Dunkin' is a home name that all Americans know and love. Their hot chocolate in the winter always hits the spot and millions start their day with a Cup of Joe.
However, 2019 has introduced a complete quality decrease when it comes to the strength of the coffee and the service at the locations. Here is my dramatic recap of my tired and broke college student experience this year with the coffee shop:
As a college student, I have to budget my spending and that includes my morning cup of coffee. Compared to its largest competitor, Starbucks, Dunkin' does happen to be the most affordable. And it is clear why.
QUALITY
In comparison, Dunkin tastes like watered down, light-roast, burnt coffee. It used to happen every once in a while, which is easy to blame on a busy shift or a lazy employee. But the bad quality has been CONSTANT this year. I now have to order dark-roast just to get a drink that somewhat resembles a coffee taste. To make matters worse, the proportions are always off. They either load it with cream or too much sugar or not enough. It tastes like your drinking a badly crafted dessert some mornings.
AMBIANCE
Being on campus also leads to a packed and hectic shop. The employees are stressed, the people in line are waiting to fully wake up from their coffee order so everyone is cranky, and overall the bright florescent ambiance of the location makes the whole experience almost not worth it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not leaving the line and missing out on my coffee, but it is a stressful experience that sticks with you. (Especially when the employees are screaming through a loudspeaker the late on-the-go orderer's names).
ACCESSIBILITY
Now for the app. I SWEAR I have been robbed. There are times where I will log in to check my $4 balance and it will be GONE. I wouldn't notice if 50 cents were missing but this summer I swear 4 bucks were stolen from the app. Then I did some research (i.e. aggressively searched Google) and found out I was not the only person this was happening to. As if me buying coffee every day wasn't enough money for them, THEY GO AND TAKE MORE!!
Also, I love the planet and use a reusable cup and you can't use your free drink reward in a reusable cup???? Why do they hate the Earth???
I still love coffee and Dunkin's hot chocolate and donuts still hit, but their coffee compared to their easily accessible and better quality competitors, is just not the same. If you agree with this I'm sorry for the stress you must've endured in the UConn Dunkin location and if you disagree with this, I too used to be a diehard Dunkin fan...