On any given morning, Adams girls- especially senior girls-can be seen donning the notorious beverage-filled clear Starbucks cup. Usually containing a sugar-bombed, delicious icy drink, the Starbucks Frappuccino has become as much an accessory as a wake-me-up. Today, the plea “I need coffee to wake up” is replaced with “I need Starbucks to wake up”.  The question is:  Is it the label or the quality of the coffee that wins over so many consumers?

There is no problem with loving and cherishing Starbucks as a well-run company. The problem lies in the lack of acknowledgement for other coffee shops. Peet’s Coffee and Tea recently bought Caribou Coffee on Walton in Rochester, but once it opens, it is probable that nothing will change and Starbucks will appear to be the only source of coffee for miles.

Seldom does a McDonald’s frappe cup appear, even though it has the same flavor, same effect, and is half the price of a Grande, nonfat, double shot mocha cookie crumble creation. The magic of Starbucks coffee doesn’t go past the cup, famously trademarked by a green symbol of a Greek mythological character (a fact rarely known by the swarms of teenagers crowding the local coffee shop).

Arguably, many teens justify their love for Starbucks as a desire for strong, bitter coffee. The flavor is distinctly different from other coffee joints; however, it is masked by the sugar, cream, and flavor shots injected into each latte consumed by an Adams student, thus making this argument moot.

According to the Village’s Starbucks barista,  “I would say the two most popular drinks for teens would be the Vanilla Bean Frappuccino and the Double Chocolaty Chip [Frappuccino].”  It is not surprising that the non-coffee, generic drinks that can be bought at a variety of other coffee shops are the most popular.

Every justification comes back to the label craze, and proves the lengths teens will go in order to have the hot product on the market. Starbucks coffee drinks, while a delicious and worthy treat, is definitely not worth $4.50 when you can buy basically the same thing at McDonald’s for $2.99.