[phonebucket]

They are fundamentally different philosophies to coffee.

Starbucks, as a large business, needs to worry about creating a consistent product which appeals to a wide range of consumers which have an expectation of what their coffee will taste like from week to week.

Smaller shops often cater to subcultures looking for ‘interesting’ coffee, so they often source characterful single-origin coffees and don’t worry about their week-to-week consistency so much, since their customer base will often accept this inconsistency in exchange for the extra character they’ll get.

I’d thus also argue that Starbucks coffee isn’t necessarily worse (even though I count among the independent-coffee shop fans), but that it is a different drink altogether.

Coffee is not unique in this kind of specialty fragmentation. It exists in craft beer, single malt whiskies etc.

[Jarwain]

> their customer base will often accept this inconsistency in exchange for the extra character they’ll get.

I'd argue the inconsistency is Part of the character

[phonebucket]

Completely agreed. Getting a different experience each time is a big part of what makes a return trip to a good coffee shop fresh and interesting.