Is coffee-shop coffee too expensive?

[Lorizael]

Originally posted by Lorizael
Just a quick question for you, btw. What would you define "black coffee" to be?

Fine, I won't wait for the answer everyone already knows.

So, if someone orders a black coffee from you, and you fill the cup to the brim because you want them to get as much coffee as possible and know they're not going to put cream and sugar in, and they go over to the condiment bar, pour some of the coffee into the trash can (which is a ****ing ***** to clean up later) and then proceed to fill the cup back up with cream and sugar, is it okay to bash the customer's skull into the espresso machine?

Man, I'm so glad I don't work there anymore.

[Patroklos]

Starbucks coffee on a navy ship? What is the world coming to?

Thats what I said, being the penny pincher I raised hell. But once the sailors saw it there was nothing I could do about it.

Thats how we ended up with two diet sodas in our machines. I told everyone the USNS supply ships only carried Diet Coke, but nooooo we had to go out with Diet Pepsi too. Luckly they didn't make me ship 50 pallets of soda across the globe. One small victory for the defender of your tax dollars!

[Sirotnikov]

Take away cappucino ranges from 2$ to 3.5$, depending on the size of cup, and the overall pricyness of the shop.

Sit down cappucino usually starts with 3$ and tops at 4$ unless they have special addative syrops and what not.

I usually hate that stuff, but sometimes sin

[DanS]

One thing to keep in mind is that in the US, the coffee landscape was -- and still is, in many respects -- a vast wasteland of cheap, crappy coffee. Espresso-based drinks largely were unavailable.

Starbucks and its ilk had almost unlimited opportunity to expand, given that what they provided was essentially a range of new products to the marketplace. Starbucks, et al. could name their price. And they named it at the dear end of the scale. And why not?

This may change in the future. In my neighborhood, Starbucks quickly is reaching saturation point. There is a Starbucks every block (no exaggeration). I can see coffee shops competing on other things, such as ambiance, in the future.

[Kuciwalker]

There is a Starbucks at either end of the block of my dad's office

[DanS]

There isn't a Starbucks on my block, but there are 2 on the block one over. There is a Cosi on my block. I think that they do this high density because most people will do quite a bit to avoid crossing the street. Perhaps Starbucks cannot attract a portion of their customers to cross the street based on the product alone.

Human nature is a strange thing sometimes.

[Lorizael]

At the Starbucks (Barnes & Noble Cafe, technically) I used to work at, I saw people come in with nearly empty coffee cups from another Starbucks (a few minutes away), throw those cups away, and order a new cup at my store. It was as if they couldn't bear a single moment without more coffee.

[Tingkai]

Re: Is coffee-shop coffee too expensive?

Originally posted by Cort Haus
I've never had a Starbucks coffee. People say it tastes great, but I'm voting with my feet and saying "no way at that price".

I love drinking coffee so why would I want to buy a cheap cup of crappy tasting coffee just to save a buck?

And yes, I could save money by not buying a good cup of coffee, but then I deprive myself of something I enjoy.

You can spend the rest of your life eating only cheap food and drinking cheap coffee, but then you'll never know what the good stuff taste like.

Me, I rather have the good stuff.

[DanS]

Yeh, it's like the fact that I won't drink crappy beer at any price. The only reason why I will drink crappy beer is because that's the only thing available and that's what others are drinking -- i.e., it's a social thing.

[Kuciwalker]

Tingkai also spends thousands of dollars on watches. Just to put this in context, people.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by reds4ever


EEK!!

[Imran Siddiqui]

It depends... for regular coffee, yes. For the coffee drinks, lattes, frapachinos, etc. Starbucks is not badly priced.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Tingkai also spends thousands of dollars on watches. Just to put this in context, people.

Hundreds, not thousands.

I also spend lot of money travelling and enjoy every moment.

I don't worry about stuff I can't afford, and I make sure I put away 15% of my salary as soon as I get paid.

In other words, I have a comfortable life, so I really couldn't care less if I'm paying $2.50 for a cup of coffee.

If you ever make more than minimum wage, you'll understand.

[Elok]

I'm opposed to Starbucks, but not for their coffee prices. I don't drink coffee, I'm a tea man. And every time I go into a Starbucks and ask for tea, they give me that wretched Tazo swill, which I believe is genetically engineered to taste insipid and weak no matter how long you leave it in the water. Except for Tazo Darjeeling; that has a strong, unpleasant flavor no matter how briefly you steep it. The others are weak. If you leave their "Awake" blend in boiling water until it's room temperature, you'll get tea as weak as you'd get if you'd put it in for one minute. It's just cold, weak tea. Blecch.

I love Teaism's Guangdong blend. It's got an absolutely wonderful earthy flavor. So of course they discontinued it. I still have a few mugs' worth of leaves in my room, awaiting a special occasion. 'kay, I'm done venting for the moment.

[DrSpike]

As someone that drinks a lot of coffee I would say yes. I tend just to buy unique drinks (coffee or otherwise) from them every now and again for a change, but never buy latte or standard coffee.

I have a cafetiere for work and use a filter machine at home.