Sunday, February 2, 2014

PDX Enroute Stop - Coffee People Choice

Second Third Place
Starbucks is my favorite Third Place of choice - if I am to use one - but the Coffee People at the entrance to Concourse E at PDX is the most available watering hole when flying on United Airlines (my preferred carrier for frequent flying miles membership). My regular choice: Cafe Mocha Decaf with whipped cream (that sounds like a line out of You've Got Mail (1) - staged in New York City, but where Starbucks has penetrated the metropolitan giant with small pieces of the Pacific Northwest coffee culture that  sustains residents there through the ten continuous months of cloudy weather and rain).

Customized cafe mocha decaf
For health regulations, the concoction has to be handed over to the customer in a paper cup with the generic, non-biodegradable cap in place, upon which receiving I put on the generic brown paper sleeve to serve as a heat insulator, step over to the service bar where the nutmeg, cinnamon, and chocolate shakers are available for customers like me to custom adulterate the hot drink by sprinkling the spices on top of the crushed whipped cream, to then carefully reattach the non-biodegradable cap, and then gather up my carry-on bags and waddle my way to my gate carrying everything and thinking about that first sip of my coffee drink.
_________________________
(1) Line from You've Got Mail when Joe Fox says: "The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don’t know what the hell they’re doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino." A book is specifically written about Starbucks culture in America that draws commentary by newspaper columnists, not unlike what the Frank Navsky character would write in the movie.

No comments:

Post a Comment