The Bear Cup: My Starbucks Break-up

To my former daily companion,

After all the years, the routines, the small familiar comforts, I didn’t imagine an acrylic bear cup would be the thing that got me to do what I have wanted to do since the beginning--leave you. You are like a bad relationship that I found enough good in that I kept coming back to it. Honestly, it wasn't even the coffee that got me. I was a little lovesick for the bacon gouda. Can you blame a girl?

This season's cup frenzy was something I anticipated more with the release of whatever pointless holiday cup design was selected but instead you did something so much worse. In a time of government shutdown, sky-high living costs, and food insecure people cut off from resources, you engineered scarcity for a whole other class of people.

A local-level Hunger Games over a trinket mass-produced for pennies and artificially limited to manipulate demand.

And all of this while real families are rationing groceries, diapers, and medication.

People can’t afford food, and you’re orchestrating hysteria over plastic.

Parents are skipping meals ,and you’re profiting off desperation.

I've called you Starfucks for years because I knew I was getting ripped off and buying into a brand more than something with value. I have been wanting to go but now I am forever.

My refusal to participate isn’t dramatic. It’s moral. It’s holy. It’s overdue.

I was a Starbucks OG. I read The Gospel According to Starbucks before I ever walked into a store, imagining you as the place of connection and belonging that replaced other community third spaces like the library and the church. My brother was one of your earliest devotees, proudly flashing that old-school Gold Card when it actually meant something and the stars gave more value to the overpriced drinks. I ventured in to see the hype and this new kind of community space.

But in reality, your warmth has always been nothing but brilliant branding. Your “community” merely marketing strategy. Your coffee consistent because when roasted its actually just burned beans drowned in sugar to hide the bitterness —the sugar and caffeine joined with routine to create an irresistible addiction.

Deep down I always knew you weren’t good for me. There were signs from day one. You were that man who lived off my generosity, asking for deposits with nothing to offer in return. The gold card became an app where I handed over money upfront, interest-free, hoping this dynamic was not what I really knew it was all along. But TLC sang it best — I don’t want no scrubs. And you’ve been one from the start.

So while you were taking me for granted, small local shops began showing up — the kind that don’t play games. And that’s when I finally found my coffee shop. They stepped into the space you created and became everything you never were, everything you only acted like you might someday be.

Affordable. Authentic. Deeply human.

They know my order before I speak. They know my kids. They sell fresh flowers, hand-painted goods, houseplants, and local ice cream. They support artists, makers, and neighbors. They don’t need scarcity, gimmicks, or hysteria to be loved.

They have soul. You have strategy.

They have a cute little lady with pink hair that comes in and changes the music everyday, gets her cup, and sits in a chair and watches us filter in. God I love that and I don't know her but I love her. You can't mass produce that.

And this bear cup spectacle finally made the truth unavoidable.

We do not live in a world of scarcity — we live in a world of abundance. The scarcity you sell is engineered and profitable. Meanwhile, the real scarcity — food, housing, dignity — is crushing the very people you claim to serve.

So yes — I’m done.

We are never ever, getting back together

I’m deleting my account. I’m walking away from the illusion. I’m choosing abundance, community, and integrity over manipulation.

You broke your own spell on me, I hope others will join me in leaving your burnt-bean deadbeat ass.

Ladies and gents--Find a new coffee love — a true one, rooted in real community and human care. Wake up to the corporate frauds draining our wallets, our attention, our loyalty, our admiration.

Break up with the brands. Break up with the illusion. Break up with the stupid bear cups of this fake world. Find a pink haired lady. Rare and one of a kind.

Go fall in love with a local beloved friends.

Brightest Blessings to all the real ones, so long Star-fucks,

-T