Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Why You Should Avoid Starbucks Blended Lemonade!!!

roachboy · 08-12-2008, 09:00 AM

what you make of starbucks is a function of what you choose to look at---if all you see is a retail outlet that sells mediocre-to-ok coffee (which can be excellent coffee in a context that doesn't otherwise provide it from a retail viewpoint) then you head one way---if you prefer locally owned places and a greater variety of interiors and coffees, then you go another-- (on this much depends on where you live--in philadelphia, starbucks definitely had an impact on the coffeehouse circuit, but they didn't kill it off by any means---in chicago, it seems that the folk never really understood the coffeehouse thing at all, so the impact starbucks had was, from what i could tell, a zero-sum thing: most places sucked anyway, starbucks tends to suck, so it all zeros out). if you look at them in terms of how anti-globalization mobilizations constructed their symbol-systems in the late 1990s, then detesting starbucks becomes more comprehensible.

thing is that the pressure they got from this last bit makes them kinda interesting in terms of their purchasing strategies.
i don't know how much folk care about where the stuff they consume comes from, but anyway: fair trade coffee is often better in terms of flavor and is definitely preferable in terms of the politics of coffee production (direct democratic producer collectives...) but it comes with a limit on how much they can supply--starbucks is on the industrial side of the procurement system---so they developed their curious "cafe" system, which enables them to get about 20% of their coffee via fair trade---enough so they can use the logo---and the rest from plantations and other conventional (monocrop) growers. in this, starbucks really has the basic problems of the industrial food system as a whole, in a condensed form, and with reference to a relatively GMO-free commodity (coffee) the problems associated with which have largely to do with how production is organized.

but like i said, it's just a cup of joe.

08-12-2008, 09:00 AM	#72 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	what you make of starbucks is a function of what you choose to look at---if all you see is a retail outlet that sells mediocre-to-ok coffee (which can be excellent coffee in a context that doesn't otherwise provide it from a retail viewpoint) then you head one way---if you prefer locally owned places and a greater variety of interiors and coffees, then you go another-- (on this much depends on where you live--in philadelphia, starbucks definitely had an impact on the coffeehouse circuit, but they didn't kill it off by any means---in chicago, it seems that the folk never really understood the coffeehouse thing at all, so the impact starbucks had was, from what i could tell, a zero-sum thing: most places sucked anyway, starbucks tends to suck, so it all zeros out). if you look at them in terms of how anti-globalization mobilizations constructed their symbol-systems in the late 1990s, then detesting starbucks becomes more comprehensible. thing is that the pressure they got from this last bit makes them kinda interesting in terms of their purchasing strategies. i don't know how much folk care about where the stuff they consume comes from, but anyway: fair trade coffee is often better in terms of flavor and is definitely preferable in terms of the politics of coffee production (direct democratic producer collectives...) but it comes with a limit on how much they can supply--starbucks is on the industrial side of the procurement system---so they developed their curious "cafe" system, which enables them to get about 20% of their coffee via fair trade---enough so they can use the logo---and the rest from plantations and other conventional (monocrop) growers. in this, starbucks really has the basic problems of the industrial food system as a whole, in a condensed form, and with reference to a relatively GMO-free commodity (coffee) the problems associated with which have largely to do with how production is organized. but like i said, it's just a cup of joe. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite