Whenever I stop into my local Starbucks - which I do way too many times per week - I’m always surprised by how many of the tables are filled with groups of women.  You’ve probably heard the expression “third place”, a term that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz popularized.  In our smallish town, Starbucks serves as that third place and is a common meeting place for girlfriends, mommy & me groups, and a myriad of other social and volunteer groups.  It’s not necessarily the best coffee shop for meetings, but given that the other choices around here are fast food joints, there really isn’t much of a contest. 

Having lived in Seattle for many years, I preferred Tully’s as a meeting place. Now that I’m three thousand miles from the closest Tully’s I have to admit I feel a certain obligation to the mermaid.  Starbucks has gotten better about catering to the café crowd and the addition of more tables, better lighting and comfy chairs has made it a better place to hang out.

But I digress.  The point of my post was to mention the new drinks Starbucks is rolling out across the country.  This week they introduced a new type of drink – Frappuccino juice blends.  They’re based on the Tazo tea blends. We tried the  tall tangerine and acai berry versions during their free beverage day and got to sample a little of the pomegranate. While refreshing, they tasted something like Gatorade slushies (if there is such a thing).  If I was going to order another, I’d probably go with the tangerine.