On Thursday I get this email from michaelwharton@*****.com:
Dunkin’ Donuts is coming to Baltimore.
So I reply with:
Thanks for the tip. Who are you?
And Michael comes back with:
A lowly brother slash editor (Baltimore Cityguide) deep in the bowels of America Online trying to get some eyes on the page I just made.
And I’m immediately struck by the guy’s honesty. Isn’t it a shame how in today’s culture of spin and posturing and PR a simple bit of honesty can have such an impact? While I’m thinking about that, he emails me a few minutes later with this:
I forgot to say that if you liked it and posted — you’d make my week.
And because I have no filter for my own blog, I run this idea past my brother first, explaining:
So this guy emails me out of the blue to promote the cityguide page he just made. On the one hand, his article takes on Starbucks, and he’s completely honest about his intentions (wanting eyes on his page). On the other hand, I’d just be pimping for him, and he works for AOL. What do you think? Should I do him a favor and post it? Would I be doing him a favor if I posted it along with this conundrum?
And mokiejovis replies with:
Transparency is the best option. Just post everything.
So there you have it. Everything is posted. If you’d like to do this fella a favor, click on this link and read the news about Dunkin Donuts and their plan to bust up the Starbucks stranglehold in Baltimore and DC.
Aside: I don’t drink coffee. I don’t really like the taste, and I generally try to avoid caffeine. It makes me feel dizzy and sick. However, Mrs. ACW is a super-duper coffee snob, to the point where she actually worked in an independent coffee shop for a few years. She regularly drinks coffee from Starbucks but the other day she had a coupon for a free iced-coffee from Dunkin Donuts, so we stopped by so she could try it. Her thoughts? It was good enough for “free” but not good enough to pay anything for it. So is Dunkin Donuts gambit ill-advised or will they triumph over those venti-pushing hipster fucks? Or, is this just going to put another chain on every corner, further blandifying the American palette?
Dunkin Donuts Rule, Starbuck Drool!
If it matters, that is how I feel.
Oh, an iced coffee. When you related that story to me, you just said she had coffee. There’s an important difference. The iced “coffee” you get from Dunkin’ Donuts is powdered, filthy sludge. Plain old drip coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts versus plain old drip coffee from Starbucks (sorry, cafe americano, pardon me whilst I vomit) … Dunkin’ Donuts wins, hands down, no question. Starbucks espresso is also filthy.
kill them all, let free market capitalism sort them out.
ummm, haven’t you totally outed this guy by eliminating his email domain and then proclaiming he works for aol?
Mr. Friendly- It does matter. Thank you. (Good use of the “rule/drool” juxtaposition, by the way.)
Mokie- Whatever you whiny titty-bitch. It’s all the same shit.
j$- “Free market capitalism = god” in this case? That’s funny because I don’t believe in god either.
Broadsheet- Not exactly. There were some numbers scattered about in his email address. Those have been left off.
I LOVE coffee.
Don’t know anything about Dunkin Donuts coffee. However, I really hate Starbucks. To me, it tastes like I’m smoking a cigarette.
I prefer Caribou Coffee. *nummy*
Dunkin’D makes a pretty decent cuppa’ joe. I personally find Starbucks coffee way too bitter to drink. Feels like it’s rotting a hole through your stomach. I don’t know… maybe you have to kill the acidity with loads of cream and sugar?
DD because jelly donuts rule. Every try having sex with a scone?
My coffee snobbery/geekery is quite legendary. I buy beans by the pound, and I grind them in the morning for my morning cup. As for visiting coffeehouses, I am quite nice about paying the local places their respects in my current ‘hood: Spoons and Koba Cafe being the two places I visit.
I will admit. I like coffee, but coffeehouses merely fill the need for espresso-based beverages. Most of their standard coffee is swill. *$’s is notorious for burning their brewed coffee. Other places have coffee that just is not up to my standards. Granted, Spoons is the exception.
That said, Starbucks stranglehold is not quite as large as it is cracked up to be in Baltimore. According to *$’s website, within 20 miles of my 21230 zip code, there are 56 stores. Now, if I reduce that to a 5 mile radius, the number of stores drops to 7. I don’t know if these links will show up, but let’s remove the stores in both results that are in hotel lobbies or other stores (as they are not real *4’s in my opinion). The numbers in both places drop pretty significantly.
Now, these numbers in and around DC, however, are much, much, much greater. Comparing the numbers of *$’s in DC and Baltimore is like comparing the number of *$’s in NYC to that in some small town. It just doesn’t compare. I really have to question this guy’s notion of stranglehold. It’s true if you focus on DC, but certainly not the case in Baltimore given its low numbers.
As for Dunkin’s coffee, it’s swill. The one thing you need to watch out for is them adding your sweetener and cream–something I can’t stand in my joe. As for Caribou, any place that calls my drink “moosed” since I wanted an extra shot is downright frightening in my book.
starbucks is, by far, not my favorite place to drink coffee. the people who work there are invariably obnoxious and the coffee is just okay. however, there doesn’t really seem to be any place other than starbucks nearby (i.e, without a trek into the city), so starbucks it is. and the iced coffee at dunkin donuts does taste like sludge- i didn’t even finish it, and that says something. the donuts are better than krispy kreme, though. i don’t care what anyone says about krispy kreme, they’re just not that good.
