Coffee Wars

We’ve all noticed how the coffee wars are heating up, haven’t we? With Starbucks currently ruling the roast it was bound to happen. Although I’m currently a fan of their Sumatra blend and a nice latte venti is still my coffee overindulgence of choice I’m always on the lookout for a cheaper alternative.

Summer-before-last was my first successful experience with Dunkin’ Donuts; an early morning stop-off on the way to the beach at Sandy Hook, NJ. It was not my choice of venue but dictated by companionable fiat. What a nice surprise. Tasty, with a piquant flavor that doesn’t bite back and pretty damn satisfying on a cool early-summer morning.

This year I’ve gone even more mundane, again only because of geographical convenience. I had occasion to drop-off and wait-for someone on a mission-of-mercy at a local beauty parlor and the closest outlet was a Burger King whose signs (that day) touted their new coffee blend. Only needing something hot and reasonably coffee-like I zipped in there, with my NY Times, to kill some minutes and warm the gut. To my surprise the BK Joe pleased the palate almost as much as DD had. That day I drank the regular blend and it exceeded expectations. I’ve been back several times and sampled the “turbo” option once, which was very good but jangled my nerves beyond any comfort level.

I have subsequently sampled the new "premium" brew at McDonalds (which, so far, is by far the cheapest but, to my taste, really sucks). This may not be fair since one man's coffee is another man's mud but I plan to look beyond even McD’s for alternatives. My motivation for this anti-Starbucks research is purely price, which is not really “me” since I firmly believe that you get what you pay for. But what I’m worried about is that both Dunkin’ Donuts and Burger King have already, since my first foray onto their premises, jacked up their prices. Damn ‘em all to hell! I should just stop drinking coffee altogether, that would be the best revenge. I can break myself of this need for caffeine. I can. Really. I can.