In a satirical piece an American magazine had once quoted “New Starbucks Opens in Rest Room of Existing Starbucks”.
That is almost reality for us hopped up (save this term for beer drinkers) or should I say Caffienated public. See I am so stoned I used the wrong spelling (thinking i before e but alas caffEIne is the other way round).
We are so overdosed we cannot remember when we had a shot, so like a junkie we seek it out and get another one.. just in case. Alcohol has some serious competition. Starbucks partnered with the Tatas and went and opened its first store in Mumbai. They have big plans to sell coffee to a natively tea drinking public. Just making a statement - lifestyle is what they want to sell - in some retarded marketing lingo - not the coffee. Anyone can sell coffee.
Used to be a time when the Japanese used the idea of caffeine intake and developed a whole Zen lifestyle around it - called it the Tea Ceremony. Spent hours preparing and serving and enjoying it. Now in the go go world we try to memorize the weird sounding pseudo Italian nomenclature to order an expensive froth with loads of caffeine to make an elephant go wild. Starbucks and others have got in the game of also convincing us that we need to first fail at home while attempting the exercise of coffee brewing so they now sell fancy machines to generate your first cup. Some cost as much as a small car and both can drive you nuts .. ha ha.
So once you either fail at operating said machinery or get hooked with the first sip, you keep seeking it out at their stores during the day - unless you plan to carry the machine and ingredients wherever you go - and plug and play on the spot - that could be another economical way of doing it. You could spot a man at a street lamp post with an outlet brewing his own ... and the other outlet is charging his iphone.. with Super Storm Sandy we saw pictures of the latter in NY anyway. Addiction is a powerful thing.
I must confess that while I do not enjoy any kind of coffee on a typical day I am partial to the south Indian chicory laced concoction when I can get my hands on one. Its rare state side. What I will imbibe with some regularity is the Starbucks brand Chai Latte. A strong concoction made of black tea and spices and sugar to which is added steaming hot milk. That I like.
Recently the best caffeine I had in liquid form was in Malaysia - went by the name of Teh Tari - which basically translates to Strained Tea. Tar is wire and the act of pouring the hot steaming liquid from one vessel to another while drawing it creates a long stream that introduces air in the beverage making it blend well and also cools the super hot concoction.
For 50 cents US I could have six of them to equal my starbucks small cup. Costs a bunch to get to Malaysia but the tea was worth every sip. Not to mention enjoying the show of the artist actually making that cup (no starbucks machine is going to match that).
I attempted to read this book by author Chuck Klosterman backward to forward but it started hurting my brain so I decided to stop and do it like any other publication in the English language. Start from page 1 and move to the right. Witty, caustic and thought provoking this is a book you want to read if you believe that the status quo might, just might be wrong. At times bordering on being contrarian about most things around us it tries to zero in on the notion of what makes anything believable and certain in our minds. The fact that there is a fact itself is ironic. Something analogous to the idea that you can never predict the future because there is no future. Many books and movies have tried to play on this concept - best that I recollect (I think I am) was 'The Truman Show'. This book by Klosterman attempts to provoke the reader to at least contemplate that what they think they know may be wrong. He uses examples like concept of gravity, and how it ...
I was going to say, it costs many bucks to be a Star out there...but you already said it! How about the bull called Red Bull? Makes you part with a lot of cash too.
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