Juan Valdez Cafe

The Juan Valdez Cafe is the Colombian answer to Starbucks: one on every corner, inside the mall, outside that same mall, occasionally on opposing street corners. A large black coffee (tinto campesino) will set you back about one dollar USD, or 2500 Colombian Pesos. In Colombia, that price is kind of like trying to sell sand to a Bedouin, or brimstone to Satan, at $1000 a kilo.
The difference between JV and Starbucks, of course, is that it's actually decent coffee. (In Colombia, I'd hope so!) And by "actually decent" I mean it's amazing--from someone who hates the taste of coffee. The only reason I could stomach Starbucks in the States was because most of their offerings tasted nothing remotely like coffee.
The other, admittedly tangential, difference is that JV needs no pretentious faux-Italian names for sizes. "Grande" actually means "large" here. A novel concept, no?
Juan Valdez's coffee is damn near addictive. I've had two large tintos in the space of four hours. I'd say that they must spike it with something, but I think that joke might not go over so well here.

(Note: I'm well aware that caffeine is addictive. You needn't tell that to a guy whose stimulant-saturated drink of choice is yerba mate.)

Send lawyers, guns and money,
J.