Anybody else wish there was a Starbucks at Disney?

[smfnj]

While I've always agreed that Disney Coffee is the worst, I dislike Starbucks too.

All ears does have a list where you can get the real thing. Each year the list seems to grow. I only buy Kona coffee for home so I'm a hard person to please when it comes to coffee.

Mamu,

I was the same, only drank Kona for 3-4 years and thought it was the best to be had. At $20 - $30/LB it has to be, right - WRONG!!!! It's not even in the top 10.

Don't get me wrong, Kona is very smooth and goes down easy, but has no character, no real taste.

I've been roasting my own coffee for about 5 years now and can't remember the last time I bought any green Kona. I have about 80 - 110 pounds of green coffee in the basement, I think there's a couple pounds of Kona there somewhere.

Started out with a small Fresh Roast 8 roaster, does 2.5 oz's, new model does 6 ozs per batch. After 1 year I bought a 8oz roaster, not cheap but great coffee.

For a real coffee education check out the libraries and faq's at sweetmarias.com or coffeereview.com.

There is one drawback to roasting your own coffee, I can not drink most coffees when we go out to eat!

Steve

 

[smfnj]

Meh... have never been all that impressed by Starbucks charred/burnt coffee.

I need to admit that our family could be considered 'coffee snobs' though. We purchase select micro-lots of single origin coffee beans, custom roast them ourselves in very small batches for peak freshness, and only grind the minimum amount needed when we are ready to brew the next pressed pot. Home roasted coffees not only taste fantastic... but I can purchase a pound of top quality green beans (from most origins) for about the same price as a single cup of coffee from Starbucks.

When we travel, I will roast & grind about a week's worth of coffee in advance, package in air tight containers, then slip that and a smallish press pot into our luggage so we can brew good coffee in our resort room.

For anyone who doesn't have the equip to home roast, but wants to try some excellent fresh roasted coffees, I can highly recommend Marlton Coffee in NJ. Easy to order from Greg online (he has an awesome Jamaican Blue Mountain Blend) -- take the coffee along with you to WDW, and brew a fresh pot in your resort room each AM.

Hey, my kind of people. I also bring several bags of fresh roasted coffee and a small cheap grinder to WDW.

Do yourselves a favor, check out sweetmarias dot com. Absolutely the best selection of green beans, accessories and information on home roasting.

Steve

 

[POOHsie]

starbucks hopefully never, as when given the chance they refused to send some to the troops overseas.

That is not true. Read snopes.com article concluding it is a false rumor. http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/starbucks.asp

 

[Planogirl]

starbucks hopefully never, as when given the chance they refused to send some to the troops overseas.

False story per Snopes

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/starbucks.asp

 

[Planogirl]

That is not true. Read snopes.com article concluding it is a false rumor. http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/starbucks.asp

GMTA!

 

[smfnj]

agree 100%...the only "good" coffee I've had at Starbucks actually tasted more like a milkshake...because it had more flavor & milk/cream than coffee. I've had at least a 1/2 dozen diff varieties of Starbucks coffee (plain) and thought they all tasted either charred or severe bitter aftertaste. Did not care for that at all. And I LOVE dark roast coffee, so it's not that I don't like the full bodied coffees...to me it's just Starbucks processing kills the stuff.
But lots of people think it's great, so to each his own.

Charbuck$ typically roast their coffees way to dark, towards vienna, french or even worse, third crack. This covers the unique flavors from the thousands of small coffee farms in each country but gives customers the same taste every time they come in. I've heard they have been better lately with some special city to full city roasts but I'll never drink it again. For the price of 1 or 2 of their small cups I can roast a pound that will blow it away.

Steve

 

[POOHsie]

GMTA!

I must defend my coffee maker, they are my lifeline!

 

[needtogomore]

False story per Snopes

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/starbucks.asp

I live in the UK and was told this by some friends from the USA.

 

[smfnj]

If you already have access to hot water in the room (like if there's a microwave), get an Aeropress. It's very small and makes a fantastic cup of coffee. It's not electric -- you need to add hot water to it -- so that's the only catch.

An Aeropress does make a great cup of coffee, if you great ground beans that is. It's like a computer, garbage in, garbage out.

Steve

 

[POOHsie]

I live in the UK and was told this by some friends from the USA.

