This Just In: “Our New Starbucks”
Just opened on our corner
It used to be a nickel
Then what was, became a dime
Some even gave it away
Praying for customers to sit there and dine
Apple pie along with a la mode
No thoughts of calories
Deceptive advertising was always told
There was no “Starbucks”
No “Coffee Tea & Me”
A dollar seventy five was a dinner out
We never sipped while being plugged in
Meeting another for a drink
Was a time for conversation?
Perhaps even gin
They descend upon us relentlessly,
as would farts in a blizzard;
two by two,
one by one,
rarely in threes,
never as a simple crowd at a ballgame;
ours forever;
coffee zombies;
Many, distraught wannabes!
Enjoying overpaying for what used to be one of the simpler things in life;
black coffee, an important part of our
life
On less than a notable lark I ventured
across our street.
I was taken by the cleanliness; a
different surrealism,
a room filled with people not talking
to one another
A series of lines of apparent human
beings moving the same direction,
towards very young stewards of one look
and meter
One step and stop,
one step and stop,
then with a postal service style
deliverance,
each ended their march with a similar
cup in hand.
Most not tasting their brew until
outside and in the confines of
dissimilar transportation.
The men, not a tried and true athletic
group.
The women, none baring the look of a
home wrecker.
1947 Trefner’s, 619 Lexington at 53rd, NYC, a moderately priced restaurant with long-time patrons: “First there is fruit juice, then a choice of two soups. The main courses are fried chicken, steaks or some kind of fish. The chicken, which is $1, is one of the specialties of the house. Another is Hungarian goulash for 95 cents.”
Your choice of coffee, tea, or soft drink – free with meal.
Coffee Drinking Statistics
Total percentage of Americans over the age of 18 that drink coffee everyday = 54%
Average size of coffee cup = 9 ounces
Average price of an espresso-based drink = $2.45
Average price for cup of brewed coffee = $1.38
Total percentage of coffee drinkers who prefer their coffee black = 35%
Total percentage of coffee consumption that takes place during breakfast hours = 65%
Total amount of money spent by importing coffee to U.S. each year = $4 billion
Total percentage of coffee Brazil produces of entire worlds output = 30%
Total amount of cups of coffee (9 ounces) a coffee drinker consumes daily = 3.1
Total average of money spent on coffee each year by coffee drinker = $164.71
Total number of U.S. daily coffee drinkers = 100 million
Total number of U.S. daily coffee drinkers who drink specialty beverages (lattes, cappuccinos, mochas, etc.) = 30 million
Total percentage of coffee drinkers who drink 13 or more cups of coffee each week = 24%
Total percentage of coffee drinkers who go to premium places (Starbucks, Coffee Bean, etc.) when they get coffee out = 34%
Total percentage of people who go to lower-price outlets (McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts, etc.) when out = 29%
Total percentage of coffee consumed between meals = 30%
Total percentage of coffee drinkers who add cream and/or sugar = 65%
Total amount of U.S. coffee drinkers who claim to need a cup of coffee to start their day = 60%
Total percentage of coffee drinkers who say coffee makes them feel more like their self = 54%
Total percentage of coffee drinkers who have a cup within the first hour of waking up = 68%
Total amount of yearly money spent on specialty coffee in the U.S. = 18 billion
There was a time period long before the likes of Starbucks, when folks ventured out with only a few coins in their pockets in search of anything that might make do as their dinner. One little guy, the story is told, entered a restaurant, looked at the menu, and decided he could get one single meatball with the fifteen cents he had left to his name. The disgruntled waiter took his order, and as he turned away the little man asked if he might get some bread. The waiter responded with a bellow for all the diners to hear:
“One meat ball. One meat ball! Well, you gets no bread with one meat ball.”
Believe it or not, the song “One Meat Ball” actually became a hit in the forties.
i know you can't go back, so i guess it's with a certain distasteful drudgery that we must slog forward… where are the perks? alas, they went with the free coffee… rog