The Elephant in the Room - Starbucks

There is a misperception about me I need to clear up. For years I have had people tell me how much I love Starbucks, and how it's my favorite coffee. I do talk about Starbucks a lot, and have been a stockholder in the company at various times. I am fond of Starbucks, but it is not my favorite coffee.

I don't think you can talk coffee in this world, without talking about Starbucks. Starbucks is responsible for changing the way we look at coffee. Chariman/CEO Howard Schultz wanted to create an atmosphere that people would consider another home, office, or other central place in our lives. He has succeeded. Kudos to him. Even now I am at a Starbucks, and the place is packed with students, businessmen, and others having coffee, conducting business, studying, catching up with friends, etc..

Starbucks coffee is pretty good. If I were to give it a grade, I would say B-. No doubt this shocks some of my friends. A stronger grade would come with more consistency in the coffee they put out. I know Starbucks has worked hard to put out a consistent cup of coffee, but with thousands of Starbucks all over the world, that's tough to do. 

Some of their coffee<coughPikePlaceRoastcough> is horrible. Some is quite good. Their limited edition coffees like the Christmas or Thanksgiving Blends are very good. Their basic though....er.....not so much. 

Starbucks strives to make coffee relevant. They do this with espresso drinks. I wrote yesterday about how these exotic drinks have helped boost coffee to surpass soda as a drink of choice. Clearly they know how to market coffee.

They also know how to cultivate coffee. The trip I took to Costa Rica was a Starbucks endeavor, and I believe they do very well by the farmers and growers they work with around the world. Starbucks is THE coffee company known around the world.

The problem is they are trying to cater to the broadest audience possible. When you do that mediocrity seeps in. In the specialty field, you now see Stumptown in Portland and Intelligentsia in Chicago growing and expanding. So far they have been able to maintain a quality to their coffee which is outstanding. Their coffee doesn't taste mass produced. I am hoping as they enter new markets they work to keep their quality where it is. Starbucks can't do small batch roasting like the the smaller coffee companies, therefore I believe high quality is tougher for them. No doubt they would disagree, and I know they have tons of people who work on their quality.

So what coffee do I like? I have already mentioned Stumptown and Intelligentsia. I am also fond out Sterling Coffee Roasters of Portland, Stone Creek Coffee Roasters of Milwuakee, Metropolis in Chicago and Hubbard and Cravens in Indianapolis. I am always interested in discovering more coffees and I will.

Charlie