I don't like Starbucks coffee, yet I get one almost every morning, for two reasons:

1. They have protein-rich items for breakfast. Not just sugary pastries.

2. It's easy.

Starbucks coffee tastes burned. I have no less than 5 locally-owned, small-business coffee shops available to me on the way to work, and they all have incredible coffee. (Stumptown, Herkimer, Verace.) I love each of these boutique coffee shops.

But: They don't have a drive-thru. They don't have protein items for breakfast.

I know. I am shallow and weak and useless, and hurting small business and helping a big corporate behemoth (that, incidentally, was the first major employer in WA State to provide Domestic Partner benefits, and have successfully created safe public gathering spaces (their "third space") for every gender, race, color, and creed, in almost every country in the world) , but the truth is that it is 6:00 in the morning, and I just want a fucking coffee and something to eat that isn't going to spike my blood sugar and leave me crashing by 10:AM.

On the weekends, with my wife, with friends, etc, I would never touch a Starbucks, and often introduce people to my favorite little coffee shops.

Driving to work in the morning? It's talk radio and the Starbucks drive-thru.

And yes, I am ashamed. Ashamed and caffeinated.