/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>hipsters
Starbucks hasn't been hip for 10 years

I think their logo is sexy. It makes me very very horny.

>>17693592
Haven't been to one in 10 years but their coffee is not bad, but way too expensive. Never tried their flavoured stuff, I want a coffee, not a milkshake.

I was going to say Asuka with Starbucks looks weird, but that's not true. When I lived in Japan, there were at least 4 Starbucks downtown, two of which were inside the JR Station (one was behind the shinkansen gate specifically). And that's in addition to several Tully's, a Nanas Green Tea, and plenty of far better local shops.
The weird part is Asuka offering Starbucks to someone else.
Anyway, when I mentioned far better local shops, that's how I feel about Starbucks. I'd often go for breakfast at local cafes, and in the JR Station there was a wonderful little local place called the Aoi Brewing Cafe. Great coffee, passable food, and tons of people would ignore it to hit the Starbucks instead. What a bummer.

Starbucks minus hipsters isn't Starbucks. The two are inseparable.

>>17693632
She's offering it to me because I'm her boyfriend.

Hipsters go to local coffee roasters these days. The primary demographic for Starbucks is women using sweetened lattes as meal replacements.

They have good and bad products there. If you want to drink out of a paper cup it's a nice place.

I like some of their cold coffee.

Do you know anyone who calls it Starbuck?

It’s fine. Not good, not bad but fine.

Burned trash meant to sell you super sugary flavors to hide it

1) do hipsters still exist?
2) since when do hipsters go to starbucks?
3) i don't think about starbucks or any other coffee place at all.

They over roast their coffee because it makes it cheaper and easier to make the blend. It's burned shit. I will drink a blonde espresso or a cold brew if Starbucks is the only option. I would drink gas station coffee over Starbucks if there was only drip.

>>17693592
tastes good, kind baristas

I find it convenient to place an order through the app, run in, get it without talking to anyone.
Usually go for a latte. It's my Sunday morning pre hike treat and pick me up.
Are hipsters even a thing anymore? They were a menace like a decade ago but I feel that's passed and moved on to something else.

Also yeah I'd say Starbucks is more basic than hipster nowadays, if hipsters are even still a thing. I feel they got gentrified out of their strongholds and now it's a far more diffuse movement.

>>17694740
Starbucks cold-pressed coffee is their only good coffee and actually better than the small local shops because they can't compete with expensive equipment that Starbucks has.

They used to have a really great hibiscus tea, but at least around here they have discontinued it "because of the coronavirus". No, that doesn't make any fucking sense, but it's true.

Also, had a nice hot apple cider there one freezing night in Chicago. Nice barista guy there that night, he didn't care if I bought anything or not.

But generally I refuse to go there primarily because of the company's politics but also because it's way the fuck overpriced. Also, I hate coffee anyway, including its odor.

>>17693592

>>17693592
I don't drink coffee, at all, but I find starbucks delicious. That should tell you something about the market its aimed toward

>>17693592
They burn the shit out of their beans to achieve a standardized flavor profile from store to store. If you want good coffee, go to a local cafe. If your girlfriend wants a frappalappasloppachino with fifty pumps of artificial flavor syrup, Starbucks is fine.

>>17693592
overpriced and inferior to just buying your own beans/grinds and making your own coffee.
7/11 has coffee of a similar quality but it's a buck fifty canadian.

I like to buy their canned energy drinks they have at the store. They aren't as good as red bull, but they have less calories and are always 2 for $4.

Had a mocha shit whatever the fuck a couple months ago, I knew their drinks were sugary but I didn’t expect it to be that bad

i saw a video of a girl flashing ass in a starbucks and now i get a semichub when i go there

>>17694876
holy fuckin diabetes
>"Edward"

I buy their beans
I like comfy medium roast

not gay fruity tea """coffee""" the nu hipsters are pushing

I'm not much of a coffee guy since caffeine doesn't work for me, so I go for their teas, juices, or maybe a frappe or something super sweet if I'm in the mood.

