There was a Simpson’s episode years ago called “Simpson Tide” where Bart goes to the mall to get a piercing from “In and Out Piercing” and the place was surrounded by Starbucks. After Bart gets the ear piercing the shop becomes a Starbucks. I am always reminded of that episode whenever I see a new Starbucks being built a block away from another Starbs (as the irreverent but dormant caffeinerush ^[1]calls it).

I can name 10 Starbs branches in the Makati Central Business District/Ayala Center area alone.

Compared with other places in Metro Manila, I always thought Commonwealth Avenue, one of the longest highways in Manila and definitely the widest, was sorely deprived because it didn’t have a single Starbucks branch on it. Sure, there were a three or four coffee shops in the Don Antonio area, but the mother of all overpriced lattes (latte? latti? cups of latte?) was nowhere to be found.

That was then.

I just found out there’s a brand spanking new Starbucks branch near my house in Don Antonio. It’s on the ground level of a call center building. Even call center employees in far-away Commonwealth are entitled to yuppie trappings, I suppose.