I lived in Toronto, Canada prior to the arrival of Starbucks in that city. Each new location opening in our residential or work neighborhoods was a cause for celebration. For years, my husband and I were five-days-a-week customers. At least.
The Starbucks experience has always been about customization. Instead of carafes of already-brewed coffee behind the counter, each beverage is prepared fresh, to individual taste.
Because we were regular customers, the staff knew my husband preferred a lighter roast, and what size cup to fill. They knew I preferred my chai latte – a spiced East Indian tea – with two pumps of spice rather than three.
Chai is traditionally made from warmed milk. Whether that milk is low-fat or full-fat, this beverage is dairy intensive.
My longtime physician, of Asian descent, heartily approved. Generations of women in her culture are prone to weak bones due to a shortage of calcium in their low-dairy cuisines.
After we moved to a small town, Starbucks became a big-city treat rather than a regular part of our lifestyle. But that’s all over now.
Last month, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson told journalists his company intends to start pressuring customers to use less dairy and more soy and almond milk. Not for nutritional reasons. But because fake milk apparently has a lower carbon footprint.
There’s nothing natural about these ‘kinds of milk.’ They are highly processed foods, totally new to human metabolism. Some dieticians have begun sounding the alarm about people who consume them in large quantities.
But that ignores the elephant in the room. When I walk into a Starbucks, I’m the one paying the bill. In exchange for a particular experience.
When I walk into a Starbucks I’m thinking about the day ahead, my deadlines and responsibilities. The last thing I need or am prepared to tolerate is someone pressuring me about the carbon footprint associated with my choice of beverage.
So sayonara, Starbucks. My carbon footprint won’t ever again be your concern. From now on, I’ll be patronizing coffee shops that don’t patronize me.
Read more at Big Pic News
heh heh heh, I’ve ditched s*bucks for many years now, only drink some if somebody has brought it for breakfast potluck or some such thing. Not only for their lunatic political stances, but primarily for the silly burnt beans that they think make the coffee taste ‘richer’ when in reality it just tastes burnt. As for the fake milk(s), think of how much water is used to force a nut or oat into being a pale liquid; all the while the enviro whackos despair at over-consumption of water.
I stopped going to Starbucks a few years ago when the CEO pulled other PC Bull Dropping stunts. This is just one more reason to not go there (I do enjoy an occasional latte with real(tm) milk but not from Starbucks!)
My wife does drink a cup of almond “milk” a day at the recommendation of her doctor because it has a higher % daily recommended calcium over a cup of milk. She wouldn’t drink more than a cup of milk so this is a good compromise for her. But no Starbucks for her either
I reduce my carbon footprint by not driving to Starbucks and making coffee at home.
Exactly. I’m not concerned about my carbon footprint, either. I make my own coffee, add some half’n’half plus a shot of Yukon Jack. Starbucks can’t touch that.
I certainly applaud the author’s decision to “vote with her feet.” Rationality & common sense need to make a HUGE comeback. Let the revolution begin!!!
Its just getting more and more rediculous all this Global Warming/Climate Change load of mindless drivel this whole thing of Global Warming/Climate Change is as idiotic the idea that the Earth is flat