I have friends who have told me lots of things. One said Napoleon reigned in the 1600s. Another said Amaretto Liqueur was made from cherries. I make a mental note of what I am told, then I go to the internet and look up the facts, before I embrace anything my friends tell me.

 

[nytimez]

I like the 100% Kona at the Poly but the best Kona isn't even close to a good Kenyan. Get to Boma on your next visit.

Kona doesn't cost $20 - $30/LB because it tastes great, it's supply and demand.

Steve

So true!

They sell a Kenyan coffee (ground, unfortunately) at the AKL gift shop, it's roasted by Joffrey's in Tampa. It may be what they serve in Boma as well. It's a fine cup, I usually buy a bag and brew it in my room throughout the week I'm there. You can almost never go wrong with a Kenyan.

 

[TexasErin]

I love Starbucks and always miss it on vacation so I would love it!

 

[Mrs. Darcy]

Since there are so many coffee lovers, I wonder if Disney ever thought of creating and marketing their own blends. Instead of Starbucks, they could have their own coffee houses or coffee "lounges". I think it would be popular and well-used.

I love Starbucks, probably just because it became a habit on my way to work everyday, but I don't think I'd like to see one at WDW. I think someone here said would infringe on the Disney magic in a way. I've only been to WDW once (another trip coming up for Christmas/NYears), but I feel like when I'm there I don't want to see too many reminders of the outside world!

 

[njmeisje]

My husband and I got coffee and hot chocolates at a coffee hut in Epcot --- my gosh, we never saw a more disorganized motley crew. It was December, so we needed the warm, caffeine injection, or we would never have done it. We commented that Disney really needed to turn the operation of this over to Starbucks, who know how to run an efficient coffee barista.

 

[smfnj]

We commented that Disney really needed to turn the operation of this over to Starbucks, who know how to run an efficient coffee barista.

I can retire in 4 years, then I'll volunteer to do the roasting & brewing.
Need a business agent to take care of the details, any takers?

Steve

 

[maverickmoos]

This thread is making me glad I'm a Brit as we are quite used to bathwater instant coffee! It's the norm for drinking at home, anyway!

 

[bunkkinsmom]

I don't think even a starbucks could save the rotten coffee all over disney. It has to be the water down there. We only drink bottled water in florida.

I haven't read all the way through yet, but Starbucks uses triple filtered water in every store. So Florida water probably wouldn't matter.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

I wish WDW served the same coffee everywhere onsite! Either Starbucks, Seattles Best or the coffee used at Kona Cafe.

Still reading, Starbucks owns Seattle's Best.

 

[RMAMom]

I haven't read everything but I don't want the nescafe replaced with Starbucks. I think they are equally bad although for different reasons.

DH and I have tried a few times to get coffee from one of the kiosks and every time we try we get nescafe! I've even printed the list of where they are and somehow we always end up at the wrong kiosk!

 

[bunkkinsmom]

I must defend my coffee maker, they are my lifeline!

OK, here is the REAL story...

Snopes is correct, the story is false. HOWEVER>>>>>>>>>>

Starbucks has changed many policies in the last 2 years, and one of them is the donation policy. The policy used to be that stores could donate and needed no documentation except for ringing it in the register as a donation. Stores didn't need 501 documentation from non-profits, etc. Each store had a certain donation budget for the month. Stores could also ask partners to donate their markouts (every partner gets a free pound of coffee or box of tea a week) to whatever cause that store was supporting. The store could also set out baskets to collect. That policy has changed.

I have over 6 years experience in managing for Starbucks, and am now an ex-partner (as of May). I am a HUGE supporter of our troops and regularly sent coffee overseas to "our" soldier. (Sterling) is a regular customer who was in Iraq for quite a while. We sent boxes and boxes of coffee and bags and bags of Via. BUT NOW you have to have documentation that you are collecting for a non-profit. And we all know that our military is not non-profit. So I got around this by hooking up with a family advocate group that IS non-profit. Then I was told that it had to be for a SPECIFIC soldier. No worries, I have one **Sterling**. We also couldn't contribute at all to the shipping costs. No problem, we hooked up with the Shriners in our area to get it sent over.

Needless to say, I kept donating. But the company made us jump through some hoops to get it done. I personally know of several managers who did not continue to donate once the new regulations were put into place. They had wayyy to much on their plates already and it was not as feasible once the new regulations were put in place.

There it is.... the story.