Starbuck's
Dundrum Shopping Centre, Dublin 14

I have been to a few branches of Starbuck's in the US, two in Vienna and one in London, and have found them all pleasant enough - nice atmosphere, pastries and food generally are good, staff courteous and of course, a wide range of coffees. The Dundrum branch is just like the rest! Is this a good thing? Well, it depends on what you want from a coffee shop. It's bustling and noisy, not really a place to hang around (low linger level) but then this is a really busy shopping centre. I also find the system of ordering at the till and then going elsewhere to pick up your coffee a bit awkward. Though while saying that, one of the staff in Dundrum offered to bring my coffee to my table - maybe we can remould Starbuck's to what we want! The coffee I had by the way, just before Christmas, was their Christmas blend. Nice enough with a hint of cinnamon, but weak (it was drip coffee). As with the amusing story recounted in Spill The Beans, a customer ahead of me was trying to get a plain white coffee and was being offered far more choice than he wanted. He eventually got what he wanted.
I do like the variety of coffees available to buy and the detailed labelling as to their origin - with coffee connoiseurs everywhere now, giving plenty of information on the product is surely good business; there's some controversy at the moment about just how much of the product sold in Starbuck's is Fair Trade but there are plenty of Fair Trade stickers evident on the bags in the Dundrum branch.
From two visits to the branch I can't imagine myself developing the sort of relationship that I have with other coffeehouses. It does what it sets out to do well enough but there's something missing which I suspect it might struggle to find in such a location as Dundrum Shopping Centre. Maybe it will develop with time though and it's nice to have the opportunity to experience what is an American institution.
cq, 30/12/05