Is Starbucks still cool?

11-02-2006 @10:43AM claireB said... I think Starbucks moved from "cool" to "commodity" since they've built so many. CVS isn't "cool", but I still go there all the time. Same with the grocery store and the gas station. Starbucks is just another stop, but definitely far from cool.

The one thing that Starbucks does that no one else can do is fill the gap between meals for meetings. In my business, we'll meet people for coffee more than meals becuase it is quicker and cheaper than going out for a meal. Plus, it's gentler on the waistline too.
Reply

11-02-2006 @11:27AM Dr. Electro said... Starbucks still has some offerings that are high in calories and fat. In other words, not gentle on the waistline. That said, I still like to drop in on occasion for a mocha.

I work at a large high school that is a five-minute walk away from a Starbucks. There are some real Starbuck's addicts working here. There are also some students who can't make it past the first fifty minute class without a supercharged guzzle of caffeine from Starbucks.

Call me old fashioned and cheap but I still drink the coffee from the teachers' lounge.
Reply

11-02-2006 @12:23PM rainey said... Be fair! Krispy Kremes were always krap! But the truth is, the luster is off Starbucks.

My family has moved on to Peet's which we find to be much better both as brewed drinks and as bulk coffee and tea. Even when we're up in the NW where Starbucks was born there are now lots of attractive alternatives. In Vancouver, BC Artisiano's is where we always head.
Reply

11-02-2006 @12:08PM PaulC said... Cool...maybe once upon a time. When they ground, tamped and then brewed your coffee. The automated monstor they have making it now has lost all of the orginal soul that made me willing to pay $3+ for a cup of Joe. When it has become as bitter and flat as normal coffee I'd just as soon go to Dunkin Donuts and spend $1.50! Please note that I am deathly against the "coffee drinks" caramel and whipped cream has no place in coffee. Macchiato: A shot of espresso with just a dab of steamed or foamed milk on top. (actually a shot of espresso poured through a dab of foamed milk...marking the milk) The last two times I ordered a double macchiato I was asked if I wanted whipped cream!?!?!? I should not have to explain one of the basic drinks. (Sorry about the rant)
Reply

11-02-2006 @12:10PM dulci said... why should it matter whether or not it's "cool"? i go there for coffee, not to fit in with someone's idea of what's hip. and, given the choice, i'd rather go somewhere with better coffee....
Reply

11-02-2006 @12:44PM Angie said... I drink Starbucks everyday, not only because I need my caffeine fix, but because it's convenient - it's on campus. There is another coffee shop that is located within the dorm buildings, and it is cheaper, but the cups are also smaller, and they don't offer the variety that Starbucks does. Therefore, I do not think that it would cause people to think of Starbucks as 'uncool.'
Reply

11-02-2006 @2:46PM RobynT said... I think Starbucks is uncool and most people would prefer something else--you know, like... people who prefer to support smaller companies.

I'm curious though, when exactly did they change their brewing process? I've only been a light coffee drinker--only became a regular one in the past year (grad school) and only really started drinking "regular" coffee (as opposed to lattes and mochas) in the past year as well.
Reply

11-02-2006 @4:29PM peabody said... Well I live in Seattle so there is a Starbucks everywhere. I never thought of it as cool or uncool but rather just a place to get coffee. They are always filled up around here so they must still have some appeal to them.
Reply

11-02-2006 @10:10PM Crosius said... I must agree that Starbucks lost the "cool" the moment the espresso machine became a superautomatic and the genuinely skilled baristae were replaced with unskilled, fungible, minimum-wage drones.

An espresso served in a cold cup is an abomination.
Reply

11-02-2006 @6:00PM Kearns said... I don't understand the comparison. KrispyKreme has always been available at the grocery store in the mid-atlantic, hasn't it?

And is it cool? It's just yummy.
Reply

11-02-2006 @7:51PM Janis said... Starbucks has excellent coffee & customer service & I plan to continue to support their stores daily.
Reply

11-02-2006 @8:01PM Jaime said... With Sbux switching over to super auto espresso machines, you can easily see the focus is on volume. It has always been on the fast food model but just dressed up just enough to distract us from that fact.
When they begin "filling in" with more shops, I wonder if people will start to question if it's a good thing.

Reply

11-03-2006 @6:20PM Scott Gentzen said... I don't think I've ever been 'cool' so I'm not a good judge about what is or isn't cool. I rarely step into a Starbucks anymore though.

For me, Starbucks was like coffee school. I grew up thinking coffee sucked because the coffee my family drank sucked (Folgers and Hills Bros).

Then I discovered Starbucks sometime after high school (early 90's sometime) and learned that coffee can be interesting and doesn't have to suck.

Then I discovered small, independent cafes and I learned that good coffee can made into a cup full of wonders or a cup of crap depending on the skills of the barista so I started looking for independent cafes with good people at the controls (this was about the same time all of the local Starbucks' switched from the LaMarzocco machines to the super autos...turning their baristas into mere button-pushers).

Then I discovered home roasting and learned that really really fresh coffee is a lot different and opened up a whole new world of tinkering around with how I want my coffee to come out. It's also pretty much made me take my coffee exclusively at home.

