Three out of three people we surveyed today agree that Dunkin’ Donuts coffee now tastes like complete swill.

1 COMMENT

  1. Ha! That’s funny, because two Sundays ago I got violently ill and guess what was the last thing I had ingested before getting sick? A Dunkin’ Donuts’ M & M donut and an ice coffee.

    Sure the episode was triggered by a flu-like bug, but it was the one thing I associated with vomitting and other such symptons so no more of that stuff.

  2. Ha! That’s funny, because two Sundays ago I got violently ill and guess what was the last thing I had ingested before getting sick? A Dunkin’ Donuts’ M & M donut and an ice coffee.

    Sure the episode was triggered by a flu-like bug, but it was the one thing I associated with vomitting and other such symptons so no more of that stuff.

  3. I love the smell of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, but haven’t been able to drink coffee for almost a decade (reflux).

  4. The Dunkin Donuts here in Athens had AWESOME coffee ten years ago. Sincerely, it was pretty much the best and cheapest cup of coffee in town ($1.89 for a large coffee and two donuts).

    It was eventually bulldozed and rebuilt as a Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robins hybrid. The prices went up immediately and I guess they took the old machine out or something because the coffee was just… different. It was bleh. They just had to get rid of a good thing and fru-fru it up. I don’t think it’s even open 24 hours anymore.

  5. I thought it was just a New York thing, something in the water maybe or just lack of care in making it, but on subsequent trips back to the wilds of western new york I’d often stop off, thinking I would partake of the once beloved beverage, and alas, meh. It just happened to be that my moving to New York coincided with the decline. Strangely, McDonalds coffee, while never anything to run people over for, remains decent, and drinkable when needs must.

  6. I have always preferred the caffeine punch of Starbucks but was persuaded a few years ago to try Dunkin Donuts and found it a quite quaffable alternative, with good body and caffeine level.

    However now it is watery tasting, like the very worst deli coffee, and I might as well be drinking chamomile tea for wake-up purposes.

    McDonald’s is supposedly giving Starbucks a run for their money now with new gourmet coffee for cheap. I generally boycott Mickey D’s for any number of reasons but am seriously considering trying their coffee.

  7. I don’t want to be a snob, but the only people I ever see drinking McDonald’s coffee are the elderly versions of homeless people and transit workers. Oh wait i do want to be a snob

  8. For the past 12-14 years (I’ve lost count), I’ve been addicted to the Starbucks Mocha Frappuccinos — I call them Crackaccinos — that are available in bottles at grocery stores everywhere. 2-a-day habit. Three when the green-label Mint version is available. They sooooooo get me through Comic-Con.

    The red-label dark chocolate mint flavor is disgusting. As is the Caramel. The Coffee flavor will do in a pinch and Godiva’s knock-offs are absolutely unacceptable. I think it’s the milk that makes Starbucks’ Crackaccinos impossible to beat.

    Also, even if there were a Dunkin’ Donuts around here, I could never go into one. I like being relatively thin and non-diabetic.

    — Rob

  9. I’ve heard that McDonalds have improved their coffee enormously over the last few years. I’m perfectly happy with the Cafe Nero at the end of my road, though…

  10. I haven’t been able to choke down Starbucks or Caribou Coffee since they switched over completely to those dark blends, the flavor of which bear no resemblance to coffee whatsoever.

  11. Uh Dunkin Donuts coffee has caused me to spontaneously vomit immediately after consuming it on two separate occasions within weeks of each other. After that I swore off it for good. When I want cheap, good coffee I usually go with the 7-11 on 23rd Street when I’m near my job (Dark Mountain Roast or DEATH) or just a plain ol’ small coffee from Starbucks (not that much more expensive actually).

    Seriously, I drank the last sip of that DD coffee (on both occasions) and right away had to run to the toilet because it decided to come right back on up. NEVER AGAIN.

  12. Uhm,…We don’t have a Dunkin’ Donuts here in New Orleans so I drink Community Brand Coffee at home and at their local cafe’s. Next to Cafe Bustello it is my fave. But, in a pinch I buy the Dunkin’ Donuts bagged coffee and I am surprised what a serviceable beverage it can be. I think being the one in command of the coffee to water ratio is the mitigating factor vis-a-vis the flavor/richness factor. Being the one in control of the cleanliness of the coffee making equipment mitigates the vomit to toilet water ratio, as well,…I think.

  13. I agree with Steve Taylor. I think there’s something to the mindset of the staff of the DD you go to. I was once in NYC and bought coffee at a DD just outside of Grand Central and it was awful; the guy behind the counter was having a bad day and his coffee reflected that.

    This sounds like a job for Masaru Emoto!!

  14. Dunkin Donuts? Blasphemy. Heidi, I think you need to try our coffee. Sure our apartment might be a little out of your normal commute, but you can’t beat the roaster (in Oregon) I buy it from with a stick.
    Literally. He’s too far away. But I digress.
    Best coffee!

