America is all about capitalism. Its about the big corporations. There are various good and bad things about capitalism, which is not a part of this blog.
However, what I want to write is what Starbucks has done to people who start their day with these beverages. Starbucks has bought a whole lot of smaller/better/competetor (Seattle’s Best, Torrefazione Italia, etc.) coffee chains and replaced them with their own franchise.
A result of this is, a lot of people have gotten used to drink really crappy coffee and tea. I am not a coffee connoisour, and am mostly a tea drinker. I have tried all the different varieties of tea available at these places, and its so bad that I actually had to throw it away. Whats even more amusing that starbucks advertise themselves as selling the best tea/coffee. They call the Indian tea as “Chai Tea” made from some “powder” mixed in milk, which simply shows how shallow they are. (Chai actually means “tea”, specifically from “CTC Tea”, which is boiled with (optional) spices and milk.).
Well, the bottomline is that places like these are corrupting the minds of people in making them believe that the special “burnt” roasted coffee they sell is actually good, and the “chai tea” in a plastic cup with a small hole on the top (which may be designed to hide the foul smell of the beverage) is an exquisite beverage to drink. The only way that we can stop these places from prospering at the cost of good coffee is to not buy beverages from there. Because of their scale, they will probably never be able to sell the best beverages around, but atleast they will stop shutting down the smaller chains who actually care about the quality rather than fancy names and wireless internet.
“Friends don’t let friends go to starbucks” (A quote from Dana Street Roasting Company, Mountain View)
Comments
Empress of Blandings (January 24, 2006):
Yeah, I’m sick of all these big corporate chains and their penchant for gobbling up smaller/better players.. only to replace their products with something that tastes foul…n shove them down consumers’ throats with aggressive, monopolistic marketing gimmicks and ploys.“Chai-tea in a plastic cup with a hole on top”?? One shudders.Gawddd!! I still miss Gokul bhaiyya’s chai n Bakshi’s chai n cream-rolls…. :-)
None (February 16, 2006):
Hi #NAME#. Just found your site via contacts. Although I was looking for contacts I was glad i came upon your site. Thanks for the read!
Comments
Empress of Blandings (January 24, 2006):
Yeah, I’m sick of all these big corporate chains and their penchant for gobbling up smaller/better players.. only to replace their products with something that tastes foul…n shove them down consumers’ throats with aggressive, monopolistic marketing gimmicks and ploys.“Chai-tea in a plastic cup with a hole on top”?? One shudders.Gawddd!! I still miss Gokul bhaiyya’s chai n Bakshi’s chai n cream-rolls…. :-)
None (February 16, 2006):
Hi #NAME#. Just found your site via contacts. Although I was looking for contacts I was glad i came upon your site. Thanks for the read!