Those Awful (But Tasty) Frappuccinos at Starbucks

Several folks mentioned I'm only writing about Poland lately, so let me change gears for a second.

Came across an article in the Wall Street Journal that Starbucks is blaming demand for cold Frappuccinos for disappointing sales. People want to beat the heat with some iced coffee, I guess. But Starbucks says those suckers take a long time to make because they require a spin in a blender. So the lines get longer than usual and fewer people are served in the end. I assume that means some people skip Starbucks when the wait gets too long.

Now I am a fan of Caramel Frappuccino, but I do have mixed feelings about Starbucks and perhaps more Americans do, too. The coffee is great, but it's like $5 a cup! Perhaps people are just being a little more frugal when they have to choose between buying gas for that SUV and grabbing a cup of venti skim vanilla latte.

But I'm glad I recently switched to the light Frappuccino. Instead of 430 calories (!), I now get 180.