Okay, I'll say it.
I hate Starbucks.
No, it's not because they're an evil mega-corp trying to worm their way in everywhere and take advantage of third-world coffee farmers by paying them a pittance. I'm not that deep.
I just don't like their coffee. In my opinion, it's very bitter, as though they have burned, or at least over-roasted, their beans. If I want to spend $3 on an absurdly over-priced cuppa joe, I'll spend it someplace where I enjoy the aforementioned cuppa much more.
That place, for the last 8 years or so, has been Coffee People. Even when they changed hands a few years back and started using Deidrich beans, it was still damned good coffee, and they had snazzy slogans like "Good coffee, no backtalk." They also have nifty drive-thru locations called Motor-Moka and even kiosks at the Portland airport called Aero-Moka. And who doesn't love a company that sells a kind of coffee called Black Tiger, whose only difference from regular coffee is that it contains 25% more caffeine?
Alas, it's the end of an era. Last fall, Deidrich decided they wanted to focus on their beans business and get out of running actual shops, so they sold Coffee People. To Starbucks. Unfortunately, Starbucks in their infinite wisdom decided they could not do as they did when they bought Seattle's Best and keep the operation running as a separate entity from Starbucks. No, instead, they decided to shut down the Coffee People stores. Many of the "dine-in" coffee bar locations are already closed, and our nearest Motor-Moka closes tomorrow.
Dear Starbucks: Closing Coffee People will not make me any more inclined to drink Starbucks coffee. I would rather go without than drink something I don't like the taste of. By closing Coffee People, rather than allowing them to continue operating under your management, you have deprived yourself of the revenue you would have made from my corner of the economic globe. In closing, go f'uck yourself.
Luckily, the manager of one of the non-drive-thru coffee bar locations here in Beaverton bought his lease and will changing the store's name, but continuing to sell products made with the same Diedrich beans, so we have options when we really get our jones on. But this location is farther away than our usual stops, and isn't a Motor-Moka, which means we will be patronizing it much less. But at least we have options. Most of the other independently run drive-thru coffee places around here aren't all that tasty either (I think they use Panache coffee), so we really don't have many.