Starbucks Taste Test (& Al Di Meola)

So, Starbucks is preparing to kick off their holiday campaign with events thought-out the tri-state area and they need to train their field teams. As a great partner of Parks, Starbucks invited Arsenal employees to be one of the first to try their new holiday drinks on November 8, 2006.

At 8am to 9am and 3pm to 4pm Starbucks gave us free samples of their Gingerbread Latte, Peppermint Hot Chocolate and Christmas Blend Coffee. The set up their van and tent on the East Drive just outside the Central Park Zoo Garage driveway.

The day was rainy and nasty but the Starbucks people were out there all day handing out free small samples of coffee. I went out at 3pm and tried both the Gingerbread Latte and Peppermint Hot Chocolate. I do not like Chocolate OR Coffee OR latte but I had to try it since it was free and new. Why not right?

I first tried the Gingerbread which was really good but not something I could have handled an entire glass full. I tried the Peppermint Hot Chocolate next and that was AWESOME! I dot NOT like hot chocolate but this was flavorful and just wonderful. I would recommend this drink for Christmas most definitely. However, this was also a drink I couldn’t have handled an entire mug full.

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Al Di Meola holds the most prestigious guitar awards (of any guitarist in the world) from the highest rated guitar poll in the world, Guitar Player Magazine. He has been known throughout the world for the past two and a half decades as one of the most prominent virtuosos in the contemporary instrumental jazz field.

I am currently listening to “Super Guitar Trio and Friends.” The music I listen to is hard to explain in words because I am one of those people who just loose themselves in great instrumentals. There are no lyrics. Instrumental music gives you the ability to create your own feelings and your own stories. Sure, every song has an initial tone that dictates weather it’s a sad or funny or fast or slow song. However, with instrumentals it is your imagination and mind that creates that “tangible” emotion connected to the music or a particular song.

Al Di Meola formed a new trio with the likes of jean Luc Ponty (Violion), and Stanley Clarke (The Rite of Strings). Check that out as well. I will probably profile Jean Luc Ponty next as he is just a fabulous violinist. For those of you who listen to String Cheese Incident, you might recognize their version of Ponty’s song “Mauna Bowa.”