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Coffee is probably the most overrated drink or food in the world. The way people cr@p on about "needing their morning coffee" and only buying from certain coffee shops makes wine snobs look sensible.
Hmmm...I imagine Starbucks with their global supply chain would be able to source beans for far cheaper than almost any other distributor in Australia. Indonesia, Vietnam and China are all amongst the world's largest producers of coffee beans, so I can't see how distance to ship would be a significant factor. As far as taxes, Australia's corporate tax rate is lower than America's (America's is one of the highest in the world) and even so, I'm pretty confident that Starbucks was offshoring profits through transfer pricing to reduce their tax bill here (have a look at what they've done in the UK recently). In reality, it costs money to do business anywhere. Given the product was perishable, served "fast" and solely domestically, it wouldn't have had too much of an issue with high wages. Starbucks failed for whatever reason, the fact that Australia wasn't in recession (infact per the ABS it was enjoying a dining boom at the time) leads me to believe it was consumer taste preferences rather than the difficulty of doing business in Australia.
My boss was a bit of a coffee addict...like many he drank it to 'function.' By 'function' I mean overwork and push yourself too hard. Yep, to work to your best you need stimulants...
I don't drink coffee, but some of my friends are what I call "coffee snobs". My understanding is that American-style coffee generally has less actual coffee (ie more water) than Australia. So Starbucks contains more coffee than standard American, thereby seeming better to Americans, but less than standard Australian, thereby failing in this market. I suggested this to some American friends who subsequently doubled the amount of coffee they used in their machine with instant improvement. YMMV.
I find it more curious that coffee seems to be the only thing people drink in the US. The hotels/motels hardly ever have kettles (just coffee makers and I don't like coffee residue in my tea) and even a lot of private homes don't. The abovementioned friends boiled water for my tea using a pyrex jug in the microwave. At the shops there would be a few kettles amongst about 20 coffee machines. The tea selection in the shops is abysmal but fortunately I am getting a fresh supply when relatives visit in a few months. And at a brunch I went to recently the restaurant served coffee but not hot chocolate, and served tea (English Breakfast) without milk. Luckily someone else had cream left over from their coffee so I was able to use some of that.
It's well known Americans aren't big tea drinkers, although it may be catching on. I think the most popular tea there is sweet/iced tea.
It's well known Americans aren't big tea drinkers, although it may be catching on. I think the most popular tea there is sweet/iced tea.
Iced tea is more common in the Sputh. Else coffee.
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