Attention coffee fanatics everywhere!  Starbucks is closing all stores in America today for a few hours to retrain staff how to make a cup o’ Joe.  Not one to sleep on an opportunity to gain some market share, Dunkin’ Donuts is offering free lattes in certain parts of the country.

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The official word from the Chicago Tribune is:

When Starbucks shuts down all of its nearly 7,100 national stores this evening for employee retraining (some of the contracted Starbucks are on a different training schedule), Dunkin Donuts will hand out free small hot lattes in all of its 450 Chicagoland stores.

The offer will be good from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. today.

Starbucks is closing its company-owned stores across the country for several hours today so it can bring its employees back up to speed on creating a perfect shot and steaming milk and pulling it all together for a great drink. The barista re-education is a “renewed focus on espresso standards,” say Starbucks honchos.

Various other news agencies are reporting similar deals throughout the country and some have insinuated that deals may come at Starbucks when the doors reopen.

Personally, I can’t drink coffee from either place anymore and only drink their “special” drinks from time to time.  My last few experiences in Starbucks have been lackluster at best.  Some kid takes my order, asks me to repeat or clarify it and then a bar code machine in the “barista” area prints out what I ordered so another kid can push a few buttons and make my drink.  Long gone are the true espresso machines and talent that a barista once held as a valued asset at Starbucks to make a quality espresso.  I’m thinking this part of the restructure of the company that has been floating around the news lately, especially with rumors that all McDonalds stores will have “baristas” in the soon.

Since I made small investment towards a better cup of coffee, my taste for coffee has changed.  After drinking coffee with sugar for more than 15 years, I now drink it black and really enjoy it.  I can also taste the unique characteristics of different single origin coffees and appreciate them.  Starbucks tastes burnt and bitter, Dunkin’ Donuts tastes too sweet.  They are both blends, not single origin, and need to be so that the cup of mud you get in Philadelphia tastes the same as the one in San Francisco.

In my part of the city, Dunkin’ Donuts outnumber Starbucks by a ratio of at least 15:1, maybe as high as 25:1.  Unofficial data is that blue collar workers prefer Dunkin’ Donuts and the ability to order a small, medium, or large while upper middle class and upper class people prefer the ambiance and experience of a Starbucks and don’t mind paying a premium for these luxuries and can order sizes with funny names.  Dunkin’ Donuts makes great donuts and an OK cup of coffee for most people out there, there is no fancy music playing, the interiors are decorated almost more for function than aesthetics and I rarely see people meeting there for casual get-togethers or to surf the internet.  Starbucks on the other hand is much more an experience, plush seats, funky shaped tables, dark woods, music playing that is available for purchase in the store along with a host of other non-coffee related items.  I find it interesting that Dunkin’ Donuts is trying to capture some of the Starbucks business now, especially since they’ve almost always been more of a coffee stop and not a mocha-whipa-frappa-chino place.

Check your local Dunkin’ Donuts for any deals, don’t assume that all of them will have free or discounted drinks today.

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