By Jacob Peller, Staff Writer

Published Oct. 29, 2014

I am not a hipster, although I feel that the very fact that I’m complaining about Starbucks as a corporation may very well initiate me as one.

We all know about Starbucks, how could we possible not?

They’re on every corner, and it seems like every TV channel shows one of their commercials.

And If I see one more post, tweet or hashtag about some, “pumpkin Chai this” or “pumpkin Frappuccino that”, I swear I’m going to make it my mission to smash every pumpkin I see just to spare it from the future of being a horrible drink flavor.

Now, there are many reasons why everyone should hate places like Starbucks.  Companies like them seek to take over every corner of a town and effectively monopolize the area.

We see this way too often in the case of Walmart. One Walmart has the capability of closing down almost every local business in the area under the guise that it is more affordable.

However if you look at the resulting empty husks of the shopping centers and independently owned stores, you’ll start to see that places like Walmart are more of a cancer to the community than a convenience.

Now take everything about Walmart and make it coffee, that’s Starbucks.

We have two prominent coffee houses on Tate Street that still fight the good fight against their obviously larger competition, Coffeeology and Tate Street coffee.

I love both of these places and firmly believe that the only reason they’re still in business is that we as a college community are often more drawn to smaller and more local places as hangout spots, rather than the average middle-aged person on the go.

The inside of both of these businesses have an element that Starbucks will never have: community.

People go there to sit with their coffee, talk to friends, work on their computers, study for that exam, and pretty much anything else a person can do while sipping a cup of joe.

And it’s because these coffee houses actually want the customer to feel welcome that they are able to have so many people who claim an unwavering allegiance to the spot as their favorite coffeehouse.

Just go inside Tate Street Coffee and you’ll have so much to see on the walls and room to sit and talk; not to mention the live music that they put on as well.

As cheesy as it sounds, a coffeehouse is meant to be an experience, something that you look forward to, not just a long line and inexcusable wait time just for a coffee to go.

And while I’m on the subject of what Starbucks does wrong, let me remind you that “coffee” is mostly black with maybe a little creamer or milk added.

What you get at Starbucks is just two-thirds creamer with whipped cream and caramel drizzle and two drops of coffee added.

Starbucks really shouldn’t be called a coffeehouse, they’re more like a carnival concessions stand that sell such high-sugar items that it’ll give you type 2 diabetes faster than you can say “Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino.”

Now, I’m not saying that you have to drink your coffee black, because that’s a really hard thing to do.

But you have to understand that when you’re standing in that Starbucks line and you hear someone in front of you say that they can’t wake up in the morning without their cup of coffee and they end up ordering a black and white mocha with whipped cream on top, you should know that type of “coffee” isn’t going to wake them up.

Instead, it’s going to serve as a pure and unadulterated sugar rush.

Of course, I don’t mean to be so harsh to the people waiting in line for coffee.  They, like everyone else on campus, need something in their system to keep them awake through their boring lectures and late night classes.

All I am asking is this: if it’s truly coffee you want, why not go to Tate Street?

You’d be doing a lot more for our community than that Starbucks ever will.

How’s that for a “cup of Joe?”