I know a lot of people complain that coffee at Starbucks is ridiculously expensive, but that's usually because they are not buying regular brewed coffee when they go there. If you are asking for an "iced, grande, caramel, triple, non-fat latte, easy ice", or any other espresso drinks that are as ridiculously customized, then yes, you might be paying around the ballpark of $5. However, if you went to the counter and asked for a "tall bold", essentially a ready-made dark roast brewed coffee, you'd be paying around the $1.50 range, give and take a couple of dimes...probably a little more pricey than Tim Hortons but not to the point of unreasonable.
Every time I take the T at my home stop, next to the gates is this little donut/coffee shop that makes the station smell like heaven. The line up is long and the place is always busy. One day, as I watched my train leave the station without me, I decided I'd give the place a try while waiting for the next train to arrive. I asked for a medium hazelnut coffee (I admit I'm a lover of flavoured coffee) and the total came to be $2.05. I was a bit shocked because from what I recall, a "Grande bold" at Starbucks in Canada was exactly $2 after tax. This coffee is not only five cents more, but the price is also in AMERICAN. Admittedly though, if I were to ask for a hazelnut flavoured shot at Starbucks, it'd be thirty cents more so I accepted that cost in my head after doing some thinking. Was the coffee good you ask? It was decent, as far as I could tell (I asked for two cream and two sugar and it ended up tasting like quadruple-quadruple on crack).
A few weeks went by without me missing the train so I didn't have the opportunity to stop by this little stand again...but then one day, I decided, I believe on a weekend, to spend that $2.05 again because Adam's mom gave me a bag of change she didn't want. I carefully counted out the exact change in pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters before I left the house, only to be told that the price is $2.30 after I ordered. Apparently last time a mistake was made last time and I was not charged the extra quarter for the hazelnut flavour. I had to give the man bills rather than getting rid of the change, but that's not the point. I felt a little ridiculous walking into the train with an un-corporately-branded cup of joe that cost me more than what I would have paid for had I gone to Starbucks (especially because I don't pay for the price of syrup with my registered Starbucks card (I know, I have issues)).
Now some of you might point out the shallowness of the above comment...why does the brand even matter? Shouldn't you just pay for the quality of the coffee? Well, yes, of course, ideally, if the coffee was that good, it would be worth it to pay a little more, brand-name or not, especially when it's just a cup of coffee and not an ugly little handbag with little G's printed all over it. Well I guess my point is, Starbucks jacks up the price of their brewed coffee because they can. They have upped their branding enough (with all the advertising and customization and interior design) so that their pricing appears justified. The question is, what justifies the coffee price next to the T? Their coffee is not, by any means, so good that I'm willing to pay more than for an avg Dunkin Donut coffee. My answer: location, location, location.
On another note, I should make a new tag for my coffee posts.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Coffee in Medford--Cambridge
I have figured out why my caramel Americano is sub-par from the SB downstairs of our building: their pump for the caramel syrup is stuck. This morning, I decided to tell them to add another pump of syrup to my drink and saw that only half of the syrup is being squirted out for every pump, drastically reducing the flavour, and of course, the sugar. Also, the hot water is not hot enough, causing my coffee to be lukewarm after I add cream to it. There are a couple ways I can mitigate this problem:
- Suck it up and deal with sub-par coffee (not an option)
- Ordering a different flavour with hopes that the pumps are working (but I like Caramel)
- Asking for a Grande three-quarter full 6 pump caramel Americano (that would make me sound crazy)
- Stop by another SB somewhere along my commute to work (quite time-consuming)
- Stop drinking from SB and drink the free coffee at work (I would have to buy cream)
- Stop drinking from SB and make my own coffee (I would have to buy filters, coffee, and/or new machine)
Sunday, October 18, 2009
I found a job
I haven't been really good at letting people know I got a job...apparently even in person I would forget to say something. I guess I just didn't see it as a big deal, though it was such a big deal to get a job when I actually didn't have one.
