Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

This is awesome! Brings me back to my dorm days when my roommates and i used to make Kraft Mac and Cheese in a coffee pot! It really works! How Krafty I was! Hhehee

Sounds delicious. But the same taste can be bought, for less when you purchase the A&P 150th anniversary chocolate chunk cookies in their commerative tin.

These are the best tasting cookies ever. So sneak some in your pocket next time you head over to Starbucks, While waiting in line, savor their chewy chocolate heavenly taste.

I remember last year when Starbucks and others removed trans fat and replaced it with tropical oils, which if you are not familiar, are very high in saturated fats which if you are not familiar are one of the key reasons trans fat became so prevalent. But guess what? Tropical oils are trans fat free and "all natural," which gave them a healthy halo despite the fact that they were doing an injustice to consumers who felt that the switch was better for their health.

So now when I read about and see the in-store marketing materials at Starbucks showing how they are removing high fructose corn syrup from their baked goods, I feel that once again Americans may be mislead into confusion because this switch somehow implies that products sweetened with other sweeteners, such as sugar, are healthier.

As a Registered Dietitian (RD) and an adjunct nutrition professor (NYU, Queens College, Columbia University/Teachers College), I can say with all certainty that everyone is a marketing movement to ban high fructose corn syrup, yet there is no scientific basis to suggest that coffee cake made with sugar is ‘healthier’ than one made with high fructose corn syrup.

As an RD I can confirm that the nutrition science community generally agrees that Americans should cut back on all sweets and calories and that high fructose corn syrup is nutritionally no different from sugar. It is the calories that count. Even the American Medical Association in June 2008 helped put to rest misunderstandings about this sweetener and obesity, stating that “high fructose syrup does not appear to contribute to obesity more than other caloric sweeteners.”

High fructose corn syrup may have a complicated-sounding name, but it is essentially a corn sugar that is nutritionally the same as table sugar. High fructose corn syrup is not sweeter than sugar; and high fructose corn syrup, sugar and honey all contain the same number of calories (four calories per gram).

This is a marketing not a health issue. Consumers are being misled into thinking that sugar is healthier than high fructose corn syrup, which is simply a kind of sugar. They are nutritionally the same and both are fine in moderation. A sugar is a sugar, whether it’s honey, high fructose corn syrup, table sugar, or fruit juices.

Kyle Shadix, MS, RD
Registered Dietitian, NYC

ftw se

I've tried the McDonalds Iced Coffee twice in the last few weeks and both time it was so full of sweetened cream it made me want to gag. The second time I ordered it, I asked for mostly coffee and just a tiny bit of cream, and it was still way too much. I gave it back, and asked to just add more coffee and the guy looked at me like I was from Mars. He added more (I guess) but what I got back looked like watered down coffee added at the top. I gave up, and will continue to go to my wonderful local places or Starbucks for my iced coffees in the future. I tried...

@Pete: I can always count on you to make me LOL.

I also think that food like pastries and the like should NOT be served at Starbucks b/c they usually taste disgusting (not even if placed in their microwave/toaster oven) and are only offered b/c it's an easy, cheap way to make a bigger profit (just like soda at fast-food places).

I think the term "small batch" is pretty relative in this case, granted I'm not sure how small the "small batches" really are, but they are in limited qualities in contrast to the large amounts of the regular packaged coffees they sell.

Additionally—I suggested cuppings as a way for people in the coffee industry to take Starbucks a bit more seriously. so many of us disregard Starbucks as a viable coffee option, but the fact is, a lot of the process of selecting coffee for the stores is such an intense process made by some really knowledgeable people. I haven't seen any cuppings in the NYC area but I'd love to start seeing them around. NYC stores are usually so crowded it's hard for me to imagine how a cupping would actually work. I'm into the more proactive approach so I'd love to start seeing some of these popping up around the city to get more minds wrapped around how coffee cuppings are just like wine tastings.. and they can be just as popular if approached in an accessible way.

I agree. Stop shaking iced coffee and iced tea. If you want to make iced tea -- make iced tea. Shaking iced tea (or iced coffee and making it foam) is just -wrong-. And using iced tea concentrate and then just watering it down and filling up the cup with water is bad...

I really think you guys should make -real tea- and then put it back on the menu :)

the only thig is the smell i think a lot of people think it is going to smell of fresh ground coffe but no....
i lived a few blocks from a major coffee co. and the whole area for blocks stunk like burnt toast

@zak822: Seattle's Best is owned by Starbucks.

lol. swagv, hilarious.
i love the equal opportunity topless dude in the photo. we don't have any topless guys working at the bikini & pastie coffee places here in washington!

thank god, what? thank god there are people thinking outside the box to come up with something as fun & silly as a topless coffee house?

The resource for all things coffee is the forums at http://www.coffeegeek.com
Everything from making a roaster from a popcorn popper to optimal temp settings for espresso extractions is there.