Posted Wed Nov 9, 2005, 10:41am Subject: Re: why is Starbucks so unpopular with coffee lovers
I suspect SB never quite intended to be uber-gourmet coffee--I think they were trying to provide something to appeal to the masses on a big scale. When SB first started getting notice, most Americans didn't even know what a cappuccino was, and you could hardly find one anywhere. So SBs deserves credit for making espresso very mainstream in America, the land of percolated coffee. Most SB's have to serve a LOT of people every day, especially at rush times. This requires speed, and doesn't allow the kind of time we all spend at home making our espressos. It's almost an assembly line sometimes, which is probably why they moved into the superautomatic machines. Plus the fact that their employees come and go, and it's probably impractical to train them as true baristas. And the public in general really isn't all that discriminating sometimes, or let's just say they don't know what they're missing! It seems like a lot of the SB drinks I see people with are designed to "mask" the actual taste of coffee...those big frappuccino things in huge cups with all sorts of flavorings in them and a monster gob of cream on top. Is that coffee???
In any case, I would say that SBs has "trained" the masses to the particular coffee taste they present....and the average SB customer just accepts that is how coffee tastes. I'd put myself in that category in the past. I wasn't really a coffee drinker to start with, I'd had a fabulous coffee here and there but it was a rarity and I certainly didn't know why one cup would be so wonderful and satisfying, or why the next could be so bitter and undrinkable. The advent of Starbucks put things into a more even keel in that what you got there was fairly predictible and drinkable and sometimes even pretty good. You could always go to any SB and pretty much know what you would get. (This is sort of how McDonalds operates....you know what you'll get there, the quality, such as it is, is fairly stable and predictible). Finally, the majority of SB customers would NEVER think of brewing their own or dropping nearly $1K on home equipment. They'll never know what they're missing, actually!
Reighlok Senior Member Joined: 2 Sep 2005 Posts: 676 Location: North Dallas, Texas Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Wed Nov 9, 2005, 11:06am Subject: Re: why is Starbucks so unpopular with coffee lovers
CMCM Said:
I think they were trying to provide something to appeal to the masses on a big scale. When SB first started getting notice, most Americans didn't even know what a cappuccino was, and you could hardly find one anywhere.
My first cappuccino was not at a Starbucks... I am begining to think their developing the American coffee scene is getting over stated. There were donuts before dunkin' and Krispy Kreme, and there was espresso before SB.
How many persons here (on CG) first espresso drink wasn't at SB?
Posted Wed Nov 9, 2005, 12:19pm Subject: Re: why is Starbucks so unpopular with coffee lovers
Reighlok Said:
My first cappuccino was not at a Starbucks... I am begining to think their developing the American coffee scene is getting over stated. There were donuts before dunkin' and Krispy Kreme, and there was espresso before SB.
How many persons here (on CG) first espresso drink wasn't at SB?
My first capp was not at Starbucks... Thank goodness, because I probably never would have ordered one again, but my first espresso drink was at SB. I think they get people started on "espresso" drinks with a lot of milk and sweeteners/flavors, then the true coffee drinkers discover actual good coffee elsewhere and the rest of the people are satisfied with SB.
dankbean Senior Member Joined: 8 Jun 2005 Posts: 886 Location: Raleigh, NC Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: mine Roaster: self
Posted Wed Nov 9, 2005, 2:17pm Subject: Re: why is Starbucks so unpopular with coffee lovers
barefoot said it better than i could've. exactly, brother.
and my first espresso was pulled by an eight-year barista, on a two group astoria, from four day old espresso beans that were freshly ground......in my current employer's kitchen
My truly snobbish, yet humbly true answer, is that my first espresso drink was at a train station outside of Milan, Italy. So, it wasn't SB, but it wasn't that good, either.
Brent Roasting in an SC/TO and iRoast 2 Europiccola/Drip/Presspot
Jasonian Senior Member Joined: 8 Aug 2005 Posts: 3,832 Location: Lubbock, TX Expertise: Professional
Posted Wed Nov 9, 2005, 4:52pm Subject: Re: why is Starbucks so unpopular with coffee lovers
my first wasn't Starbucks, but I can't remember which shop it was.. could've been Coffee Beans & Things in Plano, or it could've been the Shoemaker & Hardt in East Plano the day they opened.
I've always been a huge fan of coffee, but I had never really educated myself about it. working at a SB kiosk inspired me to educate myself, so I started researching online. I eventually found this site and never looked back. I've been spoiled. Curse you CG!
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