So here is the stat:
I'm working at a company called CoreStreet and they provide solutions for secure identities, which means, as the technical writer there, I am trying to very hard to learn about Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) so i can actually write about it. To make you jealous, the company provides catered lunches daily, as well as monthly T passes. The office is located in Cambridge, and there are approximately 20 people working there (very small) and everyone is very friendly.
In terms of where we live, we just moved in the week Jen, Kenny, and Matt came to visit us (Oct. 1). The city we live in is called Medford, and it's probably the equivalent of what Yonge and Eg would be to Toronto downtown core as Medford would be to Boston core. The place is brand new and lives like a hotel. Adam and I have been putting all our money into decorating the house, and it looks pretty good, but you gotta come visit to believe it ;). We don't have enough money to fill the house with furniture yet, so pictures will no be coming until I start getting paid :D The three weekends we have been here, we have had visitors from Toronto, which is pretty awesome, but more about that another day.
Last, but not least, Boston is a great city, minus the transportation part of the city!
That's all for now!
So here is the stat:
I'm working at a company called CoreStreet and they provide solutions for secure identities, which means, as the technical writer there, I am trying to very hard to learn about Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) so i can actually write about it. To make you jealous, the company provides catered lunches daily, as well as monthly T passes. The office is located in Cambridge, and there are approximately 20 people working there (very small) and everyone is very friendly.
In terms of where we live, we just moved in the week Jen, Kenny, and Matt came to visit us (Oct. 1). The city we live in is called Medford, and it's probably the equivalent of what Yonge and Eg would be to Toronto downtown core as Medford would be to Boston core. The place is brand new and lives like a hotel. Adam and I have been putting all our money into decorating the house, and it looks pretty good, but you gotta come visit to believe it ;). We don't have enough money to fill the house with furniture yet, so pictures will no be coming until I start getting paid :D The three weekends we have been here, we have had visitors from Toronto, which is pretty awesome, but more about that another day.
Last, but not least, Boston is a great city, minus the transportation part of the city!
That's all for now!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Fall Fashion: Rain Boots??
As we all know, boots have been all the rage for a while now. I think it started with the knee-high boots, or as I recall what has been called hooker boots or Come F*** Me Boots; and then after a couple of years of all types going in and out of style, it went all the way down to ankle boots, which came back with a vengeance last year (in keeping with this whole 80s fashion that has been going on for too long now.) Oh, and not to mention, the Ugghlies, of which I am now an unfortunate owner (received as a gift...they are, however, as I reluctantly admit, very comfortable and warm.)
Come on, if you had gone to Australia, say, five years ago, you would have never thought those Ugghlies would sweep America off of its feet (hehehe). But it did, and it continues to. So if I were to tell you that these babies would come into fashion soon, you'd believe me right?
Okay, well I kid. No one I know in Toronto owns a pair of rain boots, we hardly own umbrellas. The reality is, we will never need a pair (whereas Ugghlies are pretty warm for the harsh winters there.) There is this thing called "car", which I have been pretty deprived off since I left Toronto, that replaces umbrellas and rain boots. I know it rained all summer in Toronto this year, and last year as well, but if you had to walk for a couple of blocks in the rain, the well-maintained roads (seriously, no joke) and drainage system usually will not allow water puddles or mud soak your feet or splash on you. Even in the winter, the slush is nicely shovelled to the side without problems. When we think of rain boots, we think of these:
But alas, what most of us probably failed to realize is that there are lesser places in the world that does rain all the time, where the roads are horribly planned, the drainage system sucks, the snow melts into slush and freezes again back and forth, and the roads are just not shovelled. One of these lesser places is named Boston.
