Starbucks coffee profits up by a third as sales jump. WTF?

Yakult wrote: »

Starbucks is over-rated and over-priced.

I don't know if this is a particularly UCC thing, because I've only ever drunk Starbucks from there as part of the Kylemore catering entity. But their coffee is good, much better than what you'd get in the majority of pubs and cafés across Ireland. And you get a fairly decent size paper cup thingy for €2.50. Where you'd be paying €2 for a Centra paper cup thingy, you get one of those plus a half for the €2.50 in the Starbucks.

And I've drunk coffee all over Europe (supposedly where the coffee culture is most,) in Asia and Australia, and Starbucks is on the good side of coffee. The two best rated places for coffee in Cork tend to be Cork Coffee Roasters, and the coffee bar in the English Market. Starbucks easily holds its own on a value comparison. The only time I get coffee of a magnitude better is buying my own beans when the shops tell me they're freshly roasted (Both CCRs and Maher's), grinding them myself and making the coffee myself.

Starbucks hate is the same as the Nespresso hate. Originally held by a few people who genuinely liked their coffee, but now spouted by trendy pricks trying to stay "authentic." Just like Nespresso coffee it is above average, consistent, and eminently drinkable. If you want a semi-decent coffee, you won't go wrong with it. If you want seriously good coffee, you'll know far more about coffee than the crap most people will spout in here.


Edit: For clarity, I'm talking about coffee here, either milk based or water based. You're flavoured coffees and frapachinos can fook right off. They are to coffee what alcopops are to alcohol.

Oh sorry, that must have been me, I drank a **** load of times there

amacca wrote: »

El Horseboxo wrote: »

I've a friend that works in a hacienda in manizales in Colombia. She once told me that the likes of nescafe and starbucks etc get the most crap beans they grow. Ones they mostly throw out except there's a market for them.

but those nescafe ads...the classy middle aged women....the lads with panama hats surely not!!!

I feel violated to the very core of my being

I suppose you're going to tell me the man from del monte was some sort of fcukin fake aspirational fiction too

ffs...John West wouldn't stand for this ****

Nah I'd tell ya I'm surprised you only got 3 thanks for that post. So much hard work and effort needs to be rewarded more.

tommyboy2222 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me where I can get a good cup of coffee in Dublin city centre if Starbucks is so rubbish ?

Cos the other chains are worse.

http://www.3fe.com/

This guy is a boardsie and placed 4th in the world barrista championships. Savagely good coffee.

It always has such a nasty aftertaste to it, they don't even make it like real barristas, its all pressing a button on the fcking machine.

Coffee is serious business. (I'm not addicted I can quit anytime i want!)

'New Starbucks opens up in the restroom of existing Starbucks'
http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-starbucks-opens-in-rest-room-of-existing-starb,560/

"Now, people can enjoy a delicious Frappuccino or espresso just about any time they please, even while defecating."

15,000 stores worldwide that's how. Coffee is a commodity and with new found wealth in india and china, demand for this is through the roof.

They are also regarded as one of the best employers to work for with very generous healthcare in the states.

Profits are on the up at Starbucks because it's not about drinking coffee.

Eating foods that contain a bunch of sugar, fat, salt, makes your brain feel pretty happy and the result is you want to do it again - it's addictive. People get hooked on all that sugar and caffeine in their makey-up drinks, plus the consistency of the setups in their places and the free wifi keeps people coming back. It's about having a sort of homely, comforting experience. There was a great article about it in the Guardian a while back, it's not on their site any more but you can read it here http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24995.htm

A venture capitalist who knows the business intimately cited Starbucks as a company that has recognised and responded brilliantly to a cultural need. The caffeine and sugar in the coffee, with their energising effects, are certainly part of the equation, but the chain also offers something much more primal. "It's about warm milk and a bottle," he says. "One of my colleagues said, 'If I could put a nipple on it, I'd be a multimillionaire'."

Personally I think SB coffee tastes burnt and bitter and makes me feel ill. I like the stuff they wheel out at Christmas (gingerbread lattes and whatnot), but otherwise it's fairly rubbish. It's the people that go there every freaking day that gets to me...it's all about pleasure and reward (and profit), the coffee thing is just a front.

ellieswellies wrote: »

Personally I think SB coffee tastes burnt and bitter and makes me feel ill. I like the stuff they wheel out at Christmas (gingerbread lattes and whatnot), but otherwise it's fairly rubbish. It's the people that go there every freaking day that gets to me...it's all about pleasure and reward (and profit), the coffee thing is just a front.

I dunno comrade, I like the coffee myself. I s'pose you'd know better than me about the motivations behind my personal choices though, eh?