>>17693597
>Starbucks hasn't been hip for 10 years
That's why it's hip.
Post-ironic ironic unironic hipness, it's cool again.

>>17693592
I had no issue with Starbucks until I saw your image of Asuka holding it.

>>17693592
I live on the west coast and have only been there 2 times. Can't remember how I felt about it. Seemed expensive for a standard cup of coffee at the time.

>>17695226
Don't worry there's one for everyone

>>17693592
Starbucks was "cool" thirty years ago, and their unstoppable penetration into not only cities but also suburbia in the 90s was amazing to behold. In the old days, if you wanted "coffee", the choices were 7-11, McDonald's, the local diner, or the gas station. Cafes were just not a thing. Starbucks changed that, and they deserve credit for that. Imagine being a Starbucks exec around the turn of the century; shit was cash yo. But now their customer base is just aging karens and homosexual "regulars", combined with transient NPCs who won't get coffee from the Sunoco because there's no wireless-charging station for the Iphones. The coffee itself has FOR DECADES been regarded as shit by connoisseurs ("lol Charbucks because they burn the beans") and normal people have always been put off by the retarded nomenclature, why make me order in "Italian" sizes when you're primarily selling milkshakes that no real barista would be caught dead making.

Gentrification sucks. Look, the new Batman movie was actually dece, deffo had some kino moments, but the fact that Kurt Cobain has been made into a posthumous capeshit crooner tells you all you need to know about Seattle's current standing.

>>17695250
>there’s one for everyone
>no Misato
No.

>>17695250
Presumably Rei's order is "room-temperature tap water".
t. she was my waifu

>>17695263
She's an alcoholic, no time for coffee

>>17695263
Gorgeous Misato is around the corner picking up another case of Yebisu, then getting coffee from the petrol station like a boss.

I don't really do caffeine, so nothing. Last time I had coffee was a cappuccino at a fancy restaurant two weeks ago. Before that, it was probably like 8 years.

>>17695270
I must respectfully disagree.
The coffee is necessary in order to show up to work in the morning, so that they can continue earning the salary which enables them to purchase afternoon and evening alcohol.
>>17695277
This is probably the case. Buying cheap 7-11/Familymart/Lawson coffee won’t cut into the beer and chuhai budget

Asuka is a little whore :)

>>17693592
frappuccino are the only good thing they ever made. It’s a really good milkshake and the bottled one are good too. But so overpriced. Everything else is not even standard and is overpriced as hell. And the actual food is 10$ dogshit cardboard. I haven’t had anything in atleast 5 years tho and judging from people I know and what I’ve read here and elsewhere I bet a lot of the over abundant locations will slowly start closing

>>17695309
You seem like a man of culture, enjoy this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M400lV0GNV4

>>17695336
He does have good taste in chicken.
IMO FamiChiki is the most insanely good piece of boneless fried chicken on the planet.

>>17695402
His videos are pretty kino IMHO. I don't think anyone could legit accuse me of being a weeb (at least in the last few decades), but Nippon is still endlessly fascinating, including the culinary minutiae. See also: the occasional Jap vending-machine threads here.

>>17693907
Real hipsters moved back to the suburbs and had kids 10 years ago, now they get McCafe from the drive through on their way to soccer games.

>>17695429
Yeah he does some genuinely good filming.
I just take random pics. Nothing kino. But I did buy the tiny Asahi from this machine just for the novelty of drinking such a tiny beer.

>>17693592
they are assholes, they told me to put on a mask in the drive thru and so i told them no and so they refused to serve me. this was last week by the way, i live in japan

>>17695453
Thanks for sharing. Not to get too Reddit here, but most of us will never make it to Japan, so you snapshots are appreciated.

>>17695505
Sure, closeup of tiny beer.

>>17693592
I had some for the first time today. It was alright and not as expensive as I'd feared (though still expensive). I will only go there with these gift cards I was provided and never again afterwards.

