Is Starbucks the rightful King of the Coffee Universe?

[Mavideol]

are you guys talking about coffee or brownish water.... 555

[simon43]

[quote]

...

I do wonder how they manage to make a profit, but i suppose they must, seems a strange business model.  

[/quote]

 

Their business model seems to be to charge a fortune for something that really doesn't resemble coffee at all...

 

Give me a Lao coffee from the Bolaven Plateau any day ????

 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, LaosLover said:

The Thai copycat brands are tepid, too foamy, and bland. Roastry8 in Chiang Mai tastes like plastic. 

 

Starbucks costs more -600 delivered versus 500 in an ultra-slow Thai place around the corner. But it's a bigger serving.

 

Their seating areas are infinitely nicer and actually draw a few mythical global nomads.

Bigger serving?

Seating area?

Mythical global nomads?

 

Is that what you are looking for?

Or decent coffee?

 

How can anybody expect great coffee from an American chain?

 

I love espresso and I go to a few independent places which concentrate on great espresso and not all the unimportant things. And I am happy if I don't see any of those nomads.

 

[Kwasaki]

15 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

No. Expensive "craft" beers.

Interesting,  such as. 

They could go down as one of our bike trip pit beer stops. 

[userabcd]

36 minutes ago, Doctor Tom said:

An extremely worn out and weak excuse when they avoid corporation tax the World over. Its no excuse to say others pay tax on their behalf, that is, employees and customers.  This excuse is trotted out by the largest digital and tech companies in the World and its horse dung. 

For ref Starbucks strategy in relation to tax.

 

https://globalassets.starbucks.com/assets/77CB10D4E6DD403A92D568DE90148166.pdf

 

They work within the rules, laws and regulation of business, accounting and taxation, not what every beady eyed person everywhere thinks they should do.

 

 

Edited March 18, 2023 by userabcd

[biervoormij]

I refuse to pay more for a cup of coffee than the cost of a beer so no Starbucks for me.

[Liverpool Lou]

33 minutes ago, Doctor Tom said:

43 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

They do.

One example.  Too many other links to post that prove the same. 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/mar/30/starbucks-uk-corporation-tax-profit-administrative-expenses-royalties

Starbucks UK?   How about linking to something relevant to Thailand such as Starbucks Thailand?!

[VocalNeal]

3 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Interesting,  such as. 

They could go down as one of our bike trip pit beer stops. 

They do have Leo, Singha and Heineken but I have not been brave enough to enquire about the price.

[LaosLover]

16 minutes ago, simon43 said:

 

 

Give me a Lao coffee from the Bolaven Plateau any day ????

 

My coffee-collecting friend searched hard in Chiang Mai and Bangkok for Lao coffee and came up empty. Only one crafty place at the Chatachuk Market (Slow Coffee -and living up to their name) had it.

 

If you like a gentle and smooth light finish, it's a good one. 

[userabcd]

4 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Starbucks UK?   How about linking to something relevant to Thailand such as Starbucks Thailand?!

It does not matter, they are established and working in Thailand for decades according to the govt rules in place.

Edited March 18, 2023 by userabcd

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, LaosLover said:

But I like a coffee to be bracingly hot. And it is apparently against Thai health and safety rules to go above armpit temperature.

Had a make-it-yourself in 7-11 last week. Had to wait 20 minutes before it was cool enough to drink.

[Liverpool Lou]

Just now, userabcd said:

4 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Starbucks UK?   How about linking to something relevant to Thailand such as Starbucks Thailand?!

It does not matter, they are established and working in Thailand decades according to the rules in place.

I know that they are but it does matter when they are not the same companies paying the tax and a poster is suggesting that the licencee for Starbucks (Thailand) doesn't pay corporation tax.  It does, it pays a shedload.

[mark5335]

"Is Starbucks the rightful King of the Coffee Universe?"

 

They certainly are the King of Coffee in my district in BKK. I count that there's 16 Starbucks outlets within a 20 min walking distance from home. Mind you, the 7-11 coffees and privateer coffee street hawkers also do well in my area.

[Lucky Bones]

1 hour ago, theoldgit said:

 

"A few mythical global nomads"? I couldn't find a seat to drink a coffee in Treminal 21 yesterday due to the people occuying two or four seats at tables working on their computer, holding business meetings or simply asleep with their head on the table, most with dregs of some liquid in their cups, I gave up and went elsewhere.

 

This seems to be the norm in Starbucks and they seem happy with it, I do wonder how they manage to make a profit, but i suppose they must, seems a strange business model.  

It is called air-conditioning.????????

[BigStar]

Now you've gone and caused our Brits and Ozzies to be soiling their knickers.

 

I think the admins must prompt members to post these topics for clickbait.

[Pitak Chirachat]

With all die respect, Barsucks coffee is flavored water. You want a real coffee go and have an Illy (Italian) coffee. Then you'll throw away or up your Barsucks coffee.