  15. It’s true. Very sad, but true. I was long devoted to the double D, but haven’t been in a year or more. There’s an old Green Day song, “409 in Your Coffeemaker”, and I seriously suspect that it’s the culprit. It now tastes like 409, and I have actually seen the 409 bottles dangerously close to the coffeemakers at DDs from Brooklyn to Knoxville. Stay away. Both Brueggers and Ben and Jerry’s serve the mighty fine Green Mountain coffee. Go for that instead. (OK, I’m not from Vermont, I wasn’t paid to say this) btw Newman’s Own is also Green Mountain… it says so on the package. Deep six the effing frognuts!

  16. You know that show, Americas Test Kitchen? They tested all these different coffee brands including Dunkin Donuts coffee. They found that DD’s coffee had the highest percentage of quaker beans (bean which did not reach its full development) of all of them.

    Now you know.

  17. The Dunkin Donuts here in Athens had AWESOME coffee ten years ago. Sincerely, it was pretty much the best and cheapest cup of coffee in town ($1.89 for a large coffee and two donuts).

    It was eventually bulldozed and rebuilt as a Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robins hybrid. The prices went up immediately and I guess they took the old machine out or something because the coffee was just… different. It was bleh. They just had to get rid of a good thing and fru-fru it up. I don’t think it’s even open 24 hours anymore.

    Ha! Patrick, I went to this very DD on Prince each of the last two mornings. The coffee was alright. I find it’s better when you get the flavored stuff (hazelnut for me, usually). Even when it’s not great, they just happen to be the only drive-thru coffee place in downtown-ish Athens. I’m not driving clear up to Alps Road to hit Jittery Joe’s.

  18. RICH!!!!!
    You’re talking about the DD that was next to the Taco Stand, right!!!!
    When we evacuated from N.O.,…during the whole Katrina unpleasantness,…we made our way to Athens,…I became addicted to Jittery Joe’s Iced coffee with a shot of vanilla. I have been pining for it ever since. But then, we were staying pretty close to Alps Road.

  19. Tim Horton’s is indeed the awesome, but be careful where you vocalize any sort of distaste for Dunkin Donuts coffee. Here in Rhode Island, you can legally be killed for dissing the DD.

    I’m only partially joking about that. Rhode Islanders are practically evangelical in their devotion to Dunkin Donuts coffee.

  20. Hey Rob Jensen: I should set you with my aunt Priscilla. She drinks those Crackacchinos by THE CASE!! While I was visiting her in NM she would go to Costco’s and buy three cases: one of each flavor. I soon got a knack for them too – but I had to ween myself off them – caffaine doesn’t make me a stable human being-

    However Jimmy P – I love Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s the only east coast franchise I miss most. I think their sugar powered chocolate icing filled donuts are to die for. That along with White Castle hamburgers, Roy Rogers roast beef sandwiches, drake’s cakes Devil Dogs, fruit pies, Chocolate Bosco Syrup ( created by my grandfather, believe it or not) and WISE potato chips, and sweet New Jersey white corn

    And since I haven’t been back to the east coast in ten years, deprived of all this east coast health food- I must be dying very slowly.

    ~

    Coat

  21. Cary: “I should set you with my aunt Priscilla. She drinks those Crackacchinos by THE CASE!! While I was visiting her in NM she would go to Costco’s and buy three cases: one of each flavor. I soon got a knack for them too – but I had to ween myself off them – caffaine doesn’t make me a stable human being.”

    Well, I wasn’t particularly stable to begin with. But I did make myself do one very significant thing so that I could keep up my Crackaccino habit:

    I cut all other caffeine out of my diet. Which means caffeinated soda, as I don’t generally drink coffee. Taking caff soda out of my diet leaves me more than enough room for 2-3 Crackaccinos a day, and even the occasional made-to-order mocha frappucino at a real Starbucks. Usually during my trip Comic-Con, either at the convention center — of course — or from the kiosks at Airports.

    Interesting thing, too. Now even a 20-ounce bottle of regular Coke or Pepsi gives me jitters and makes me stay awake all night. Just a third Crackaccino doesn’t. Either the mocha and the milk take the edge off the caffeine in a Crackaccino or Coke and Pepsi have waaaaay more caffeine. Like, triple espresso-level caffeine.

    And, oh, yes, I loved getting those 12-bottle slabs of the stuff when I lived in San Diego. Now I live in Central MO and the closest CostCos are in Kansas City and St. Louis — 2 hour drives one way in either direction. ANd prices just went up 40-cents a four-pack at Tarzhay and the Wal-Borg Continuum. Sigh. I miss CostCo.

    — Rob

  22. Healthy Chocolate is excellent – Xocai has been voted the best MLM business opportunity, Xocai healthy chocolate will be on sale in the UK in Jan 2009 and the business opportunity seems very sound