>>17695513
Asahi is some tasty, quality stuff, although subject to an import/weeb tax in USA, probably more expensive that it's really worth here. But that seemingly applies to all Jap products. Even living in a globohomo metro region, we still don't get proper Nipponese chuhai (closest thing is some Korean knockoffs).

>>17695567
From what I understand, the asahi we have in the US is actually brewed in Italy, and up until a few years ago, was brewed in Canada.
The Sapporo and Kirin are brewed domestically in the US as well, except for the tall Sapporo can which is brewed in Vietnam for some reason.
As far as I know, the only Japanese “macro” beers we can get in the US which are actually brewed in Japan are Orion, which is 100% brewed in Okinawa, and the kegs for Sapporo “on tap” are imported.
However, despite what some people say, I don’t think there’s any detectable difference between Japanese/North American Sapporo and Asahi. Those companies are pretty strict about licensing their recipes.
What difference there may be is limited to the amount of time it’s spent on the shelf, as it doesn’t sell as quickly in the US.

That’s also why Orion is expensive as fuck compared to the others. If you can find a 6pk under $16, you’re damn lucky.

>>17695567
Forgot to add, you’re 100% correct about the chuhai. Which sucks.
I’d kill to be able to get Strong Zero in the US.

>>17695584
Thanks for the details, interesting. "Brewing under license" is a mindfuck--much like cars, wtf is an "import" when Ford sources parts from Europe, and Volvo has a factory in Georgia, USA; my friend's old VW was "assembled" in Brazil ffs.
>>17695594
It seems like Japanese drinking culture is counterbalanced by their strict social norms. Jap chuhai might ironically be too powerful for such a young & fragile/superficial culture as USA, it might lead to outright chaos.

I don't like interacting with the servers.

>>17693592
Sometimes I forget Starbucks is real since I live in Canada and you get mogged into oblivion for being a coffee place that isn't Tim Horton's, McDonalds, or Robin's (and only in very specific locations where there isn't a Tim Horton's or McDonald's to compete with). It's impossible to think of Starbucks here without thinking of hipsters who want some $10+ whipped cream monstrosity.

>>17695644
>It seems like Japanese drinking culture is counterbalanced by their strict social norms
Social norms, and laws.
There are no words for how deeply and profoundly fucked you are in Japan if you are found driving with a detectable amount of alcohol. Multiply by 100 if you have an “incident” while driving.
It’s the very reason N/A beer is popular in Japan. Almost any restaurant has it.
Unless you’re rich/connected enough to be in an “above the law” sort of group, most Japanese wouldn’t think of driving even after a sip of beer.
And if you aren’t native, lol. My wife is Japanese and I have permanent resident status, and I’d be deported in an instant if I did that.

>>17695185
WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT A THING?

>>17695737
Most civilised people avoid driving with alcohol in their system. Japanese people need strict laws to evoke that sentiment? OK.

>>17695336
those 7-11 skewers do suck ass, bought one and it had a bone or something in it fucking somehow

>>17693592
Does starbucks even sell brewed coffee anymore?
They streamlined their menu 6 years ago and only feature their instagram-friendly drinks and frappes on the menu.

>>17693592
What in the actual fuck do hipsters have to do with Starbucks? Even normies think it's crap.

>>17697343
>t. underage
There’s basically nowhere in the west that the idea of driving not too long after one or two drinks is unfathomable.

>>17693592
>Hipsters
what year is it anon? 2010? The target audience of Starbucks is Pic Rel

>>17694876
>being a coffee snob

>>17693632
Are you female perchance?

>>17695594
probably falls into the same category as Buckfast Tonic Wine...
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckfast_Tonic_Wine
...which is not exported to America either, "for some reason".
>>Despite being marketed as a tonic, Buckfast has become notorious in some parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland for its association with the loutish ned culture and antisocial behaviour.

>>17697742
I think it’s more a simple matter of “Suntory doesn’t feel like exporting it to the US”.
I mean there aren’t any ‘banned’ ingredients; you can buy bottles of shochu at plenty of liquor stores.

