L
ove it or hate it, Starbucks has saturated our culture. From today’s story at WSJ,
the Onion once reported, “continued its rapid expansion Tuesday, opening its newest location in the men’s room of an existing Starbucks.”
For coffee-lovers like me, this is a disappointment. Never can tell when you’ll be getting rid of the last batch, and just can’t wait to get a refill…
The more serious point is that Starbucks has, almost single-handedly (or should I say single-cupedly?) transformed our coffee drinking habits. Back in the bad old pre-Starbucks days, in most restaurants, a cup of coffee was brown-tinged dishwater. And just about as tasty as that sounds.
As the WSJ article intimates, the very success of Starbucks has made it a target (no pun intended; that store’s name is pronounced “tar-jay” for us sophisticates who actually shop there). It is not hard to find idiots who hate success. Quite a few seem to be running for president on the Democratic ticket, but perhaps they just need a shot of java to wake them up to a little secret: the free market works, and helps all who would compete. From the WSJ:
Naturally, there has been a backlash, with critics seeing Starbucks as a kind of liquid Wal-Mart. Mr. Clark expresses some unease about the proliferation of Starbucks stores, but his research leads him to dismiss familiar complaints. Independent coffeehouses, he says, far from being killed off by Starbucks, are thriving (their numbers grew 40% from 2000 to 2005). And the coffee retail experts I’ve spoken to advise independents not to open a store until there is a Starbucks in town, since Starbucks is likely to create a clientèle for coffee that otherwise wouldn’t exist.
I don’t frequent Starbucks all that often, but I celebrate them every morning when I fresh-grind and brew my own coffee, something that 30 years ago would have been much, much more difficult than it is today.
One may go into any medium or larger grocery store and find whole bean coffee, in a variety of roasts. Decaf even, although I can’t imagine why anyone would drink decaffeinated coffee. Might as well drink water. Quality varies, of course, but even the meanest whole bean coffee, when freshly ground and brewed, tastes so much better than coffee made from pre-ground Folgers or Maxwell House.
It isn’t a matter of how strong the coffee is. It’s a question of the freshness, and the flavor. Adding more ground coffee before brewing Maxwell House et. al. just makes it bitter, not better. Not everyone likes Starbucks coffee, although it’s difficult to separate those who hate the Starbucks business model from those who hate their product.
All I can say is that every time I get a decent cup of joe, even on an airline (yes, good coffee has spread to some), I thank Starbucks.
