I’ve been thinking about how back in the day Starbucks was the best coffee one could buy. I lived on the stuff myself. Now its a bit substandard compared to a myriad of less bitter, less over roasted coffees. So what the hell happened? Well, it was a combination of two things: 1) Starbucks has expanded dramatically! According to seattlepi.com, starbucks has grown from just over a thousand stores in 1997 to over 16,000 stores in 2007. With all mass-produced products, there is always a drop in quality control, and Starbucks is no exception. Point in case, the automated coffee makers they installed circa 2000. As someone who was, at…