THE BUZZ WARS
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What better time to debate the best java than National Sleep Awareness Week?
Starbucks
Drinking coffee is pretty important to my sense of self. The world of journalism is pretty much rife with coffee cliches. The idea that regents and legislators take me more seriously if I have a cup of coffee in my hand is probably false, bt there’s something about having a steaming cuppa-jo in your hand while you’re listening to someone drone on about an issue that makes the experience remarkably bearable.
This is the basis of my belief that Starbucks kicks the competitors’ proverbial butt. It’s a super pragmatic argument: Starbucks has 19,435 stores in 58 countries. Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has a measley 830 locations in 23 countries. So the odds are pretty good of my being able to find decent coffee, have it poured in a cup and make it to an interview or a legislative committee meeting in time to listen to the 43rd funding formula debate this week.
One point for Starbucks.
-Haley Etchison, News Editor
Purple straw or green?
I go for the green straw 90% of the time, but only because I get a monthly Starbucks gift card from my aunt who acrues so many points they send her postcards in the mail for free drinks and oatmeal. But it really depends on what I’m in the mood for. If I want a frozen drink, I go for The Bean. If I want a latte, I go for Starbucks — and if I want straight coffee I bypass Starbucks because their’s always tastes burnt. Some days, I crave Coffee Bean’s tropical passion or mint teas, and other days, I can’t wait to get an iced passion tea lemonade from Starbucks. Can you tell I’m indecisive? And though this is a war of beans, I have to get a pastry to go along with any order. Starbucks’ oatmeal is superb. Their classic coffee cake (not that low fat nonsense) is amazing — but Coffee Bean has better croissants and bagels. And if you didn’t know already, Coffee Bean offers 10% off for UNLV students and Starbucks doesn’t. So pick a straw, if you can choose.
-Alexia Gyorody, Lifestyles Editor
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
If there’s one thing I like more than coffee, it’s savings! I also like to feel special, and the discount I receive at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf across UNLV for showing my RebelCard is usually worth braving the roaring Maryland Parkway traffic. Being a European soccer fan and a dorm resident, having to wake up at 6 a.m. to watch games doesn’t endear me to the local Starbucks, as the Student Union is closed until noon on Sundays. However, the Coffee Bean is always open with a full stock of coffee and donuts abound. On some nights during the week, the local branch even hosts the meetings of the local anarchist society. I attended a meeting once, and found it pleasant. Coffee drinkers that don’t normally like their favorite beverage accompanied by anti-statist rhetoric from a bedraggled man who looks strikingly similar to Lenni Brenner, however, won’t. We all make sacrifices for our vice, I suppose.
-Ian Whitaker, Editor-in-Chief
After spending time at each location I do not know how anyone can consider starbucks better than The Coffee Bean. The Coffee Bean doesn’t burn their coffee, has far better tea and tea selection and has lower prices. And I think it is funny that Haley Etchison, who wrote the first article thinks starbucks is better simply because they have more stores, that is like saying mcdonalds is the best restaurant on the planet because they have the most locations. I think it is more important to focus on the quality of the products and not just the convenience