Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Enjoy the good Lattes. I wish I was there, we could have a serious meet-up. Where's the best coffee in Seattle? Spoiled for choice I imagine. Do they actually have Starbucks in Seattle anymore - and are they shunned by the coffee drinking populace? When I was in Hawaii a while back, there was a "Seattle's Best" that too seemed like a chain that was strictly for export.


They do that here in Australia as well. You know Foster's Lager? "Australian for Beer" No one drinks it here.

What about the tourists? do they drink Fosters?
I've always liked their ads...

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

It's hard to even find it in the liquor stores here. Every state has it's own beer, in Queensland, it's "xxxx" pronounced "Four-X" in Victoria it's "Victoria Bitters" And the states like to make fun of each others beers.

Here in Queensland, I'm a traitor and drink Victoria Bitters, also called "VB" My father-in-law says this stands for "Visitor's Beer" because that's what you unload on them so you can drink the 4X.

As I'm just a transplanted Yank, here only 7 years, I haven't worked out all of the intricacies of which beers you can drink, where and on which ocassions. Australians take their beer drinking seriously.

Seattle is, in fact, the home of the original Starbucks. It's in Pike Market.
http://gocalifornia.about.com/bl_wastlpikephoto_star.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbucks#History

I never realized that Pike Place is actually the 'second home' of the original location until reading the Wiki article. Interesting. 2000 Western Avenue was the home of the original: I have no idea what's there right now.

Visited there last year - v. cool. If you buy a Starbucks debit ("prepaid") card there it's a one-of-a-kind they only sell at that location.

Cheap but effective souvenir.

Have a fun trip!

Im not sure what the beer in the south east U.K is really.

I assume its "Stella Artois", as its the only bottle you see lying about, or clutched in a drunkards hand.

Its also amazing how this blog has turned from where james is going to be, to which county drinks what beer.

yeah, its weird how blog posts / video comments can change topic so easily. It's very late here, and I don't feel like futzing too much with the blog. However, in the morning after I return to Seattle there will be some pictures of the most excellent time had by oohahh, SwingingPagan, and I in Portland this evening.

Hey, JamesRoe- drop us a line if you make it to Vancouver- therealblankman at hotmail dot com.

Dag- Seattle's Best Coffee, while it used to be an independant competitor of the evil over-roasted empire, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of... you guessed it... Starbucks.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Oh wow - I didn't know that blankman. I do go to Starbucks here in Australia, because it's the only place I can get filter coffee. I'm not much of an espresso person. As a chain though, Gloria Jeans kills Starbucks for business here.

therealblankman,

My vancouver trip got canned :-( which sucks as i love the city. I was looking forward to some vintage clothes shopping. C'est la vie. I was also not aware that seattles best was a starbucks subsidiary. I am at zeitgeist at the moment, and it's most excellent. I have some espress porn of my coffee late that i will post up when ever i get back to the house and can retrieve my usb cord for the camera.

http://zeitgeistcoffee.com/

I too drink the Starbucks stuff- they roast and blend the coffee I buy at Costco. Starbucks does over-roast, some would even say burn, their beans, but unfortunately one gets so used to it, and one's tastebuds get so distorted, that better coffee tastes bad.