Coffee. The life giving elixir that the majority of college students rely on for salvation. On Loyola’s campus the students have two different coffee brands to “choose our poison from.” There is the local coffee shop, aptly named Metropolis, and the coffee megabrand, Starbucks. Students all across the campus have a daily oath of allegiance to their favorite brand.
While Starbucks offers the comfort and familiarity of the same tasting coffee in their various worldwide locations, Metropolis offers a very specific Chicago taste. I drank Starbucks my first days here as a lonely little freshman, but once I started studying more I found myself drinking (the what I thought was gross) coffee that was available in the IC. I then discovered the beverage miracle that is local coffee!
Photo by Brooke Rasmussen
Starbucks coffee tastes a lot sweeter than the more earthy tones of Metropolis. Many of my friends remarked about the sugary taste and sugar content when I asked them which coffee brand they preferred. My roommate even said, “Starbucks is basically the same as soda, if I was going to drink soda wouldn’t I just get a Coca-Cola.”
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Photo by Brooke Rasmussen
I always thought that my personal viewpoint of Metropolis over Starbucks was a unique perspective for a freshman. To my surprise, out of the ten freshmen I asked about their favorite coffee of the two brands, nine out of ten students told me they liked Metropolis a lot more! The winner of that poll was overwhelmingly Metropolis.
I fell even more in love with Metropolis coffee (I did not think it was even possible to fall any deeper) once I visited their off campus location. It is a small space that is the epitome of the local coffee shop. It smells heavenly as the shop is filled with the scent of freshly brewed coffee and tea and even their homemade pastries. The shop has a very urban feel that still manages to feel like your comfortable (but better styled) living room at home. It is filled at all open hours with Loyola students completing homework assignments and studying. Starbucks has just never managed to make their stores feel less like a hotel lobby, and for me at least, the atmosphere of a Starbucks coffee is very off-putting. So, in my and the majority of the student body’s opinion, Metropolis beats Starbucks all day every day.
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