The natural choice, of course, is Starbucks. It's world-famous, right? They've even opened locations in downtown Paris, right? The largest size is called "venti," which means "twenty" (ounces) in Italian, right? The bartenders are called "baristas," and the sugary syrups are made by a brand called "Tosani" - all Italian, right? You read the corporate biography (never admit this, by the way -reading corporate biographies for fun is the worst kind of Americanata), and the founders owe their success to the fact that they copied Italian bars in every detail, right? And the coffee has that bitter, bold quality that Europeans love and Americans either drown in sweetener or brag about their ability to choke down....right?
WRONG.
Ok, some of it's right, like it IS world famous, and it DOES use Italian words, and they WERE trying to rip off everything from Italian bars (like now they're applying for liquor licenses to serve alcohol - ten points for the good guys; but only at night, because Americans harbor strangely Puritanical ideas about alcohol, five points for the bad guys).
But Italians HATE Starbucks coffee. Why, because they're food snobs? No, because they think it tastes terrible. It turns out that Italians don't take pride in stomaching "that'll put hair on the dog" kind of flavours, and don't enjoy drinking anything that tastes like it could strip a carburetor any more than we do. That "intense," "bold," bitter flavour, it turns out, is not the taste of "authentic Italian espresso" carrying max caffein impact into your system - it's burned beans. A bean-roaster like Starbucks would go out of business in a New York minute in Torino.
So, surprise! Italians in America prefer (!) Dunkin Donuts coffee, or (!!) Newman's Own from McDonald's, because they are smooth and not over-roasted. So remember, kids: save yourself the big bucks and spare your friend the Starbucks.
PS - And between you and me, take it from a proud former Starbucks barista, the "bolder" the coffee, the less the caffeine, because the bold coffee has had the shit roasted out of it, and that includes the caffeine. Want caffeine, go for mild.