urban bicycle journeys

This week I discovered a development in the ongoing croissant controversy. It involves Starbucks.

There are larger problems in America, and the world, than coffee houses serving stale croissants. Nevertheless the issue keeps coming up, at least to me. A croissant should be flaky and crispy. To be this way it needs to have been baked within hours, that same morning. Other issues, like making fresh dough by hand, or using European grade butter or special flour, may add to the experience, but seem not as crucial as how recently the croissant was baked. I suspect dough can be purchased by a coffee house already prepared in advance, ready for the final baking.

Why do Canadians get this right? On my most recent bicycle tour along the St. Lawrence River in Ontario and Quebec, in both provinces, in coffee houses speaking both English and French, places that charge the same price or less than in America, fresh croissants were de rigueur, almost universally served on actual china plates.

Starbucks helped popularize expresso style coffee but independent coffee houses have also sprung up all over America, often in otherwise neglected downtown small towns. Croissants, at both Starbucks and at America’s independent coffee houses, are almost always disappointingly stale. These dreadful things are not cheap, more than three dollars each and not even very healthy. Where are our priorities? Why even bother? American croissants are also huge, usually too much for one person. I guess they feel they can charge more that way.

In my second home city of New Orleans with its French heritage and Italian immigrant influences croissants are particularly disappointing. New Orleans has its own tradition of delicious sugary fried dough beignets, but the city does less well with croissants. Leo’s Bread in Mid-City has maybe the best croissant I have ever tasted. They likely roll out their own dough and use almost too much butter. Leo’s is an exception in New Orleans, and Leo’s coffee is drip only. Croissant d’Or on Ursulines Street in the French Quarter has a lovely patio and the croissants are usually OK, but not as consistent as any random coffee house in Ontario or Quebec. A coffee shop called Lowpoint on Poland Avenue can be pretty good, as can Mojo’s in the Lower Garden District. Croissants at the pretentious La Boulangerie in Uptown on Magazine are huge but delicious. Levee Baking on Ninth Street is fine but seemingly never open. Local New Orleans chains like French Truck Coffee continually disappoint, at least with the croissants.

The rest of the year I live in Chapel Hill next door to Carrboro NC. Weaver Street Market makes their own French bread that Tootie and I eat every day. We occasionally get one of their dependably fresh croissants.

Frequently instead, for exercise and mental health I bicycle the twelve to fifteen miles over to Foster Street Coffee in Durham’s warehouse district. I order a twelve ounce oat milk latte, one pack sugar, plus one of their flaky crisp croissants. They always ask if I want it warmed up, and I always say no. An actually fresh croissant does not need such reviving. I sit at a table on the sidewalk and all problems disappear. It is almost like meditating.

Last Sunday I took a ride I have also taken many times. Halfway to Durham I turned and cycled south on the American Tobacco Trail towards the Cary and Morrisville suburbia. In a fringe of exurbia in a newer strip mall is Mokka Cafe, which for only about a year served lovely crispy homemade looking croissants along with latte coffee, run by a family of Spanish speakers. It was great while it lasted. For the past three months it has had a sign in the window TEMPORARILY CLOSED.

I already suspected this and continued cycling towards my second option, a Starbucks at the intersection of Davis Drive and Morrisville-Carpenter Road. I had been here before. In the new Morrisville NC suburbia this Starbucks is the most multicultural coffee house I have seen in the Raleigh/Durham area. My Chapel Hill friends likely never come out here. Why would they? Most of the young people working at this Starbucks looked South Asian, as did many of the customers. I had biked here twenty miles from my home in Chapel Hill and still had not had breakfast. Starbucks oatmeal is a reliable and healthy option. With my coffee and oatmeal I sat outside and read The New York Times on my phone. Next to me two people were talking Chinese. At another table it was Spanish.

I was drawn to croissants. This Starbucks had had an unusual glass case displaying just croissants. I had to try one. I went back to the counter.

Tasting it was a revelation, fresh and crispy. What is going on?

I had a nice discussion about croissants with a young woman working there. She did not call the situation a test market, but I went to business school and this must be a test market. There are 17,068 Starbucks stores in the United States. Seventeen thousand. She said TWENTY Starbucks in America have started baking their own croissants each morning, including this one, which she was proud to say was the only one in North Carolina. She said the prepared refrigerated dough comes from somewhere else. They have a new oven that bakes them each morning.

Has Starbucks senior management been reading my blog? I doubt it, but you never know. I finished breakfast before pedaling back to Chapel Hill.