As summer comes into an end and the leaves turn nicely red, yellow, and orange, rain befalls Boston, and mud befalls on us. The FIRST day I got to Boston, I had the fortunate experience of walking to the T (the Bostonian name for their public transit system) on a dirt path along the highway in the rain from home. My shoes did not look pretty. I noticed a girl on the T, however, wearing rain boots and I thought to myself, "What a great idea! I'm going to get me a pair!!" Funny thing was, I thought finding a pair of nice looking rain boots would be hard, but little did I know, rain boots are fall necessities not just in Britain, but also in Boston. Almost every store that sells shoes in Boston, sell rain boots ...even Aldo (Did anyone else know that Aldo sells rain boots?)
Apparently, rain boots, sometimes used interchangeably with Wellies (supposed to go up to your knees), or Waders (supposed to go up to your chest), or galoshes (supposed to cover your shoes), is a part of the fall fashion here in Boston. Here are some fashionable ones:
Which ones did I get? Hunter Wellington Boots in black, with red Wellie Socks for lining and cuff!!
FYI: Hunter’s Wellington boots are actually famous for its durability, comfort and performance... Hunter caters to all sorts of people from farmers to rock stars to the royalty [my box tells me it's appointed by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh!]
*EDIT: Apparently, Eldon says Hunter boots are popular in Toronto. I ran a google search on "hunter boots toronto" and found a blog entry from last year that talked about it. According to this girl, you can find hunter boots at approximate four locations in Toronto...they are about as mainstream as Salvatore Ferragamo handbags!
Come on, if you had gone to Australia, say, five years ago, you would have never thought those Ugghlies would sweep America off of its feet (hehehe). But it did, and it continues to. So if I were to tell you that these babies would come into fashion soon, you'd believe me right?
Okay, well I kid. No one I know in Toronto owns a pair of rain boots, we hardly own umbrellas. The reality is, we will never need a pair (whereas Ugghlies are pretty warm for the harsh winters there.) There is this thing called "car", which I have been pretty deprived off since I left Toronto, that replaces umbrellas and rain boots. I know it rained all summer in Toronto this year, and last year as well, but if you had to walk for a couple of blocks in the rain, the well-maintained roads (seriously, no joke) and drainage system usually will not allow water puddles or mud soak your feet or splash on you. Even in the winter, the slush is nicely shovelled to the side without problems. When we think of rain boots, we think of these:
But alas, what most of us probably failed to realize is that there are lesser places in the world that does rain all the time, where the roads are horribly planned, the drainage system sucks, the snow melts into slush and freezes again back and forth, and the roads are just not shovelled. One of these lesser places is named Boston.
As summer comes into an end and the leaves turn nicely red, yellow, and orange, rain befalls Boston, and mud befalls on us. The FIRST day I got to Boston, I had the fortunate experience of walking to the T (the Bostonian name for their public transit system) on a dirt path along the highway in the rain from home. My shoes did not look pretty. I noticed a girl on the T, however, wearing rain boots and I thought to myself, "What a great idea! I'm going to get me a pair!!" Funny thing was, I thought finding a pair of nice looking rain boots would be hard, but little did I know, rain boots are fall necessities not just in Britain, but also in Boston. Almost every store that sells shoes in Boston, sell rain boots ...even Aldo (Did anyone else know that Aldo sells rain boots?)
Apparently, rain boots, sometimes used interchangeably with Wellies (supposed to go up to your knees), or Waders (supposed to go up to your chest), or galoshes (supposed to cover your shoes), is a part of the fall fashion here in Boston. Here are some fashionable ones:
Which ones did I get? Hunter Wellington Boots in black, with red Wellie Socks for lining and cuff!!
FYI: Hunter’s Wellington boots are actually famous for its durability, comfort and performance... Hunter caters to all sorts of people from farmers to rock stars to the royalty [my box tells me it's appointed by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh!]
*EDIT: Apparently, Eldon says Hunter boots are popular in Toronto. I ran a google search on "hunter boots toronto" and found a blog entry from last year that talked about it. According to this girl, you can find hunter boots at approximate four locations in Toronto...they are about as mainstream as Salvatore Ferragamo handbags!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
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