So Starbucks got me started with my love of coffee which evolved into something that Starbucks wasn't up to anymore. I'll still drop in occasionally if I'm in the mood for an iced Americano, but I don't really seek them out anymore.

Reply

11-03-2006 @9:26AM MedusA said... Starbucks recently opened here in Adelaide, South Australia and initially everyone was excited. The long awaited and much hyped store was finally gracing our city. People pretty much went in there and decided it was either too cheesy or that the coffee was crapola compared to other, locally owned stores. Now the stores are empty, the hype is over and people are heading back to their less commercial, not quite as over-priced, tried and true coffee shops. Not that they need our business, but after almost a year of trading here, we have one store in the city and one store in a shabby suburb south of the city.
Reply

11-03-2006 @12:50PM SteveO. said... I'm sure the executives at Starbucks realized long ago that there's more money in being mainstream than in being cool. The Starbucks mystique brought them a lot of first-time customers, but what mystique can there be in something that is now so ubiquitous as Starbucks?

Starbucks got big largely because there's never been much of a high-end coffee culture in the U.S. and they more or less created a brand-new market segment in many cities. But Starbucks has only ever been half about the coffee. The other half has been about creating a public space for people to hang out in. It's about the rise of the automobile, the death of downtowns, our growing isolation from one another. Starbucks gives people something that looks like the public square, and some people are willing to pay big for that.

Australia has a much stronger coffee culture than the U.S. has ever had. I'm not surprised to hear that Starbucks is doing badly in Adelaide; I think it's the same in Sydney. It's a little surprising that Starbucks would attempt to enter a market like that, where there are many independent cafes offering terrific coffee.
Reply

11-03-2006 @4:52PM Richard said... I work at Sbux, and you know what? The company still does try to be cool, in a weird, targeting the parents and their kids way. Not unlike McDonalds in a way. The best way is to look at the Cd's and books they are pushing now. Beck, John Mayer, John Legend and on the other end the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, and all of the old soul stuff. It's the way to target parents and kids.

Do I think whenever a customer comes in and knows entirely way too much about the way we do coffee or asks me everyday when.. egg nog comes out or something, I know that Starbucks is still cool for most of the area. Also, the radio will talk about new Starbucks products all the time, so again it has to be a little cool.

Oh, and I live in the Seattle area also.
Reply

11-05-2006 @8:54AM Janice said... cool!???!! Starbucks is too far away from the word "cool", it isn't even close to "uncool" - it totally sucks! there are millions of cafe out there which make wayyyyyyyy better coffe and charge less! their coffee taste more like warm milk than coffee!!! and the use hideously too much syrup which make the coffee taste like shit!
Reply

11-05-2006 @4:22PM angelique said... Cool? What's cool got to do with it? If you want cool, go to your local uber-trendy bar and pose away the night. If you want a consistently decent cup of coffee quickly, or a place to sit and sip for a bit, try the Starbucks. If you're a 'hipster' or whatever, maybe it's uncool for you to be caught enjoying something so common, but that's your problem, not mine.
Quirky little cafes are wonderful, if you're around when they're open. Several times I've found lovely little places, only to realize that they were about to close, or arrived and found that they were closed, because it's sunday. (The organizer of that evening was quite indignant about going to Starbuck's because it's *gasp* a corporation. It never occurred to her, or any of us, that a coffee shop would close on a sunday because we've been spoiled by Starbuck's consistant opening and closing schedule.
Another plus is that Starbuck's is fairly quality controlled. I've had their coffee in many states and never found any significan variation. When you've found yourself in the midst of an awful trip and long for something familiar, that's quite appreciated. Sometimes places that look good serve coffee of questionable origin and dubious quality. Just because the coffee is roasted in-house you can't assume that it's better than Dunkin Donuts (which I can't stand. I'd honestly rather drink Lipton's than that watery crap.) SB's also has a wide range of choices, which is great when you want coffee, but you've got kids who don't drink it, or people who'd rather have a lighter roast, herbal/black/green/white tea, bottled water, or soymilk rather than cow's milk. No one has to be less than or unhappy with a choice drawn from a limited offering.
The only really annoying thing is sometimes it's hard to know which Starbucks people are going to. There are at least four downtown here, within 2 -3 blocks of each other, and one in a hotel lobby. And sure it's not my favorite coffee (La Colombe), but that's not available retail outside of two or three places in PA, while I can pick up a bag of SB to make at home along with my regular groceries. A lot of things in life are inherently and necessarily hard; nothing's wrong with having an easy and good option.
Reply

11-05-2006 @4:23PM angelique said... Oh, for the poster who finds their "coffee" (If it's flavored with anything but coffeebeans, it's no longer coffee without the quotes) has too much syrup in it, Baristas are more than willing to alter a drink to your liking. I buy flavored coffee-drinks once a season, when the limited ed. flavors come out as a treat, but dislike anything overly sweet. (Commercial baking and frosting, most candy, milk chocolate all leave me nauseated). Try having just one or two pumps added, or an extra shot of expresso to balance it out. This customization is why I prefer it to pour your own prepared coffee-drinks which are less expensive, but unalterable.
Reply