At Last, the McDonald's of Coffee

Paris is the only area in France where Starbucks exists--yes, I actually looked it up before we came to France... more out of curiousity than anything else. And no, they don't have Costco in France. I guess when you're from Seattle you wonder about these things. Anyhow, while the little cups of espresso that they serve here are quite good, I do occasionally miss a "normal" size cup of coffee that lasts you more than a minute or two. Katie especially misses being able to nurse a coffee in the morning.

So we really wanted to go to a Starbucks in Paris, have a big cup of coffee, and check out the scene. I was actually thinking I'd see more of them, but I think in our week there we only saw two (and went to one). The store is pretty much as you would find in any Starbucks in the US: baristas in green aprons, soft lightning, cozy chairs, Paris mugs. The only exception I witnessed is that they serve "for here" customers in real cups and saucers (they have the traditional white paper cups with the Starbucks logo for takeout). As far as I can tell, takeout coffee is very rare in France--Starbucks is about the only place I've seen coffee served in paper cups. They even have bagels, scones, and muffins as you would in the States. While I did see a few bagel places in Paris, I have yet to see anywhere selling bagels, scones, or muffins in Toulouse. The other thing about Starbucks that's just like the US (and very nice for Paris) is that the bathrooms are clean!

Oh, almost forgot. They were also playing that jazzy, adult-contemporary, Pottery Barn-ish Christmas music that I know you all know (and love). This was the first time in France that we really heard Christmas songs--doesn't seem to be part of the Christmas tradition here. I can't say this is something I especially miss. It's quite nice to go Christmas shopping and NOT hear Christmas songs. I'll have to write some evangelists in the US and perhaps they can start waging a war on Christmas here too (I'm sure they already want to wage war on France so I'm sure this isn't a problem).

So how was the coffee? I was a bit surprised by my reaction. Normally I like Starbucks coffee because it's always served quite hot. But apparently I've gotten pretty used to drinking espresso because the Starbucks drip tasted pretty gross--like watered down coffee. I'm not saying I'm one of those European coffee snobs or anything, I just think that I'm not used to the taste of American coffee for the moment. In summary, I was a bit disappointed. In most French cafes, you sit down and they serve coffee to you at your seat. In Starbucks, you have to wait in line and serve yourself. So I'm not anxious for Starbucks to open in Toulouse if they decide to expand beyond Paris. Speaking of which, most people we've met here have no idea what Starbucks is which I find rather amusing given how ubiquitous it is in the States. The only way I can really explain it to them is that it's the McDonald's of coffee... just what Howard Schultz had in mind, I'm sure.