Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Community has been one of my favorite sunday brunch spots since they opened! Their BELT (Bacon Egg Lettuce and Tomato) is my favorite by far -- thanks for giving them the cred they deserve!!

While you are entitled to your opinion, I think this is a fairly flawed argument. 1.) Any latte is just espresso with flavor and milk. You could very easily order two shots of espresso with a shot of vanilla for $1.50 cheaper than a latte and then just add the milk yourself. Part of the reason why people like latte's is because the milk is steamed. It's hot milk with foam. The hot milk keeps your drink warm. And the foam is just fun. 2.) Part of the appeal of the London Fog is the vanilla flavor shot. Vanilla flavor is just a different taste than any of the free sugar alternatives. 3.) If your issue is that your tea isn't steeping, you can very easily (as I do with my barista) ask that they steep your tea for a minute before adding the steamed milk.

But honestly let's face it. Anything you get at Starbucks is over priced and part of buying a drink from there is getting the convenience of specifying your specific drink to a degree that few other coffee/tea shops can. Kudos to Starbucks for figuring out another way to make money off of us.