Spare me: crappy coffee snobbery

I heard a commercial on the radio today plugging McDonald's new espresso drinks, with some woman talking about how she was faking being a folk music fan so she could get a decent caffe mocha, but now that McD's has espresso drinks she can go back to listening to hip-hop. Now I know specialty coffee has an image problem, but wtf is this crap?! It seems like a caffeine version of all the anti-intellectual, anti-"elite" crap we had to put up with for the better part of six months (if not longer) before the election this year. I mean, okay, when Starbucks took a big hit this quarter because of all the stores they were closing, lots of people gloated. And there's an email making the rounds dividing liberals and conservatives by their response to the question "Where do you want to get coffee?" (The correctconservative answer was "What are you talking about?".)

How about this answer: the vast majority of coffee out there is weak and barely drinkable. Lots of it has no discernible flavor beyond rancid bitterness. I'm willing to pay a bit more for a cup of coffee I can actually enjoy. And that's why I like coffee houses.

Okay, I'm a little biased. Three years of working at Starbucks and all, so I know a few things about the subject. And the sizes are sometimes confusing and a bit pretentious. And I have to be honest, I welcome the addition of places like Dunkin Donuts, McD's, and the like to the list of places where you can get a decent espresso drink. But come on. Do you have to denigrate the coffeehouse experience?

See, there's more to it than just feeling superior. Coffeehouses have always been places to kick back and enjoy yourself, as far back as they've existed. Come in, order whatever your particular favorite drink is, sit down, chat, read, play a game, do some work, maybe listen to some live music if there's someone playing -- the whole ambience predates espresso machines by several hundred years (if not longer). Not everyone cares for that atmosphere, and it's fine. But if I want to go into a place with nice comfy chairs and people who go by the job title "barista", I think you'll understand if I get a little pissed off when you tell me that I'm being a snob. Why don't you try it yourself? It doesn't have to be a Starbucks; there's plenty of good local joints around, even out in the sticks sometimes these days. I'd wager anyone who's ever unironically uttered the phrase "three bucks for a cup of coffee" probably hasn't even really looked at what the typical espresso bar has to offer.