swimming in coffee

August 1

On Lexington Avenue alone, between the subway entrance at 53rd and Lex and my office on Park and 55th, there are three Dunkin’ Donuts, two Starbucks and a Pret à Manger.
For a brief moment of maybe a couple of weeks, a large Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee was $3.02 with tax and a Starbucks venti iced coffee was $2.98. Dunkin’ Donuts’ large iced coffee is in a bigger cup — 32 ounces instead of Starbucks’ 24 ounces — but I was still struck to be paying more for coffee at proletarian Dunkin’ Donuts than at yuppy, tree-hugging Starbucks.
But my Starbucks (or is the plural Starbuckses?) have raised their prices and now a venti is $3.03. The world continues to spin on its axis.
Pret à Manger only serves one size of iced coffee. I'd guess it's around 16 ounces, and the price was recently raised from $2.00 to $2.16.