butts.

What do you know, you probably LIKE hearing goddamn Eric Clapton coming out of the overhead speakers, not quite drowning out the cell phone women telling their friends what color tights they just bought at Eddie Bauer, while the burnt Starbucks dribbles over your knuckles and onto your tie as you perch on your little stool.

dunkin donuts sucks. anyone who claims different is nostalgic for crap. I went to a few over my lifetime. this putting down of dunkin donuts doesn't mean starbucks is any better.

Quality beats price any day, and if anyone should recognize that, it's Starbucks. Never thought I'd see the day they tried to undercut on price, any more than Outback offering a $5 steak. At least they've got a couple Clovers - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/dining/23coff.htm