Smell you later Starbuck

[chuck]

No, not a thread about Galactica.

Merely, some news from the global front of coffee commercialization.

Good news really for all those who love well brewed beans - and particularly if you live in the Western Isles.

Starbucks closes 61 Australian stores. (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c3442be0-5dcd-11dd-8129-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1)

And not before time.

Here in NZ, we have 40 Starbucks - mostly frequented by touristen, students sucking on milk shakes and those trying to get some free wifi. Much like Oz - we've heaps of quality, local baristas that supply superb caffeine fixes without being a McDonalds.

I think I've stepped into one once since being back in NZ - and that was to collect a free bag of coffee grinds for my compost!

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

I plan to walk on water from here on, fingers(or legs, you pick) crossed, so I plan to be completely clean and fresh smelling as a (insert arrogant religion of choice) soon.

Hot as hell where am, but blowing on nothing but a popsicle stick at the mo.(whistle winky)

Whiskey Sours!

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

I really didn't mean to say that out loud.

Brew your own for a change, I haven't had a Starbucks in 2 years. And I'm all right.

[Sean]

Yeah, the wife was telling me she read an article about Starbucks doing this recently. Apparently, they've brought back the team that originated the whole chain and have decided to pare down and get back to basics. More coffee, less gift shop/cd store/etc. I'd care more if I drank coffee, but it is nice to hear that a business is taking steps to be better quality of their own accord for a change.

[chuck]

uh. John. pardon?

I think the main obstacle to Starbucks here in NZ and Oz was, as I said in first post - there were already a lot of excellent cafes and plenty of local brewers of coffee.

Starbucks was seen really as another McDonalds - and its product was nothing like what we already had. I don't deny that in some places in the US and possibly Europe/Asia it provided OK coffee to places that didn't have coffee tradition or culture.

I don't mean to be a coffee snob - I just think the starbucks coffee there is weak and flavourless. I also know that at times real coffee places - make shit coffee because of the way staff a. look after the beans, and b. actually make the brew.

They didn't do their research very well before entering the NZ and Oz markets. A uniquely antipodean coffee drink here is the "Flat White" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_white).

Starbucks didn't even bother to offer that when started up. Like Macs - it just turns up with product and tells you to enjoy.

They do that whole "Tall", Grande, Venti thing as well - which is bullshit. Bullshit because it's all about marketing and buy-in - as opposed to actually caring about the product you make.

Scary Squirrel says it best (http://www.scarysquirrel.org/special/movies/foamy/sml1.html).

Mildly NSFW. :)

And in keeping with John's sense of humor I think.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

I wish I could be comedian like that.

My stuff's all tongue in cheek.

[Rog]

as a tea drinker i would rather drink jOHN's urine than drink at starsuckz
coffee is ok in small quantities but if you drink it lots, eventually you will fuvk up!:p:p

[chuck]

I'm a tea drinker too - usually in the afternoon. Nothing like a coffee uppercut to get you started first thing in the am.

And this isn't a bash the multi-national thread. Not from me anyway. Basically Starbucks dropped the ball when entering the Oz and NZ markets. And to try and rebuild/restructure they're going to have to change their formula.

Which I can't imagine them doing.