!! SAUSAGES !!

[wings folded]

Absolutely no proof of my assertion.

But when I am in my french location:

1) There is no Starbucks within a lot of kilometers
2) If there was, I wouldn't go there
3) I can have a sublime cafe at numerous local bars, run by the owners, who serve a nice cup, chat with you if you so wish, or leave you nicely in peace with your cup if you prefer.

[Wodrick]

These days the flies are still there and the tapas cost - and cost a lot

*Ofso* young man, you live in the wrong part of Spain if I may say so. In the South Tapas are free or minimal cost, typically 1€ with a drink.

[BenThere]

It never caught on where proper coffee was part of the culture. France, Italy for e.g.

Another thing that never caught on was the free refill. Pretty much at every sit down restaurant in the US, if you buy a coffee the waitress will come around during the meal and refill your cup - no charge. Not so anywhere else I've been. Even Starbucks does it if you're a senior, like me.

[Fliegenmong]

was the free refill

Can't give it away!

[BenThere]

Of course, if you don't like it, when she comes around again and your cup is still full, you won't get another free pour. As you like it.

I do admit my tastes in coffee are rather pedestrian. In fact, many times, particularly in Asia, I've settled for instant Nestles brought to life with water from the hot pot in the hotel room. I've had thousands of these non-gourmet beverages, which met my basic needs and left me with no complaint as to what they do for me. I reveal this only to illuminate that my exceptions for coffee can be satisfied at the lowest levels. Therefore, I can live with and appreciate a free refill wherever I get it.

So, given my coffee requirements, the enhanced quality of Starbucks, wherever in the world I'm buying it, is a treat that, while I don't require it, find I value it.

But I'm willing to be enlightened by all those who characterize the coffee I like as unworthy. I'm always looking for a better cup. By the way, at home my coffee is made, espresso lungo, by my top of the line SAECO automatic, a $4000 or so machine I bought in 2006 after moving back home from Italy. Still makes a good cuppa.

[wings folded]

Well, now, Ben, your taste in coffee is entirely your personal affair.

I tend to agree with the poster who said he thought he had been served dishwater. I wouldn't mind but next time I will ask them not to put detergent in it. If there is a next time...

[wings folded]

Starbucks also goes above and beyond its peers to be socially responsible - from fair trade to employee wages and benefits. What's to criticize there?

Boasting of massive profits to attract investors, and posting a loss for tax purposes?

[Alisoncc]

Coffee started going downhill when they replaced chicory essence with some rubbish from beans.

Alison

[BenThere]

Chicory is alive and well in New Orleans. When I was flying domestic and laying over at the Crown Plaza on the corner of Canal and Bourbon Streets, the provided 'Community Coffee' brand in the room was a chicory blend. I've only seen chicory widely sold in Louisiana. I neither like nor dislike it. If you get a coffee at the iconic Cafe du Monde you'll also get a chicory blend to wash down the obligatory beignet.

What I do like is going downstairs from this exceptional hotel in the middle of one of my favorite spots in the world, walking a block and taking in a happy hour featuring $.50 world's best fresh-shucked oysters, and $2 site-brewed artisanal IPA's in a restaurant owned by a Top Chef judge, John Besh. The restaurant is Lukë. While the cost is great, it's the unsurpassed quality that makes it a 5 star.

[Capetonian]

From coffee back to sausages, I am so happy that in a couple of weeks I will be in the country that makes the best sausages in the world!

[Fliegenmong]

There is a weekend market not far from here that do an amazing array of fermented meats, all manner of salamis etc etc, serrano hams, kabanas, and other delectable Eastern European treats!

A great lunch from there is usually hot Kransky in a roll, heaped with roasted capsiucum relish, sauerkraut and mustard. (not in Summer though, a definite winter lunch!)

Then take home a 'tasting plate', perfect for arfternoon drinkies....

[Alisoncc]

From coffee back to sausages, I am so happy that in a couple of weeks I will be in the country that makes the best sausages in the world!

Sausages as such are so diverse in character as to make it impossible to say one is better than another. I've eaten Boerewors in Krugersdorp hand made by Mrs Coetzee to an age-old recipe. I've eaten a variety of sausages in Munich and Berlin that dreams were made of. Pork sausages from Wiltshire pigs in the UK, where said pigs roamed free through an apple orchard, with oak trees surrounding. Acorn and apple flavoured pork arrived at via the pigs diet was something else again.

Sorry Cape. Which is the best? There's no way to compare them.

Alison

[ian16th]

It never caught on where proper coffee was part of the culture. France, Italy for e.g.

Wasn't it in France where McDonalds sued a franchise holder for not following the McDonald's recipe, and he got off because he proved in court that he had improved their hamburgers?

Therefore he had not harmed their name.

[Capetonian]

I knew someone would ask, my comment was intended to provoke the question!

[Alisoncc]

Didn't know they could make sausages out of potato on it's own. Learn something new everyday.

[Capetonian]

Oi'll get me friend Paddy O'Reilly to sort you out, oi will.

[lasernigel]

Didn't know they could make sausages out of potato on it's own. Learn something new everyday.

But they can in Lithuania apparently.

http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/sausages/r/Lithuanian-Potato-Sausage-Recipe-Vedarai.htm

[rgbrock1]

From coffee back to sausages, I am so happy that in a couple of weeks I will be in the country that makes the best sausages in the world!

Deutschland?

[Pinky the pilot]

I will be in the country that makes the best sausages in the world!

Deutschland?

Yers... but my previous posts on this thread notwithstanding; I still have a quiet belief that you can find (if you know where to look) some of the best examples of the subject of this thread in the Barossa Valley district of South Australia.

And now it is time to pour myself a drink. No, not a good Barossa Shiraz/Cab Sav etc....but a single Malt Scotch.

And I will sip it slowly and quietly, in memory of someone I never met.

But whom I considered a Friend.

[OFSO]

proved in court that he had improved their hamburgers?

QED. It would be very hard to make them worse.