To The Harvard Square Starbucks, With Love

Oh, Harvard Square Starbucks, it has been 12 days since you closed your door forever and still, my broken heart is not yet healed. How do you say goodbye to the one constant part of your college experience, even if that experience included seeing my bank account getting depleted every four or five days when I added more funds to my Starbucks card? I had taken you for granted, oh Harvard Square Starbucks. You can’t go. You had so much business that the thought of your closing never crossed my mind. Please forgive me. Therefore, Harvard Square Starbucks, please know that even though you’re gone, you are never forgotten.

I will always remember our good times together. How I religiously ordered the venti Caramel Frappuccino despite acknowledging that there is no caffeine in that drink to keep me awake. How I frequented you more often than I did Annenberg during my first year on campus. How the Internet would always stop working as soon as I entered the store because the Starbucks Wi-Fi was never connected fast enough. How easily I was tricked into going to the store every day for more Starbucks stars despite knowing that I would be spending more money. How I would try to avoid the looks of concern in the baristas’ eyes whenever I ordered that venti Caramel Frappe in the middle of Boston winter.

Enjoying my venti Caramel Frappuccino<3 By Alexandria T.Q. Ho

You may not notice, but you have carried me through countless 10:30 a.m. lectures, 2-hour-long seminars, and late evening study sessions. I loved you despite all your flaws. For example, closing at the ungodly early hours of 8 p.m. even though you’re a coffee shop located literally on a college full of procrastinating, over-achieving perfectionists who desperately need that sugar and caffeinated rush for the semi-regular all-nighter, or the long straw shortage earlier this semester.

In the whirlwind years of 2020 and 2021, you were my rock and my anchor. Now that you are gone, there seems to be a venti Frappuccino-shaped hole in my heart. I don’t know what to do anymore. No where else can make a Caramel Frappuccino like you did. And your sister coffee shop — Broadway Market Starbucks — is too far away for the quick trip to get coffee during my shift at work or in between my classes.

Harvard Square Starbucks, did you know that you were on my pro-con list when I made my decision to come to Harvard? There is no Starbucks at my state school, the Starbucks on MIT campus does not have the Caramel Frappuccino, and the nearest Starbucks from Columbia’s campus is located two blocks away. Of course, I was not vain enough to base my college decisions solely on you, but know that your proximity to Harvard Yard did not go unnoticed. Yet now, you are gone. 😭

I know that you will return soon next fall. But I don’t know if I am strong enough for an entire semester without you. I might just take a gap semester, to be honest. I don’t want to end this obituary on a sad note though. So let’s raise our plastic (or paper) cup and wish for a new future when you grace us with your presence once more next fall. Hopefully this time, the Starbucks Wi-Fi will be better and most importantly, the store will be opened later. Either way, I cannot wait to see you again, Starbucks.

xoxo,

Your biggest fan.