There's No Place Like Home?

One of the best things about travelling is being exposed to new places, customs, and people. Even in a cosmopolitan city like Beirut popular chains put a local spin on their menu or offerings. An H&M might choose to display more jeans and less shorts, while a McDonalds might sell burgers with feta cheese or lamb patties.


One of the exceptions to this rule seems to be Starbucks. 

My family and I went in to a Beirut Starbucks so my mom could get her caffeine fix, and I was immediately struck by how familiar the store felt. The walls were a sand-tinted beige, the tables and chairs dark brown, and large couches were placed in the corner.  You could order a  tall caramel macchiato, grande cinnamon dolce crème frappuccino, or a venti iced pumpkin spice latte. Plus the store was playing some light jazz, with a mandatory heavy emphasis on saxophone rifts. Displays tempted you to buy a "Christmas Blend" bag of coffee beans or an over sized plastic coffee mug that was plastered with  art-deco images of New York.

My own gateway to America, smack dab in the middle of the Arabian peninsula.