 |
Starbucks Coffee
by Smyles
Starbucks, we all know it, we can't escape it. Most of us have probably bought a coffee or two from them at some point, even if we aren't addicts, but what do you really know about this company? And do they deserve the worldwide renown that they seem to have?
--Background--
The Starbucks Corporation was founded in ... Seattle, Washington, in 1971, as a small coffee bean roasting centre and bean retailer. The company was initially managed under an ideology that coffee was a product to be made in the home, and the owners were not interested in expanding into selling espresso drinks. However, in 1987 the founders sold the company to Il Giornale, which then adopted the Starbucks branding and quickly began to expand the chain.
Starbucks was first listed on the stock market in 1992, and at that time consisted of 165 outlets. Since then the chain has continued its wildfire-speed expansion, both through opening new stores (the first outlet outside of North America opened in Tokyo in 1996), and by buying out existing chains in countries around the world. The company now espouses the rather contradictory view that it wants to maintain a small company stance and yet aims to operate 40,000 outlets worldwide eventually.
--Controversy--
It is probably this tension between expansion and principles that has led to the enormous amount of criticism against Starbucks. Many critics feel that Starbucks deliberately creates an atmosphere of ethical, caring, slightly liberal but still mainstream sensibilities, while in fact it is intent on building a global monopoly in the coffee/café industry. In fact, one anti-Starbucks website (check out <http://www.spacehijackers.co.uk/starbucks/index.html> if you're interested) has dubbed the company the "McDonalds for the new media generation". On the other hand, Wikipedia reports that despite monopoly accusations that have been levelled at Starbucks, it actually accounts for only 2% of the world's coffee production.
Perhaps in response to this tension, Starbucks introduced in 2000 a range of fair trade coffee products to its outlets. The company is now the largest single purchaser of Certified Fair Trade coffee in North America. Of course that doesn't mean that your average Starbucks coffee is in any way more ethical! You have to specially request (and pay for!) the more socially responsible option.
--Products--
Starbucks is primarily a beverage retailer. It offers a range of espresso coffee drinks from your standard cappuccino and lattes to flavoured coffees. As with other coffee houses there are also choices for tea drinkers or hot chocolates etc. Starbucks also has a wide range of cold drinks, including its frappe range of blended coffee and cream drinks.
In terms of food, Starbucks outlets generally have a range of muffins or scones, a small selection of cakes, and some savoury foods. The latter usually consist of sandwiches, savoury muffins, or croissants. There are usually sweets or small chocolates available on the counter.
Specials are generally run according to the season, such as white hot chocolate or spiced warm drinks during winter or iced teas during summer. Additionally, most drinks can be customised in some way, by choosing skim or soy milk, adding a flavoured syrup, or another shot of coffee to make it stronger.
--Taste and quality--
My personal opinion is that Starbucks coffee is produced for people who don't actually like the full taste of coffee. They use very mildly flavoured beans as the house blend, and tend to make the coffees quite weak so that the final taste is nowhere near as full as you can get at a decent independent coffee store. Plus with the range of flavoured coffees, these are essentially candy coffees - more like a version of a hot chocolate than a coffee. They are made simply by adding a sugary flavoured syrup to the coffee, thus making it very sweet as well as losing the real coffee flavour. Of course this is not always a bad thing - I used to get the caramel macchiato once in a while if I was feeling a little sluggish in the morning because the combination of sugar hit and caffeine always did the trick.
I do have a particular soft spot for the frappes, although they are incredibly sweet and I would never confuse them with an authentic iced coffee. These are great for a sunny afternoon, but I would classify it more as a dessert than a coffee!
As for the food, I have tried a couple of items in a range of different places and have found that the quality can really vary. In Japan a range of scones were available that would be great one day and stale on another occasion. I think that since the outlets deal mostly in beverages, the movement of food is not necessarily as consistent so you may end up with something that is a day or two old.
--Price--
For me, this is one of the biggest disadvantages to the Starbucks products. They are simply too expensive for what they are. In almost all countries where you can find Starbucks products, there are other options for coffee that are around two thirds of the price. I wouldn't mind paying the extra if I felt like I was supporting a particularly good company, or purchasing a particularly high quality product, but I don't believe that either of these things is true. In the same way that you wouldn't expect to pay more for a fast food burger than for a homemade, wholesome sandwich from your local café or delicatessen I don't expect to have to pay more for a Starbucks coffee which comes from a chain with huge buying power and global influence in the market.
Perhaps one of the reasons that Starbucks continues to be able to ask these inflated prices is that it is seen as somehow cool or stylish. We are forever seeing images of celebrities popping out for a casual day of shopping with Starbucks coffee in hand. The conspiracist in me would ask how much Starbucks pays those celebrities for their visits (it's not too far-fetched when you consider that it is commonplace for bars and nightclubs to pay appearance fees for stars to attend their parties). But, whatever the reason, I am only interested in paying a higher price because the product is worth it.
--Summary--
All in all I honestly don’t see why Starbucks is so popular these days. I wonder if it begin to lose it’s glamour over time. I can’t say that I would miss it terribly much if it was to disappear. I much prefer the uniqueness of independent cafes or coffeeshops, and I like to know that I am supporting local businesses rather than putting money into the pockets of American shareholders. That being said, I do occasionally crave the sugar hits disguised as coffee that the brand sells!
Read the complete review |