But their hot chocolate is tasty and can compete with most others.

[LaosLover]

Illy -hard to find and often incompetently prepared. Best had in an old fashioned Italian restaurant.

[moogradod]

Best coffee I know is Blue Mountain Coffee - different brands. Very unfortunately it is practically not on offer here. Any high Class Coffee Shop in Tokyo offers it.

 

Vietnam is as well a country to survey for coffee.

[LaosLover]

Not a huge fan of Blue Mountain coffee outside of Jamaica, but I see it pretty regularly at Rimping.

 

That Slow Coffee place at Chatachuk Market has it too. I like it, but I don't think its worth the premium over the choices below.

 

It's priced about 300 baht for a small bag, like the high-end Brazilian single estate coffees. Ethiopian coffee is avail here at a discount over US prices too.

 

So far, I haven't loved Indonesian coffee, though it is more bitter than Thai coffee.

Edited March 18, 2023 by LaosLover

[Doctor Tom]

4 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Clearly, you don't know how much tax they pay to the Thai Revenue Department.

Starbucks US and the company that is the licencee of the brand in Thailand (i.e the tax payer here) are independent companies and are not responsible for each other's tax obligations in their respective countries. In the financial year ending 2021 the Thai owner of Starbucks Thailand paid B4,634,097,000 in tax.  That is not "avoiding corporation tax the world over".

And that's how they do it .  I'm surprised that anyone would support their corporate tax avoidance schemes. 

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, Doctor Tom said:

5 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

In the financial year ending 2021 the Thai owner of Starbucks Thailand paid B4,634,097,000 in tax.  That is not "avoiding corporation tax the world over".

And that's how they do it .  I'm surprised that anyone would support their corporate tax avoidance schemes. 

So you think that Starbucks Thailand's paying billions of baht in tax every year is their way of avoiding paying tax?  

[asf6]

There is a lot of choice available in Thailand for coffee drinkers. No one place is king for me. It all depends on what I want at any one time. I have my favourites and there are some places I go to occasionally.

 

I go to Starbucks occasionally. The good thing about them (if you like their coffee)  is that the taste of their coffee is consistent. The downside is that it is expensive for what you get. I have had much better coffee cheaper in several places, including a speciality coffee shop but it really wasn't worth the wait there (weigh the beans, grind the beans, weigh the ground beans, measure the water, weigh the output, time it to the second, etc) . 

 

I quite like the taste of 7 eleven fresh coffee (30 baht for a latte) and it's convenient. Fresh coffee in McDonald's is OK. Amazon is mostly OK and fairly consistent. Independent shops, you never know until you try them, but that can be fun and can turn up some gems as well as duds. 

Edited March 18, 2023 by asf6

[moogradod]

2 hours ago, LaosLover said:

Not a huge fan of Blue Mountain coffee outside of Jamaica, but I see it pretty regularly at Rimping.

 

That Slow Coffee place at Chatachuk Market has it too. I like it, but I don't think its worth the premium over the choices below.

.................................................

I neither live in Jamaica nor Bangkok, but In Sattahip. So should be somewhere around Pattaya Grand.

 

Nespresso had it as a limited edition. 65.-- per capsule.

[simon43]

I notice Starbucks don't sell Civet Poop coffee, even though their other coffees taste like sh*t.......

 

 

When I lived in Laos, many places around Luang Prabang sold this coffee.  For some reason, drinking coffee made from coffee cherry stones that have been pooped out by a civet cat never really appealed to me! ????

[Keep Right]

Anyone that has been to Italy and sampled the many coffee shops throughout the country will realize that Starbucks is watered down <deleted> coffee. My nephew worked for Starbucks for awhile while he was attending University and he also agreed that Starbucks waters down their coffee drinks. Do a search on the best coffee shops in Seattle and you will not find Starbucks listed. 

[save the frogs]

But their business model is not coffee.

It's a rent-a-living room plus coffee.

They usually have a nice decor. 

But a lot of other cafes are a lot nicer.

 

 

Edited March 18, 2023 by save the frogs

[zzaa09]

21 hours ago, Dcheech said:

 600 & 500 Baht for a cup of coffee?! I would suggest you find a different Starbucks and a different Thai coffee shop.  

In which they are numerous, today, throughout scattered provinces. 

Locally grown coffee. A much better quality and reasonably priced. 

F*** Starbucks. 

[LaosLover]

10 hours ago, simon43 said:

 Civet Poop coffee

 

????

I had this in Japan. It tasted like regular coffee. It was $9 for a small cup.

[TheAppletons]

Nitro cold brew.  Yum.

[Denim]

On 3/18/2023 at 9:45 AM, McTavish said:

Starbucks coffee is highly over-rated expensive flavoured water. 

 

AMAZON make a quality coffee!

Every time I have tried Amazon I have been served half a cup of overpriced luke warm slop.