Hacker News Reader

Comment by ecshafer | Hacker News Reader

In the US specialty coffee shops may be just as expensive or more expensive than Starbucks. Starbucks doesn't make good coffee, however they're main competitors in the US are basically Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, or various regional/local chains. So they are often better than the competitors, since Dunkin Donuts is not as consistent of quality, and McDonalds isn't really a cafe (despite being one of the largest coffee sellers). A lot of local places also close at like 2 or 3 pm, so if I want to grab a coffee at 3 pm, or meet a friend I don't have a ton of options.

I don't really like Starbucks, but I feel a need to defend them that they have earned their success in ways other than marketing.

View on HN

> In the US specialty coffee shops may be just as expensive or more expensive than Starbucks.

That was the case where I live for the longest time. Starbucks wasn't great, but it was a pretty big step above McDonalds and the others, and the local shops, while great, were way more expensive than Starbucks.

But now that's no longer the case, really. Plenty of local, really good coffee shops here that are now the similar pricing to Starbucks now that Starbucks has been consistently jacking up prices. Starbucks has no right to be asking $15+ for a triple shot 20oz drink when I can get a much better tasting one for the same price at the local shop across the street.

Where Starbucks still won was availability and consistency. They are literally everywhere, open later, and the recipes are so formulaic now that I know exactly what I'm getting no matter which shop I go to.

They do need to go back down in price though and settle back into that happy middle place.

> a triple shot 20oz drink

This isn’t something any coffee shop should be serving. It’s like a big gulp 64 ounce soda, it shouldn’t exist.

I agree the coffee at starbucks isn't great, but I feel the coffee at dunkin and mcdonalds are both better than starbucks. I like black coffee though, and Starbucks drip or americano just isn't good - I see starbucks more as a desert place than a coffee place, and judged on that they're good. I think more people want sweet milky coffees, and that's fine. That plus the environment is a big pull of Starbucks. It's not my thing, but I get why people like it

EDIT Also, I'm pretty sure the better coffee at mcdonalds happened after starbucks, IIRC they put a lot of effort into improving their offering after starbucks exploded

The Starbucks near me doesn't even brew coffee any more. They switched to these automatic machines that "brew" a cup in about 15 seconds (ie. vending machine quality). Its undrinkable now. In future would only order espresso drinks or cold brew.

The SB blonde roast is a lot better than Dunkin or McDonalds, in my opinion.

agreed, but it's only ever brewed until like 11am because they've weirdly associated it with the morning

> In the US specialty coffee shops may be just as expensive or more expensive than Starbucks.

Coffee of, for, and by hipsters. ;O) More power to people who want to take 3 hours to make a cup of coffee like it's a Japanese tea ceremony.

The closing at 2-3 PM drives me nuts.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com