# Who serves the worst coffee? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 21, 2006, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-serves-the-worst-coffee/373544 "2006-09-21T12:26:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-serves-the-worst-coffee/373544/41 "2006-09-22T23:57:52Z")
[QUOTE=kunilou] I don’t like coffee, and can’t tell the good from the bad. But for a long time, there were these huge, brown vending machines that dispensed coffee, tea, hot chocolate and sometimes, I swear, _chicken soup_ :eek: I know that whenever I tried the tea or hot chocolate it came out weak, lukewarm, and with the taste of the other selections mixed in. I shudder to think how coffee from those machines tasted. [/QUOTE] Oh, I remember those. I think they’re still around in hospitals, but I can’t say for sure. Haven’t been in one for about eight years. I liked the chicken soup. Never, ever get the “coffee.” You remember what happened to the guy in Terminator II, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-serves-the-worst-coffee/373544/42 "2006-09-23T01:43:46Z")
The coffee at **SparrowHawk** ’s first art teacher’s studio sounds rather nasty: > [@](#): > > Turpentine and instant coffee with powdered creamer (reminds me of my first art teacher’s studio) [From this post…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7802430&postcount=32) ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-serves-the-worst-coffee/373544/43 "2006-09-23T02:05:06Z")
I’ll second IHOP. Curiously flavorless, and yet what little flavor there is, is bad. I mean, they’re basically a breakfast place – they’re named after pancakes for Og’s sake – so you’d think they’d give a shit what their coffee tastes like. But apparently not. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-serves-the-worst-coffee/373544/44 "2006-09-23T04:59:55Z")
[QUOTE=kunilou] I don’t like coffee, and can’t tell the good from the bad. But for a long time, there were these huge, brown vending machines that dispensed coffee, tea, hot chocolate and sometimes, I swear, _chicken soup_ :eek: I know that whenever I tried the tea or hot chocolate it came out weak, lukewarm, and with the taste of the other selections mixed in. I shudder to think how coffee from those machines tasted. [/QUOTE] OMG I was going to say that- a few hospitals I’ve worked in still had these machines. OH, the horrors they produced!! Gah! All served in a cup with poker cards printed on them so at least there was a little game involved. The very worst coffee ever in history was and is served at the Ft. Walton Beach Medical Center in Ft. Walton Beach, FL. Holy christ. It’s free, and I still wanted a refund. It’s not ever brewed- I watched in horror as the guy made it. He took some package of liquid black goo and poured it into the machine, ran it for a few minutes and voila- slightly lighter colored goo. No amount of cream, sugar, or Bailey’s could make that stuff palatable. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-serves-the-worst-coffee/373544/45 "2006-09-23T05:41:51Z")
WaffleHouse…the one by me sends the dishwasher to sweep the parking lot and they brew it using the cooks underwear for a filter. Tastes like ass. Their menu says it’s a “world famous blend”. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-serves-the-worst-coffee/373544/46 "2006-09-23T06:00:23Z")
[QUOTE=An Arky] West of the Appalacians and east of the Sierra Nevadas (with the exception of big cities and librul enclaves) is still The Great American Coffee and Beer Desert. It’s Folgers/Maxwell House and Budweiser/Miller/Coors and don’t you turn your effete city slicker nose up at it, mister. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Your borders are not quite correct since it doesn’t mention the Pacific Northwest. Even east the Cascades, coffee has become like a religion here. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-serves-the-worst-coffee/373544/47 "2006-09-23T09:08:45Z")
Tuffy Muffler. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-serves-the-worst-coffee/373544/48 "2006-09-23T11:57:11Z")
[QUOTE=NDP] Your borders are not quite correct since it doesn’t mention the Pacific Northwest. Even east the Cascades, coffee has become like a religion here. [/QUOTE] Right. I was being extremely general. It is getting better overall, too, with the advent of Starbucks (like them or not). I think it’s kind of like Drug Laws; we need a few million old coots to die off before we can get anything done about it. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-serves-the-worst-coffee/373544/49 "2006-09-23T12:26:04Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] If you drink your coffee black, like I do, then Starbucks serves the most horrid burnt tasting offal I’ve ever had the privilege of paying $3 for. Starbucks is really more for the caffeinated milkshake crowd than for real hardcore 10-cup-a-day coffee fiends. . [/QUOTE] HUZZAH! That is about the best description of Starbuck$ I have ever heard. \ ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-serves-the-worst-coffee/373544/50 "2006-09-24T01:02:56Z")
[QUOTE=An Arky] Right. I was being extremely general. It is getting better overall, too, with the advent of Starbucks (like them or not). I think it’s kind of like Drug Laws; we need a few million old coots to die off before we can get anything done about it. [/QUOTE] I think there is another way to tell if you’re in “The Great American Coffee and Beer Desert” or not. If you drive through a town (no matter how small) and see independently-operated drive-through espresso booths along the side of the road, you’re not in “the desert.” As for beer, in the “desert” you won’t find any bars, pubs, or taverns that serve anything from a decent local microbrewery. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-serves-the-worst-coffee/373544/51 "2006-09-24T12:04:35Z")
[QUOTE=NDP] I think there is another way to tell if you’re in “The Great American Coffee and Beer Desert” or not. If you drive through a town (no matter how small) and see independently-operated drive-through espresso booths along the side of the road, you’re not in “the desert.” As for beer, in the “desert” you won’t find any bars, pubs, or taverns that serve anything from a decent local microbrewery. [/QUOTE] Exactly. That and when you ask the waiter what imports they have, and he gives a puzzled look and says “Heineken?” ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-serves-the-worst-coffee/373544/52 "2006-09-24T13:04:46Z")
I have to say that for consistantly bad coffee, **Seattle’s Best** which are inside of Border’s now. It is overpriced burnt crap. Yet, the young man who sells it to me every time has such a fantastic voice I cannot resist. For overall great coffee, I have to say **Tim Horton’s** ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-serves-the-worst-coffee/373544/53 "2006-09-24T14:52:02Z")
[QUOTE=Shirley Ujest] For overall great coffee, I have to say **Tim Horton’s** [/QUOTE] [Donning Nomex] I’ve never found Tim Horton’s to be anything special. (Doesn’t stop me from drinking it though.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-serves-the-worst-coffee/373544.md?page=2)