The Starbucks Affect

At the outset, I just want to say that this post isn't going to be my usual light-hearted look at the coffee industry, leaders and trends. Rather, it will be a serious rant brought on by a feeling of frustration of most, if not all of the Barista's and Specialty Coffee Shop owners in America. I know that this sounds like a huge remark but I believe you will by the end of this post you will agree with my assertions.
I call this blog the Starbucks Affect or "What the heck Starbucks has done to the coffee industry." Not just from the perspective of the consumer but from the perspective of the barista and the perspective of the Starbucks Affect from the perspective of the Coffee shop owner.

Barista Perspective

The barista is more than just the person who mixes the drinks for the customer. He or she is an educator, counselor and encourager, occasionally, of the clientele that walks in the doors of every shop worldwide. From time to time the education part of the barista's job profile gets stretched. Let me give you a case in fact. Starbucks makes a version of a Macchiato that has come to be known as a macchiato. This perversion of the classic macchiato is no less than a rip-off. The classic macchiato is two shots of espresso with a dollop of milk foam on the top. (macchiato means to stain) in this case, the stain is the milk.

What Starbuck's passes off as a macchiato is actually a single shot latte. A Latte should have two shots of espresso. They have made the stain the espresso, thus ripping off their customers for one shot of espresso. (they get around this by calling it a latte macchiato)

To shorten up this post, I'll cut to the chase. As a Barista, our job has turned from being an educator and server of Specialty Coffee, to being a Coffee Psychologist. We have to retrain people into knowing what the correct definition and expectation of classic coffee and espresso based drinks. This can sometimes be frustrating. We have even had people come in the door and question our knowledge and in some cases our ethics because they have been brain-washed by Starbucks versions of drinks.

Shop Owners Perspective

As a coffee shop owner my take on Starbucks has done for the coffee landscape is bitter sweet. On the one hand they have helped to highlight coffee drinking to more acceptable level. People who may never have tried coffee now do because of the Starbucks Affect. So thank you for that Starbucks but on the other hand the feeling that Starbucks has sold their soul for the almighty buck is a deeply and widespread feeling among the coffee community.
In their zeal to be the #1 coffee company on the planet, they have lost sight on one glaring promise, "Serve good coffee."

As a shop owner, wanting to expand my business and serve other areas of my town, it has become impossible because of Starbucks business practices. Their effort to put a shop on every corner, serving inferior coffee, has meant that all of the available good sites have been taken. They work out arrangements with strip malls so that no other coffee shop can compete for the same business. The worst thing about this is that if they don't like their location, i.e. it isn't making $1 million dollars or more, they just leave, leaving the community with no coffee shop of any kind.

So from a shop owners perspective, in my mind Starbucks does more harm than good.
I wish I could say that I'm just jealous about the success of Starbucks but looking at the holistic effect of not only a Starbucks but any company that has business practices as they do all I can be is honest.