Does Panera have a caffeine quota or something? I love this place, and it’s a legitimate contender for my favorite chain restaurant, but it needs to majorly relax on the drinks. It’s bad enough the place is killing people with its poison lemonade.
When I went to 'Nera to order my iced coffee for this ranking, I ordered a small size. The girl working there handed me an extra-large and said, “It’s your lucky day, we made you an extra-large!” That’s a very nice gesture, but coffee is an insane beverage to do that with. You can’t just hand somebody over 200 milligrams of caffeine and send them on their way. I can’t believe I didn’t immediately go pedal-to-the-metal and drive my car into a tree after one sip.
The coffee itself is just fine. It’s the only one that comes black, so you can sweeten this up to your own liking and that's terrific. Panera deserves to podium for that alone.
At the end of the day, though, Panera is a bakery. A fantastic one. So, please, just chill on the beverages.
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