I’ve got to be honest: my quest for a new favorite coffee shop is not going well. After all, I don’t exactly live in a hotbed of independent roasters or artisanal growers. The closest town is the up-and-coming burgh of Sarver, PA, which is about 7 minutes away, with the coffee powerhouses of Sheetz and GetGo standing in start opposition at the major intersection.
Sheetz is the go-to option of the two. The hot drinks are decent and the iced drinks are ranging between tolerable and delicious. Recently, I noticed GetGo’s attempts to curry my favor away from the boys in red by pitching their iced coffees and iced macchiatos. Previously, they had a pretty slick self-serve cold coffee area with several varieties ready-to-drink with cream and flavors mixed in. They hit the spot on the handful of occasions I picked one up.
The new menu items force you to move away from the self-serve and to the touch screen, but the experience cannot compare to the greatness of the original touchscreen Queen – Sheetz. The experience is more cumbersome and confusing, not to mention slow as I waited for my receipt to print out. I went with he 16 oz. caramel macchiato without whipped cream because I try to salvage my masculinity whenever possible.
The drink was delivered in an adequate amount of time by a pepless employee that couldn’t be bothered to crack a smile. She handed me a short clear cup with a tall clear straw. The cup to straw ratio is important and GetGo came up short, err tall rather.
What lay inside the cup was just as disappointing. What I got was not a caramel macchiato. What I received was the basic ingredients of the macchiato. In a hilariously deconstructed way, the cup was layered with syrup at the bottom, 2% in the middle, and espresso at the top mixed with ice, which makes it impossible to drink the bev without stirring to the point of mixing it completely. Thus defeating the purpose of the layered macchiato. It was a unmixed caramel latte, glorified with a fancier names and a fancier price tag. Completely overpriced and underdelicious.
The espresso itself became bitter and nearly artificial tasting after a bit of time. Based on the low quality of this beverage, the only thing GetGo will replace is the gas in my car.
Consume.Review.Repeat gives GetGo’s caramel macchiato 4 inches of straw too long out of 10.
The search for the perfect coffee shop continues.
Consume. Review. Repeat. 