Starbucks: Bitter Disservice to an Entire Generation

Bad Coffee Gets Its Own

RAISING AWARENESS

So says a private coffee shop owner on Starbucks contribution to America's coffee culture:

"Starbucks has really created a coffee culture, raising awareness of good coffee, which is good for independents," said Carol Watson, owner of the Milk and Honey

coffee shop in Chicago. "But on the other hand, they're on practically every corner, and that makes it tough on the little guy too."

While what she says is diplomatic, fair, and in part arguably true, my sorest point of contention is on she mentions good coffee in the same sentence as Starbucks.

GOOD COFFEE?

Okay, we all have personal tastes and preferences. But unless you're into S&M, when something obviously wrong slaps you in the face, you tend to avoid getting slapped again.

This said, my very first memory of Starbucks as a place was great. Good looking place, fun in a zippy way. But when it came down to actually tasting the Big S's coffees (of almost any flavor) - all I remember was the bitterness. Whether "mild", "smooth", "bold" or "robust" - as they so cleverly say - bitter is what united their line of drinks.

These many years later, bitter now divides the once great giant.

Tears are shed over the impending closure of 600 or more Starbucks stores across the nation. Assuming ten folks run each store, that's at least 6,000 jobs. No small pickings.

A TRAVESTY, GENERATIONS IN THE MAKING

All economics aside, we must look at what is perhaps the greatest travesty of the Big S legacy - one that may have the most damaging and far-reaching effects for years to come...

They taught one or more generations of people to settle for bad coffee.

Think of the millions of Americans born and raised on acrid grounds over the years since Starbucks first opened their doors beyond the hometown Seattle turf since the 1990s.

And it goes even beyond...

EVEN THE GREAT WALL CRUMBLES

With an established brand confidence to back them up following success in the killing fields of American taste buds, the Big S slithered into China some years ago to spread the bitter beans even further.

Ironically, bitterness may be a welcome thing in the Middle Kingdom.