3:57 p.m.
Because the technical problems continued, and because the air conditioning in here has me practically shivering -- and also because the idea of liveblogging a fritter seemed a lot more amusing than the actual event has turned out to be -- I have had to cut this short. During the last period of dead air I consumed all but about 2% of the Starbucks apple fritter in a single burst of gluttony.
Bottom line: If you are going to Starbucks, bring a sweater. Skip the Pike Place blend (unless it's free). And if you must eat something in a Starbucks, by all means make it the apple fritter. At $1.75 it is a great value -- especially when you realize they are selling plain donuts in the same case for $1.25.
Until the next NYC Donut Report!!
Courage!!
3:45 p.m.
Some technical problems, but I am back now.
I may have been too hard on today's fritter. The outer edges were definitely too dried out. But the inner portion tastes fresher and some of the crusty bits on the top have a very intense apple flavor. For a while the coffee was actually better than the fritter and I wondered if my world was turning upside down. But now the apple fritter is only getting better and the coffee has gone sour.
3:38 p.m.
OK, I finally struck apple after a six-bite incursion straight into the heart of the fritter. Am feeling a little better but something dismal still hangs in the air.
Did I expect too much from the fritter? It is possible. I think the first one of these I ever had, which was sometime in April, must have been a truly superlative fritter, an exemplar, a fritter set aside for God. That slightly crunchy sugary crust... how it gave way to the moist cake innards... the apple sauce tumbling out... How I relished it! I licked my fingers clean! As an international donut reporter, I see a lot of baked goods. But that first fritter actually caused me to seize my friends by the shoulders and say, with a wild glint in my eye, "I've got to tell you about this donut!!"
3:37 p.m.
Where the fuck is the apple mixture?
3:33 p.m.
Normally the Starbucks apple fritters are excellent -- not stale but not a pushover, either, with an unstinting portion of spicy apple mixture inside. This one is very short on the apples so far.
3:30 p.m.
OK, I am consuming the fritter now. It is a huge, bulbous beast of a fritter (500 calories, according to Starbucks' little placard) and is encrusted with sugar...
Sadly, the first bite is a little stale. Ditto for the second and third.
3:23 p.m.
The Pike Place blend is not that bad today. Either that is a hopeful sign (they are improving the product) or worrisome one (it is unchanged but I am developing a taste for it!). Normally it is sour and so hot my teeth hurt, but today it almost tastes like something other than scalding hot laundry water with a splash of urine.
BTW, I snagged the last fritter here. That was a miracle and a source of much relief. When I was walking to this location I was on the phone with my very good friend who is an "aid worker" (spy) in Iraq and, while she was home in the US for a brief R&R break -- and also for an AK-47 refresher course (seriously) -- she went skydiving and crashed into a tree and is now mired on her parents' couch with broken ribs. And I was like, "The fritter can wait," and spent about 15-20 minutes chatting on the phone outside Starbucks. Then when we were done talking I went in, got stuck in line behind a stroller jam, and saw to my horror that there was only one fritter left!
Thank god the stroller ladies didn't get any baked goods.
3:15 p.m.
OK, I am deep in an oversized chair at the Starbucks on Court St. and Amity St. in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, where the air conditioning is much too strong, and I am going to report on the apple fritter here in real time, as it unfolds.
The first thing you should know is that if you really want to experience the Starbucks apple fritter along with me -- if you want to see it through my eyes, taste it the way I taste it, etc. -- then you have to set aside all your preconceptions of the Starbucks experience. Why? Because I am not like you. Specifically, when you get coffee at Starbucks you pay for it. I do not. I never, never do. At least not on Wednesdays. Because I am the bearer of a special "Brewed Coffee Card," which I found in the newspaper one morning and which entitles me to free coffee every Wednesday (until May 28). The downside is that I am limited to the new Pike Place Blend that Starbucks has developed to appeal to people who actually like the coffee at Dunkin' Donuts.
The cost of this coffee would normally be $1.75. For me, free.
The cost of a Starbucks apple fritter? $1.75!
So remember, as we begin this journey, that this will not just be a (hopefully!) delicious fritter but a FREE delicious fritter.
May 7, 2008
Starbucks Apple Fritter Liveblogging
