Starbucks
Believe it or not, but I never went to Starbucks until the pandemic and home ordering became a common thing. I actually didn't order until there was this promotion to order 2 home office menus for the price of one. I believe at the time the delivery was also free, so I could not resist trying their expensive coffee for once. At the time I was still drinking coffee btw. They did not disappoint, to be honest, but that wasn't thanks to the coffee. You will read my opinion about that further on in this review.
Ordering in is so easy nowadays
Last week has been quite bad looking at the weather. I had several occasions where I needed just a few items from the grocery store but the rain kept me from going. It's so easy to order nowadays here, even many supermarkets offer (part of) their assortment on the food delivery service app and often without charging a delivery fee. And one of the days I felt like ordering something from Starbucks. So I ordered us two home office menus.
The Food
Something that I discovered the last time that I ordered, was the cinnamon rolls. We ordered it to give it a try last time and now I'm hooked, haha. I wonder how they make these so soft and delicious. I planned on trying a cinnamon recipe for a while now, I even bought everything I needed, but so far, I haven't done so. It's on my endless to-do list. If you ask me wen? I say soon!
This time I ordered the cinnamon rolls again, and gosh, I adore them. Have you ever tried these? I truly don't know if you have the same snacks and desserts at every Starbucks worldwide, I assume the coffee is the same everywhere, but is that the case with the snacks? I can't tell as I haven't tried any Starbucks anywhere else in the world.
My boyfriend is an absolute cheesecake fan, although he prefers the one without the strawberries, he still loves it when I order this one from Starbucks. I personally can't be excited after trying it, that's probably just because I'm not the cheesecake kind of girl, OR because I was still enjoying the cinnamon roll bite I took before tasting the cheesecake. Either way, he says the strawberries aren't adding any value so he prefers those without. I believe the other one is New York cheesecake and this one is strawberry cheesecake.
If you like cheesecake, what's your opinion? With or without the strawberries?
I know I started with the desserts, that's because they look better than the ham/cheese croissant. But I have to admit that for a simple croissant ham/cheese, this one is not bad at all. They add butter and cherry tomatoes with some arugula as well. Personally, I'm not a fan of half-sliced cherry tomatoes on my sandwich, I prefer them in my salad, so I always take them off to eat them without the croissant.
The Coffee
Now let's get to the part where Starbucks is famous for: coffee. As you know, I personally don't drink coffee nowadays, and as the lunch menu comes with a pretty big cup of coffee, which is not what I prefer to have when I drink it for a special occasion. I would rather stick to a smaller cup of coffee to avoid headaches. I decided to be bold and order decaf for the first time in my life. I have to admit, that I was afraid hot decaf would be nasty, so I ordered an iced decaf instead.
This is the decaf I got, it was quite tasteless, to be honest, but my experience is that the coffee always needs quite a bit of sugar added. This is also one of the reasons I don't fancy ordering a normal coffee because it doesn't taste great until I add a lot of sugar. After that, I will get a sugar rush, especially if I also eat the cinnamon roll! Let's not forget the sugar crash, so this felt safe.
I managed to NOT add any sugar this time, and just try to get used to the flavor as is. The only good thing about this coffee (in my opinion) is that it comes with a lot of ice cubes, and 1,5 hours later it still tasted the same. So that's a plus. Would I order this again? No, I've seen the prices of these coffees without the menu offers and I think they are overpriced for what it is. Unless you're a fan of their coffee, which a lot of people are, then you'd probably disagree. In the end, it wasn't as horrible as I expected decaf to be. I will give that another try soon with another brand of coffee.
My boyfriend ordered a normal coffee that you can pick when ordering the home office menu. I do enjoy the extra fun cup in the holiday spirit. What I also love about Starbucks is that they serve the coffee in solid cups when you order coffee, unlike many other cafes. My boyfriend still drinks coffee and he actually likes this regular coffee from Starbucks.
The verdict
I personally think that you pay a high price for their brand, I've truly had better coffees in small cafeterias costing me 1/5 of the price. BUT the total experience together with their sandwiches and desserts is worth it to me. Especially if I compare it with other places that deliver similar items, I appreciate the Starbucks experience more.
Would I choose to sit down at Starbucks for a coffee break when I crave it in the future? Probably not, simply because when I'm not at home, I would really want to have a coffee with it that I really love, and therefore I'd go to another chain from which I know that I fancy the coffee a lot.
Total cost for 2 home office menus: 5679 HUF including delivery, which is currently $17.64.
I would give the total experience for these lunch menus containing coffee, sandwich, and a dessert a 7.5 out of 10.
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