That’s exactly what you’ve been told some stores do. So I apologize for assuming that you’d already read the part of the thread where that was explained. Along with the explanation that some stores simply don’t stock decaf at all because there’s not enough demand for it.
Filter what? The coffee? That’s not how you make decaf. The decaffeination process happens way before the store even gets the beans.
I take a lot of meetings at Panera (over the last…8 months or so) and they just started doing this a few weeks ago. Maybe I should say something?
First, 18k is fairly large. 10k is fairly large. Tiny is less than 5k.
Second, it’s Pennsylvania. You’re probably never more than four hours’ drive away from a big town, right? (See above; it’s entirely possible for a big town to be smaller than Philly.) It’s a whole different culture when you’re two hours from the nearest post office.
Oh c’mon. I’ve seen VILLAGES with post offices. Seriously. But going by how far are you from the post office, I’ve been max an hour away (in good weather).
More than 80 percent of Americans live in metropolitan areas. When generalizing it’s not unjustified to gloss over those who live in communities smaller than 5,000.
:dubious: Something the size of a university is “fairly large”? I’d say you’re off by a factor of 10. I’m not sure I’d even put the “fairly large” cutoff as low as 100k.
A ranch can be over and hour away from the nearest village very easily, even in good weather.
acsenray: Most of this country’s landmass is not big cities or otherwise densely populated. We aren’t Japan. It really annoys me when someone comes up with a plan that works for the New York-Boston axis and thinks that they’ve solved the problem of, say, mass transit for America as a whole. Hell, we’ve had posters here who were convinced that no American needs a car because we have light rail and bus lines!
Shot From Guns: Where do you live? In Eastern Montana, a fairly large town is one with its own library, a couple sit-down restaurants, and maybe a radio station. A small town might have a gas station. Might. I’ve never lived in Wyoming, but its population density is even lower.
In general: Have any of you ever driven through the middle of the North American continent? (No, Ohio isn’t in the ‘middle’. Neither is Chicago or St. Louis.) Flying over it isn’t the same experience at all. If you seriously believe that a town with 100,000 residents is ‘small’ you should either take a long road trip or stop thinking that you know what the majority of this country looks like.
Finally: Havre, MT. Population roughly 9,600. Nearest Starbucks over 100 miles away, in Great Falls, MT.
Again, 80 percent of Americans live in metropolitan areas. Offhand comments and casual jokes aren’t obligated to take into account every single possible contingency. This seems to be a personal issue with you. But, you know, get over it.
This is entirely uncomparable to an offhand comment about the seeming ubiquity of Starbucks Coffee.
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I realize that’s hard to tell, seeing as you have to look all the way at the corner of all of my 9,000 posts on this board to find that information. 
And we’re not talking about eastern Montana or Wyoming: we’re talking about the entire country, collectively.
Yes, I have. Well, I’ve passenged, since I don’t drive. And nice straw man, there. No one, anywhere, said that a city of 100k people was small. In fact, what I said was that a city of 100k people was fairly large, which I’m sure you’ll agree is the complete opposite of small. What I object to is the classification of a city of a mere 10,000 people as “fairly large” in a country where the cities that are *actually *the largest have populations that are counted in the millions. Per Wikipedia, there are almost 300 cities *in this country alone *that have over 100k residents.
What do you think it does to our ability to discuss the relative size of urban areas when you describe something *an order of magnitude smaller *as “fairly large”? Would you also say that someone who makes $10 an hour is “faily rich,” just because there are some people with no jobs at all?
Well, what do you mean by the middle? The geographic center? No, I haven’t driven through Pierce County, North Dakota.
I’ve been on a car trip from Ohio to Arizona. Do I get a certificate?
What would it demonstrate to be able to say “yes” to your question?
What bona fides do you get for being from the Dakotas or Oklahoma that you don’t get if you’re from Ohio?
OK, then. That’s pretty close to what I wanted to know.