I’d imagine it’s moreso that American liquor laws vary insanely from state to state; there are many states where chuhai would only be able to be sold in liquor stores, and not in grocery or convenience stores. So it just wouldn’t be worth the trouble to export.
Especially with how the US taxes the fuck out of anything classified as a “spirit”.
Plus, Suntory already makes massive stacks of cash in the US market anyway. Many people aren’t aware that they own Jim Beam. And even crazier; you can buy JB cheaper in Japan than in the US because of the difference in tax.

>>17695594
Does it remind you of Smirnoff Ice? ofc just way too weak in comparsion.

>>17697765
From a business perspective, there's also a real concern about the marketing: "how do we explain this product to American consumers who aren't posting on 4chan at 5:00am."

A few years ago we started seeing domestically-produced canned lonkero, i.e. "Finnish long drink";

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonkero

In our region (NE), there are two competing brands presently. Both of them have to explain on the packaging exactly WTF "long drink" is. One of brand mentions gin explicitly; the other product is apparently produced another way and declaims that it contains no distilled spirits, presumably to get around regulations in some US jurisdictions.

I think for chuhai to become viable in USA, it would need product-placement in a big movie or TV show first. (That shit works; e.g. I never knew about Campari before Life Aquatic.)

>>17697785
Nah, nothing like it.
It isn’t a “malt beverage”. It’s basically delicious carbonated juice with an actual distilled spirit added, and isn’t overly sweet.
It’s really damn refreshing, and people who aren’t used to it can easily drink way too much because it doesn’t taste like you’re drinking that much alcohol.

If you want to try the closest possible facsimile, go to a liquor store and ask if they have “shochu”.
If you can find that, mix it with a good sparkling lemonade till about the same 9-10% strength.
And after you taste how delicious it is, imagine being able to walk into literally any convenience store and get it for about as cheap as a soda.

>>17697792
Yeah the US “classifications” have a lot to do with it, same as how the laws vary from state to state. For the most part, alcoholic drinks in the US are divided into “spirits”, “wine”, and “beer”.
My job currently has me in Nashville. Here, grocery stores can sell “wine” and “beer”. Convenience stores can only sell “beer”. For the purpose of state law, “malt beverage” = “beer”.
So in TN, chuhai would be available at liquor stores only, as the alcohol is a distilled spirit. A lot of other states would be similar.
In the end, it would basically defeat the purpose. Chuhai in Japan is great because you can walk into any store and buy it for cheap. And then you can stand right outside the store and drink it.
After import markup and then federal/state liquor tax on top of it, it would probably be too expensive here, and you’d be better off just buying shochu and mixing your own at home.

>>17697718
and hipsters love Apple

>>17697728
A female with penis, yes

>>17693592
They have a white chocolate mocha that I quite like and some peppermint drink, but I would never go there on my own. Only drink it when others want to go

>>17693632
i think it’s uploaded to be normie asuka after she gets mkultrad into forgetting her trauma and is now living as a CERN sleeper agent

>what do you think about Starbucks?
I think I don’t give a fuck because Misato doesn’t do Starbucks.

>>17693592
I was in a doctors office waiting for an appointment when this white womans two mixed race children started begging for starbucks. They couldnt have been older than 10 but were clearly obese already.
>mama I want cawffee. From stahhbucks
I shudder still to this day.

>>17694726
have you been to west philly? adios mio they are in droves! but yes Starbucks is OK in a fix, hasn't been hip in an incredibly long time.

>>17697799
I had both. Weird, at least in europe Smirnoff Ice is Vodka mixed with sparkling lemonade, for some reason in the US it is some malt beverage.

>>17697957
>>17697810
This explains it why

>>17697937
Misato FEEEEET YES YES YESSSSSS FEEEEEEEEEET

>>17693592
I am here to announce that I'm not going to buy any of you anything at Starbucks.

>>17693592
When I'm in the mood to overpay for a latte I always go to a local cafe instead