Assessment of Products and Services of Starbucks Coffee Essay Example

the coffee shop industry is in a current boom. Metro Manila is being swept by coffee-drinking epidemic, yuppies; young people are filling coffee places that have introduced previously unknown coffee blends from all over the world. This resurgence of coffee shops can perhaps be attributed to the growing popularity today of international coffee chains and franchisee like Starbucks.In 1997 when the first Starbucks opened in 6750 Ayala Avenue Makati operated by the Tantoco family then formed as Rustan Coffee Corporation.

Now Starbucks is known as a leading roaster, retailer, and marketer of specialty coffee in the Philippines. This study disccusess Review of Related Literature Coffee is hot and cool. No longer just a commodity and a cliche, coffee-based specialty drinks are achieving new glamour status as the beverage of choice among the young and the hip.Gourmet coffee is becoming more of an away-from-home phenomenon. While bean retailers and roaster retailers once dominated the sale of gourmet coffee, beverage bars are now outstripping them as the most important outlet for distribution of specialty coffee, according to figures from the Specialty Coffee Association of America.

Starbucks Coffee is into the coffee specialty beverage market, hoping to create a significant new channel of distribution for their product, while at the same time building brand identity to spur retail bean sales.The coffee bar trend, however, seems to be fuelled by more than just the desire to sell-and consume-better coffee. It also may be answering a lifestyle need. Increasingly, coffee bars are turning into cafes and coffees houses, where people can kick back by themselves, or relax with friends or business associates over a cup of coffee. “When people finally get a

good cup of coffee, they want something to go with it, and they want to be able to sit down and take time to enjoy it”.

More and more coffee bars are adding food, from sweet rolls to sandwiches.In their foodservice approach, most cafes are trying to walk a fine line short of becoming a full-fledged restaurant. The trick is to broaden appeal without stretching operations too thin. More chain operators will probably aim for a middle ground between the in-and-out coffee bar and the full-fledged coffee house. The type of food that the beverage retailers plan to add to their offerings is the key to these distinctions. The cafe is a place where someone can have a cup of coffee while reading newspaper, or talk to a friend, and then get on with it (Restaurant Business vol. 96, 1996).Metro Manila is currently being swept by a coffee-drinking epidemic, and yuppies and young people are filling coffee places that have introduced previously unknown coffee blends from all over the world. According to Norman Koplas in his book “A Cup of Coffee,” more than a third of the world’s people drink coffee today, and that probably includes us, although we are not on the radar screen as an important coffee producer despite the fact that many of us swear by the barako from Batangas. The following account is derived from the book of Koplas, who has written about food in the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune.

By the 16th century, coffee drinking was widespread in the Arab world. Coffeehouses became more popular than mosques, leading to their closure in Mecca, Cairo and Constantinople. Coffeehouses came

to Europe in the 17th century. In 1650, coffeehouses first opened in London, and according to Chris Rubin, a gastronomy writer, “thrived as centers of gossip and politics. ” They were known as “penny universities” because for the price of cup of coffee, one could sit and listen to the great discussions of the day.

This could have been the source of the great tradition handed down to us, incarnated by the kapihan, the origins of which, in the Philippines, began with the Escolta Walking Corp. at Botica Boie on the Escolta, moving later to Taza de Oro in Ermita, and much later to the Hotel Inter-Continental Manila coffee shop – the Club 365 presided by pundit Doroy Valencia. From England, coffee went to North America. In Italy, the first coffee house opened in 1645, giving rise to such famous cafes as Cafe Florian in Venice.Coffee took the high road into French society when coffee took Paris by storm and Persians were enjoying freshly brewed coffee. In Paris today you walk from your flat to a cafe for cafe au lait with croissant, and that’s what breakfast is about.

You can also take time sipping a demitasse of espresso in a cafe, without having to worry about being driven out by the garcon (waiter). The Turks brought coffee to Vienna during their siege in 1683. First coffee house opened where they introduced the method of filtering coffee, sweetening it, and adding a dash of milk.Milk is good match for coffee because lactose softens its bitterness. From France, coffee plants were smuggled to Martinique in the Caribbean by a French officer Plantations sprang in Brazil and Colombia, two

of the most important sources Arabica coffee in the world.

There are two main coffee species. Arabica grows on hillsides at high altitude. Robusta grows at lower altitudes. It is the predominant variety in the Philippines. At the beginning of the 20th century an American officer wrote that robusta grew well in Indang, Amadeo (near Tagaytay), and Silang.

ROASTING IS THE KEY QUALITY OF COFFEE

It might seem a little hard to conceive, but all the rich flavors of coffee depend mostly on two different types of beans - the Robusta and the Arabica. The varying flavors themselves, for the most part, are actually created during the roasting process. This is where a master roaster will take ordinary beans and make them extraordinary by enhancing their flavors during the cooking process. The skill of the roaster and the beans in question will result in the flavor of coffee a drinker desires.From the coffee plantation to the roasting stage, beans themselves go through several processes. They must, of course, first be harvested and then dried.

Beans that are dried, but are not roasted, can actually hold their full flavor for a very long time - up to two years in some cases. These beans are generally referred to as "green. " Once the roasting process is completed, the time clock begins ticking on the full-bodied flavor of the beans. It will begin to diminish, but generally not enough for anyone otherthan a serious connoisseur to notice.