Then you ought to know what I’m talking about, especially if you took the most direct south-westerly route through Kansas and Oklahoma and other ‘flyover’ states like that.
Well, I’ve noticed that one is the ability to distinguish a farm from a ranch, even if you’ve never been connected to either yourself. (I never have.) Another is the experience of having gone, say, at least a full hour at highway speed without having seen any human being who wasn’t inside your vehicle, or any vehicles besides your own. Having been in places where a good car radio could pick up neither FM nor AM radio stations is certainly a good qualifier.
I shouldn’t have asked anyone where they live. That’s sufficient, but not necessary, to understand what I’m talking about.
In general: My entire point is that people get wrapped up in where they live without something like the mass media to remind them there are other places. Since no sane person can claim the big cities of the North American continent are all underrepresented in the media, this means people from the densely-populated regions forgetting what the majority of their country looks like. That leads to inanities like the one that started off this sub-thread, where someone was just shocked and amazed that some people live in regions where there isn’t a Starbucks within walking range from every area where two or three people can gather together. This carries over into public policy, where people blithely assume that because the areas where the policymakers live are covered by some technical or social infrastructure that means the entire country is on the same footing.
It’s annoying. Stop it.
:smack: I misread the post above, and thought it said they somehow mixed the decaf together with the regular, and just “filtered” some of the regular in, as so you don’t have to make as much. Don’t mind me. (I remember someone telling me she went to Starbucks and she saw them just mixing the two pots together, to get more out of the decaf.)
I miss my caffeine – my damned meds make me so fucking sleepy!) 
You have no idea how much I miss it!
The entire state of Nebraska smells like cowshit. What do I get from learning that?
And I’m tired of people in rural areas getting on their high horses and defining “majority of the country” in terms of acrage. A country is it’s people, not it’s land area.
Rural America is a minority of the country and it continues to shrink.
I drink decaf later in the day so it doesn’t interfere with my sleep. I like the taste but I don’t want to be up all night.
I have to avoid alcohol for health reasons but I enjoy the taste of beer, so I drink non-alcoholic beer. Admittedly it doesn’t taste exactly the same but it’s the closest I can get.
A desire to add to the smell?
And most people in this country are white, straight, and nominally Christian. Where, precisely, do you think your argument is going to take you?
I heard - and this is just a rumor - that in Wisconsin you can get a whole wheel of cheese AT A STARBUCKS.
Derleth, I’ve been on farms - hell, one of my best friends growing up grew up on a farm. Had horses and everything. Still the “world” was no more than 40 minutes away. And my experience at a rodeo did not make me any more aware of my surroundings, either. It’s not irrational for any of us to gloss over tiny towns, flyover country, etc. Small numbers of people live there, there’s not much money or influence either. Without people, money, or influence…what exactly do you expect us to pay attention to?
18k is a single apartment building.*
*For the sarcasm-impaired, that is an exaggeration.
It’s all relative. I grew up in a city with a population of 50,000 and thought it was a fairly small town. This was probably colored by it being a near suburb of Chicago.
Now, I work in an office building that holds 10,000 people and has three coffee shops (two *$ and one other - think it may be Caribou) in addition to a food court and a cafeteria, each of which serve up yet another brand.
As for the Clover brewers - why the heck couldn’t they just get a Keurig machine and a “My K Cup” for a whole lot less? Or even easier - I believe *$ coffee is available in Tassimo disks.
The ability to make make casual joking generalized statements about popular culture based on the assumption that the vast majority of people are white, straight, nominally Christian, and live near a Starbucks without having to answer to someone’s hangups about transportation policy.
Its my understanding barista implies knowledge of coffee. Someone who has studied the various types of beans, roasting methods and grinds. A barista should be able to give informed advice as to blends to try. Basically a sommelier of coffee.
A high school or college kid pouring coffee out of a carafe for minimum wage doesn’t quite fit my perception of a barista. I’m sure they work hard and maybe they’ve tried house blends they could recommend. But, they haven’t spent years studying and tasting.