Barista smackdown?

The Quote of the Day comes from Seattle Times reporter Melissa Allison in her article "Starbucks tests new names for stores." The story reports on Starbuck's pilot effort on Capitol Hill to "makeover" their stores into shops with "community personality."

Then his competitive streak kicked in. "I wonder if they will want to participate in a Victrola Barista Smackdown?"

The quote comes from Dan Ollis, owner of Victrola Coffee, a local micro roaster with two shops on Capitol Hil and one on Beacon Hill.

So, what is a Starbucks? Is this some kind of Hegelian dialectic by the corporate giant to synthesize itself into a faux indie coffee shop kind of thing? A wolf posing in fair trade organic shade grown recycled sheep's clothing?

Smackdown? No contest. Let the corporate masses have their steamed milk drinks with a taste of coffee. I will be hanging out at Victrola sipping my doppio espresso and espresso macchiato.