The Starbucks gap

Lifestyles

January 2, 2013

The Starbucks gap

Village Idiot

BY Gary Clothier/Syndicated Columnist The Picayune Item Picayune Item Wed Jan 02, 2013, 06:28 AM CST

PICAYUNE — Starbucks has just broken the sound barrier. With its latest paper cup of premium coffee selling for $7, I can hear my long-deceased father screaming from the grave, “Seven dollars for a cup of coffee? My first car didn’t cost seven dollars! My first house didn’t cost seven dollars! Your grandfather had to work on the back of a horse for a week to make seven dollars!”

No doubt you’ve heard similar harangues from your parents or grandparents. “What on earth could make a cup of coffee worth seven dollars?” they ask. “Do they put gold in it, or is it like a lottery? Do you win something?” Telling them that the coffee’s made from Costa Rican Finca Palmilera beans doesn’t seem to mean anything to them.

They are perfectly happy to drink the store-brand coffee they buy in 3-pound cans at the Shop and Go Away, which they make in a contraption called a “percolator” that slowly boils away any coffee goodness that might accidentally have survived. They fail to understand why $7 coffee in a paper cup is so wonderful, even after you tell them that the cup has had your name written on it by a real barista.

It’s obvious there is a coffee gap between those who are content to swill anything dark first thing in the morning and those who spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on coffee machines, roasters and premium beans to make that perfect cup. It’s not the money; many people who have never stepped into a coffee shop have expensive tastes — boats, homes, horses, art — but to them, spending money on coffee may seem an extravagant waste, as all obsessions are to the people who don’t share them.

Coffee doesn’t just wake you up now, it says something about you, like one of those aptitude tests they used to give us in grade school. (For some reason, I never became the forest fire lookout the test predicted was my destiny.) In the coffee aptitude test, if you still percolate pre-ground, no flavors added, traditional coffee in a can for breakfast, chances are extremely good that you don’t know the words to “Call Me Maybe” and have never watched the “Gangnam Style” video on your iPhone. You have never been in a Starbucks.

If you have a standard 12-cup drip coffeemaker and buy a pre-ground specialty brand, you wonder why people make such a big deal over coffee. The stuff you make at home tastes fine, much better than that stuff they give you on airplanes. You saw “Gangnam Style” on some talk show and thought it was stupid/silly. Is that all it takes to make a hit record now?

If you have one of those machines that makes one cup of coffee at a time with a little vacuum-packed pod in flavors like French Vanilla and Mucho Mocha, you have a job where your boss wants you to waste a week making a “Gangnam Style” spoof video using everyone in the office. He thinks it would boost morale. You think it would boost morale if he got fired and you took his job. You have an exercise mix on your iPod with “Call Me Maybe” on it.

If you slam on the brakes every time you see a Starbucks, and all the baristas in your neck of the woods know your complicated order by heart, you were over “Gangnam Style” back when it had only 68,000 views on YouTube, and the only people you know who like “Call Me Maybe” are your parents.

You roast your own fair trade organic coffee that you buy direct from the importer. You grind it yourself after deciding how you will prepare it — in your glass coffee press or your $900 espresso machine. You have unfriended people on Facebook who post mashups of “Call Me Maybe” and “Gangnam Style.” You wouldn’t be caught dead drinking a cheap $7 cup of coffee. Old friends are avoiding you because sometimes they like to talk about things besides coffee. You wonder what’s the matter with them.

Text Only

Lifestyles

2013 Partners for Pearl River County By Jodi Marze The 10th class of Partners for Pearl River County celebrated its graduation at First Baptist Church on Friday, May 10, in the Fellowship Hall. The graduating class included: Jason Bounds, Nacole Dillon, Christy Goss, John Huck, Jeff McClain, Teenia Perry, Paul Reese, Brooke Rester, Eric Stafne, Richelle Stafne, Kristin Thibodeaux, Pat Tidmore, and Jim Walker. The staff is comprised of: Jo Woods, Tricia Knight, Shirley Wiltshire, Marilyn Bailey, Rod Lincoln and Scott Langlois (Program Chairman).
May 18, 2013
Tami Harris takes state
Local business owner and community volunteer Tami Harris has won the coveted title of 2012 Greater Federation of Women’s Clubs-Mississippi Federation of Women's Clubs (MFWC) Club Woman of the Year for the state of Mississippi. A member of the Civic Woman’s Club of Picayune, Harris is one of only three club members, along with Darlene Adams and Leslie Lincoln, to take the state title.

May 15, 2013 1 Photo
Arboretum Paths
Last week, students participating in the 2013 Mississippi Master Naturalist Program visited the Crosby Arboretum for an all-day training. The session was part of 40 hours of field and classroom instruction they will receive, educating them about natural resource management and environmental stewardship, and is a part of their preparation to become Certified Mississippi Master Naturalists.

May 15, 2013
Chamber Ribbon Cutting Children's International Medical Group held a grand opening and Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting at their first Mississippi location, located in Picayune.
May 4, 2013
Historic City Hall Dedication Friday
Friday, May 3 at 10 a.m. the New City Hall will be dedicated on Goodyear Boulevard. This event will coincide with the 75th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Old Historic City Hall building.

May 2, 2013
PRC Community Band presents: An American Legacy The Pearl River County Community Band, under the direction of Johnny Baker, will present “An American Legacy: An afternoon of American music for concert bands,” on Sunday, May 5, at 2 p.m. at the Picayune Memorial High School Auditorium.
May 2, 2013
Arboretum Paths
On their recent tour, fifth grade students from Lamar Christian School in Purvis encountered a seemingly endless variety of wildlife, ranging from crawfish to inchworms, to writhing masses of spiny, newly-emerged caterpillars. There is no such thing as a “typical” walk around the Arboretum’s Pond Journey and Pitcher Plant Bog. Every venture reveals something new to every group of visitors.

May 2, 2013 1 Photo
Beebe returns to Main Street
“I was excited when the Picayune Main Street, Inc. Board of Directors asked me to return as manager to the local Main Street program. Also, extremely grateful to Picayune City Manager Jim Luke, Mayor Ed Pinero and city council for their blessings and approval to relocate our office,” says Beebe. “One of my favorite sayings is ‘There is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer.’ I have to say, I had a blast working on committees, projects and events with the most dedicated staff and group of volunteers in Pearl River County from March 2005 to May 2010. I look forward to getting new committees in place and working with ‘seasoned’ volunteers as well as new volunteers who share the same passion and desire to keep Picayune moving forward.”

May 2, 2013 1 Photo
15th Annual Rotary Fishing Rodeo held in McNeill
“We are all fortunate to play a small part in the joy we see in their faces when they get a bite on their line and see the fish they catch. My wife, Sharon, and I hosted it last year on our anniversary and we would not have had it any other way. It was a perfect day.”
— Rotarian Tony Paternostro

April 27, 2013
Picayune Main Street relocates to Intermodal
Picayune Main Street, Inc. has relocated to the Intermodal Transportation and Tourism Center at 200 Hwy 11 South. With the change in location the organization is also shifting focus back to the four points of the Main Street Approach according to President Bill Edwards.

April 27, 2013
More Lifestyles Headlines

Lifestyles

Search Results

The Starbucks gap

Village Idiot

Site Map

Contact Us