Starbucks...
@Texassulcatas (88)
United States
May 19, 2007 4:02am CST
Do you think coffee drinking would be so popular if Starbucks was never introduced? I became a coffee drinker when I was in high school because it was popular to hang out at coffee houses. I wonder if there would be as many coffee drinkers as there are now if Starbucks never made it. What do you think?
6 responses
@ahscor2001 (29)
• Philippines
20 May 07
Long before Starbucks existed, coffee drinking was already popular. Blend 45, Nescafe, brewed, etc. What Starbucks did was introduced different tastes of coffee. I think, with or without Starbucks, coffee drinking would remain. Ask Nestle how much bucks they're earning with their blended coffee.
@Texassulcatas (88)
• United States
20 May 07
I agree that coffee would always remain with or without Starbucks and there have always been different brands of store coffee but I think places like Starbucks made coffee go mainstream. I think it helped to create new coffee drinkers, people that would not have thought about going to the store to buy coffee before getting addicted to the Starbucks experience.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
19 May 07
I definitely think so. In our area we had coffee houses run by local coffee companies long before Starbucks was popular or hanging out in a coffee house was the national trend. I remember when I was in high school (going back more than 10 years now) we would hold study groups at one of the local coffee houses.
@Texassulcatas (88)
• United States
19 May 07
See, it was the same way for us. I graduated over 10 years ago too. I wonder if that was a generation thing. It was popular to hang out at coffee houses, are we the generation that started the coffee craze?
@smoke_gun (1243)
• Malaysia
24 May 07
there are many coffee shop in my country before starbucks was introduced.im started drinking coffee when 5 years old,and addict to coffee.i like hainan coffee,its a bit bitter,but strong coffee taste,unlike the others coffee,too sweet after mixed with milk or sugar,coffee taste has been covered.
@mememama (3076)
• United States
21 May 07
I lived in the Pacific Northwest and there lots of places like that before Starbucks grew to exist on every corner. There are drive thru coffee stands everywhere in some cities, and most of them are cheaper and taste better than starbucks. I think there would be less coffee drinkers because starbucks has introduced a lot of people to different types of ways to make coffee. Unfortunately where I currently live, there's only Starbucks!
@alebaster (57)
• United States
20 May 07
I don't think there would be fewer coffee drinkers if not for Starbucks -- fewer high-strung soccer moms, maybe.
@table4five (6)
• United States
24 May 07
Now that is something I've never thought about! No, I don't think coffee woud be absolutely everywhere if it weren't for Starbucks. I didn't drink my first cup of coffee until I was 31, which was in 1998. We were on vacation and there was a Starbucks across the street from the hotel. I had read about it in the paper, so I went in, and they asked me what I wanted. I didn't know! So they started asking me what flavors I liked and I said chocolate, so they made me a Mocha, and I WAS HOOKED.
It is crazy now how every gas station has a "cappucino" machine, even the medical building for my doctor's office has a coffee stand where a lady spends all day making mochas and lattes. I now buy my coffees from a local chain coffeehouse, I figure Starbucks is rich enough!
