Starbucked
Having grown up in a town full of wonderful independently-owned cafés that served coffee strong enough to wake the dead, I’ve always hated Starbucks. The company represents the Disney-fication of coffee - and if there’s one thing you do not mess with, it’s coffee!
So I was dismayed to find that the only chain in Japan I can rely on to get a decent espresso (Doutour) doesn’t have a shop near enough to my office to serve my insatiable needs (and the only independently-run shops I know of aren’t even in the neighbourhood). Starbucks, however, is right across the street. It was with a great deal of trepidation, moral hand-wringing and self-doubt that I started buying my morning shot from them.
The coffee is passable, is you stay away from the ridiculous boutique concoctions they serve (double non-fat caramel milky thing with whipped cream; like a four-year-old’s idea of coffee). But what really started to sway me was the staff. They’re bright, they’re cheerful, and they’re just so damned nice my objections have started to melt away.
This is just what Starbucks intends, of course (images of executives in Seattle rubbing their hands saying, “Everything is going according to plan! Bwah-ha-ha-ha!”) but, against my better judgement, it’s working.
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Posted to General Rants • 2002.02.07 (Thu) • 14:27
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