For many Americans, the Seattle area is synonymous with coffee. Washington was the birthplace of Starbucks and has more locations per capita than any other state in the union. With so many Starbucks locations in the area, competitors have begun to emerge and challenge them. I sought out these competitors to see if they could compete with Starbucks’ drinks.

To see how others measure up to Starbucks, one has to first visit Starbucks. When I asked what the most popular drink was at their store, the barista didn’t hesitate to say it was the Ultra Caramel Frappuccino; she stated it had developed a ‘cult following’. Much like its name, it has an extreme caramel taste, but with the Nitro Whip cream that Starbucks spreads throughout the cup, it equalizes itself in the drink. That being said, it did lose its taste by the time I was halfway through the drink, leaving a bland taste behind.

My next stop was at Peet’s Coffee, located in Fred Meyer. I tried their Caramel Javiva, which is their main competitor to the Frappuccinos of Starbucks. I quickly realized that the caramel flavor that this drink packed, interestingly enough, was richer than that of a Frappuccino. The flavor lasted until the very end, as well. However, I did miss the Nitro Whip in this drink, and I think it caused the texture of the drink to suffer a bit.

I then traveled across the street to the recently-opened Gravity Coffee to try one of their Blended Coffee drinks. My Caramel drink immediately had a very different taste, and not in a good way. It tasted sour and tart, which was extremely odd for a drink of that type; it should be sweet. The flavor itself was too strong as well, with little whipped cream used to equalize the flavor. Frankly, it tasted awful. My mom also didn’t like the taste of Gravity Coffee, and my mom is never wrong.

Lastly, I went to McDonald’s to try one of their McCafe Frappe drinks. For $2.00, you can’t expect much. The Caramel Frappe tasted watery and didn’t retain its flavor for very long, though it tasted very good while the flavor was there. However, despite the generally low quality, I actually liked it a lot better than Gravity’s drink.

Maple Valley has a lot of coffee offerings, and the four that I reviewed are all within walking distance of Tahoma High School. Ranking those offerings, a surprisingly distant last place is Gravity, which really disappointed me. The old reliable McDonald’s comes in third place, as the best value, while Starbucks comes in a strong second place. If I had to choose one to go to, it would honestly be Peet’s, which I feel is often forgotten behind Starbucks and Gravity. If you haven’t tried them recently, or maybe never have, get over there!