a poor player

“There’s nothing like a good cup of coffee.” That was something my grandmother always said to me every time she had her morning coffee. The Puerto Rican side of my family were all major coffee drinkers. I started myself at age 13 at the encouragement of my mother, who must have been drinking close to 14 cups a day when she was younger (she has cut down considerably). If there was one memory I took back from the trips I took to Puerto Rico as a child, it was that everyone, no matter how poor, had a coffee bush somewhere in their yard.

Despite the fact that I have usually three mugs of coffee a day, however, I never became a coffee connoisseur. Just the average mug of joe was good enough for me. Even when the coffee shop explosion began to take place, I never really got into it. Maxwell House, or if I felt like a splurge, Chock Full o’ Nuts were the staples of my coffee habit. There was one experience I had in graduate school, however, when I went to Kansas City for a theatre festival and found myself in the kitchen of a friend of one of my professors. He was the first person I ever met who ground his own beans, filtered his water, and used a drip coffeemaker instead of a percolator. I had a cup of his coffee, and the buzz I experienced was so potent that I can still remember it palpably.

Being on tour this past year, however, has made me far more coffeee-conscious than I have ever been, and during the winter leg of the tour I found I could no longer drink the average swill they served in motels during the continental breakfast. I think the final straw came in Illinois at a Super8. The stuff they called coffee there could have poisoned a NYC rat to death. I began at that point to join forces with Jessica and use the coffee maker I had purchased in Shreveport to make our own coffee in the morning if there was no available coffee shop.

I also grew to love coffee shops while on tour, but not Starbucks. So it was with some hesitation that I went last week to check out the new Starbucks that has opened on the Fredonia campus. I came away sad and depressed, because after all, it was nothing more than another Starbucks.

Now, I have nothing against Starbucks any more than they are merely another chain store scarfing up the individuality of America. They actually make good coffee, and apparently treat their workers well and strive to be a socially conscious company. They’ve worked hard to create a take-out cup which is recycleable, and you get a 10% discount on your coffee if you bring your own mug. I even buy their beans in the store from time to time because they are the best brand on the shelves in this rural outpost. But I do dislike the fact that they are a chain, and that every store is similar. One thing I tried very hard to do while touring (but did not succeed in accomplishing all the time) was to try and find places to eat and drink which were unique to the area of the country I was in and not a national chain. I did not object much to regional chains (Chik-Fil-A, for example), but I tried as hard as possible to stay away from national chains. This held true for coffee shops. I always looked for the independent coffee shop in the area, and even if the brew was not too good, at least it was independent. It’s one of the reasons I used to go to Coffee on the Corner in Staunton instead of the Daily Grind, although DG is only a regional chain.

The addition of a Starbucks on campus depressed me because I realized what an opportunity to create a unique coffee shop, reflecting the Dunkirk/Fredonia/Chautauqua County area, has been wasted. Rather than give the matter some serious creative thought, all that happened was someone decided to plug in the national chain. I walked in, and there it was – yet another Starbucks. I bought a tall cup of the day’s brew (they didn’t even have a dark roast ready), poured in the half&half, and left. I could not even bear to sit down in the place, because it was so depressing.

Coffee on the Corner in Staunton had Dave the owner, Mike and Stacy. Blue Mountain Coffee in Staunton was in a nice brick building with an outdoor patio, and when they got wireless I spent more time there. Brewed Awakenings in Cedar Falls served a French press. So did the local shop in Lexington WV. Cullowhee NC had a wonderful coffee shop and bakery. CupAJoes in Raleigh NC  had a smoking section attached to it. Even Spot Coffee in Buffalo reflects the city itself, both downtown and on Elmwood. All wonderful, original coffee shops with good coffee.

We could have had that at Fredonia. We could have done a coffee shop which reflected the Great Lakes, wine country, Chadwick Bay, Chautauqua Institute, the college itself – things which reflected the history and life of the area. We could have had a coffee shop which had a space for poetry readings, music, small live performances, art installations, digital installations, and many other sorts of ambient entertainment. Maybe some XM Radio piped in. Open wireless for the community. Something – anything – other than another Starbucks.

I’m pretty sure there are many people on my campus thrilled about having Starbucks. Ooooohhh, Starbucks. How up-to-date! How modern! How hip! But I am not one of those people. I say – Star*ucks! How bland! How banal! How corporate! How simple-minded! How depressing! It just made me sad to realize how little originality there is left in the world. Touring the eastern US made me more keenly aware of that than ever before. A Starbucks in Fredonia will only continue to drive the point home. My coffee will be made in my office, using Eight O’Clock Coffee and Brita-filtered water in a Braun drip coffeemaker. For special occasions I will bring in my super-special Liquid Solutions French press, which became a stalwart on the road and during the Blackfriars residence. I will even brew Starbucks coffee from time to time, some Cafe Verona or other dark roast. But I will do my level best to avoid the campus Starbucks. The buzz there is too depressing. There are other places to get a good cup of coffee. -twl