It’s funny that you mentioned Starbucks and a coupon in this post. Did you read that Starbucks is being sued for $114 million because of a coupon for free “grande” drinks?
LMAO!
I’m a coffee whore. Starbucks, Peets, DD, office coffee, whatever. I’ve even stooped so low as to drink McDonald’s coffee. And I liked it.
Dunkin-nuts wins me over by virtue of the simple fact that many of them these days come glommed onto Baskin-Robbins. I don’t really drink coffee, but any coffee joint serving ice cream gets my vote in a heartbeat.
The apparent downside is that Sal swears that ice cream cakes from these Dunkin-Robbins all taste like donuts. My take is: That’s a BAD thing?
Ice cream… Donuts… No wonder I’m lithe like a ballerina.
I miss my Caribou Coffee, I really do. These days I content myself with what I whomp up with my own machine.
Chunky Monkey was all over this, but Starbucks is fucking gross. I would classify myself as an informed but not quite knowledgable coffee drinker. I drink something everyday (sometimes it’s piss from my dirty-ass machine, sometimes it’s liquid gold from one of any number of indie establishments near my work) but I wouldn’t even go stand in line for free Starbucks a couple of weeks back when they were handing it out.
DD makes a really nice cup. It’s not going to rock your world, but it’ll get the job done without offending your tongue. I actually really liked the iced coffees, but there’s always a massive deposit of undisolved sugar at the bottom that gets sucked up and fucks with the whole drinking process.
“Blandify” - nice word! Is that an ACW-ism or did it already exist?
Frankly, I like my (”sugar with coffee and cream”) own coffee best (plain ‘ole plunger coffee) and with a coupla Marlboro Lights along with it.
CM- Caribou? They make coffee from large mammals?
Platy- Actually, when I do drink coffee, that’s how I drink it. I turn it into hot candy.
CBC- I prefer Boston cream. Yes that’s a double entendre.
JJT- Be honest- you use your penis for a stir-stick, don’t you?
Mrs. ACW- If I wanted to hear your opinion, I’d take the tape off your mouth when I got home.
Cassandra- Well, I guess that plan backfired. Damn!
DL- I don’t know if it counts as being a whore if you like it. Plus, you’re not getting paid for it. You’re more of a coffee skank.
Wombat- Shit. They might as well just start making donut flavored iced-cream and save us all the trouble.
Serra- Another coffee fan who likes a little bit of moose in theirs. Weird.
JTS- I’ll have to trust your opinion on all this, never actually drinking the stuff myself. Thanks for the contribution!
Deanne- Yeah, I think that’s all me but wouldn’t be surprised to find out someone funnier said it first. Nice Beastie Boys reference, by the way.
dunkin donuts is better based solely on the donut factor. they have mediocre coffee, but starbucks is too bitter (for the most part.)
krispy kreme is shite. i’m very picky about coffee when i drink it, and neither is my first choice, but given the chance to pick one over the other, i say dunkin all the way.
mmmm donuts. soon i will be lithe like a wombat.
What the hell is going on here? I clicked on the link, completely expecting to be misdirected to NecroDildoChix.com or the like. Instead, I’m reading about coffee and nobody is even discussing anything but its oral ingestion. Is this what marriage does to people?
AOL is the devil. And I don’t like coffee either. Coffee is the devil.
And what’s the deal with airline food?
It’s quite obvious from the other responses that my taste is abhorent, but I am totally and completely addicted to Starbucks coffee. But in my defense, allow me to say that I don’t drink their coffee plain. No, no, nonono. That, I would agree, is indeed a bitter swill. No, I am the most disgusting of coffeeholics - I must, and I do emphasise MUST, have my froufrou coffee, with lots of blended ingredients laden with sugar and whipped cream and anything else they might decide to throw in there. If they threw in a napkin and called it a Paper Mache’ Frappachino I’d probably still try it. What I can I tell ya, I’m hopeless.
I don’t drink coffee/swill/shite, but I will say this. Starbucks makes THE worst hot chocolate EVER. First, you have to order it extra fucking hot to even have it be mildly lukewarm. Then, you’re lucky if they bother to fill half the cup. And at the bottom, if you neglect to stir vigorously with a concrete mixer, you are left with what is supposedly chocolate sludge. Blech!
Oh, and DD makes pretty decent bagels, too.
i don’t drink starbucks and completely averse to donuts. let’s move on.
i don’t like dunkin donuts but i do like double D’s
Wonder if any Dunkin’ Donuts will be drive-thru.
Hands down, I will always choose a Starbucks iced caffe mocha with whip over any coffee Dunkin’ Donuts has to offer. However, in my are we have what is called a “maple kreme/maple filled donut” that is to freaking-A DIE FOR. So, if I’m craving a doughnut I’m not going to Starbucks. Oh, and the Dunkin’ Donuts we go to is a drive-thru, but if we go into the store they know our order before we get to the counter and have it ready for us before we get to the counter. :)
PS - I’m drunk. (Not really, but I just reread what I wrote and it sounds like a third grader wrote it. Efff.)
Hey, just checking in to say I FINALLY got my RSS feeds going!! Whoo hoo!! Took darn near all day to do it, but I figure that’s not too bad a timeframe for a blond. An OLD blond at that.
G’day!!