Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Starbucks Coffee, You Like?


Nice montage, don't you think? These are actually all the 30 different types of whole bean coffee beans that are available at Starbucks. Starbucks coffee beans are sourced from all over the world, Latin America, Africa, Arabia and Asia Pacific.



Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington, United States. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 16,120 stores in 49 countries, including around 11,000 in the United States, followed by nearly 1,000 in Canada and more than 800 in Japan.

Starbucks sells drip brewed coffee, espresso-based hot drinks, other hot and cold drinks, snacks, and items such as mugs and coffee beans. The company also markets books, music, and film. Many of the company's products are seasonal or specific to the locality of the store. Starbucks-brand ice cream and coffee are also offered at grocery stores.

In the 1990s, Starbucks was opening a new store every workday, a pace that continued into the 2000s. The first store outside the United States or Canada opened in the mid-'90s, and overseas stores now constitute almost one third of Starbucks' stores. The company plans to open a net of 900 new stores outside of the United States in 2009, but has announced 900 store closures in the United States since 2008.

International presence of Starbucks stores

Here in Kuala Lumpur, there is a Starbucks in every shopping mall and in busy parts of suburbs outside the city. Is it just the coffee that millions of people patronise the outlets each day?

Whatever it is, like it or not, Starbucks (and places like theirs) are slowly but surely changing the way we live.

In his new book, "Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks", Bryant Simon, a history professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, writes that "while people once were able to find meaningful conversation and debate at libraries, recreation centers and parks, those public spaces have become less available - and less desirable _ since municipal resources are focused elsewhere."

According to Simon, Starbucks has filled that void.

Or has it?

What's the true cost of a Starbucks latte, really? And we are not talking about money.


Sources:
- Starbucks website
- Wikipedia

- The Star

7 comments:

  1. Why not? I wish I could sit in Starbuck and try all their coffee. I think I have to fork out at least RM500 to do so? :p

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  2. yeah, first thing is that i am attracted to the montage, it is a nice one.. but i am not a coffee fans though, and i think the coffee sold are expensive!!

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  3. Starbucks is nice, but have you been to the new coffee outlet in town called Bad Ass Coffee? Go try it at Tropicana Mall PJ.

    Some say it's better than Starbucks.I'm not sure cos I'm not a big fan of coffee! : )

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  4. Bad Ass Coffee? Man...if they tried to open one of those in the US...

    I really like Tully's Coffee, too.

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  5. T, that can be done. There are only 30 different types. mah.

    SK, I drink coffee occasionally but that mug is really too much for me at one go. Probably that's why it comes at that price.

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  6. Foong, with a name like that, it better be good. Will have to try it sometime. Thanks for the tipoff.

    MM, Tully's Coffee is new to me. Have you heard of Kopi Luwak or Civet coffee? It is coffee made from coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet. The civets eat the berries, but the beans inside pass through their system undigested.

    I hear this coffee tastes great.

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  7. like the concept of starbucks. especially by giving free wifi in some places (in malaysia at least) :) btw, i also like our local malaysian kopitiams - its just simply malaysian! :)

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