Starbucks: Worth It?

Starbucks says they are going to start putting religious quotes on cups. The very first one will say, 'Jesus! This cup is expensive!'
-Conan O'Brien

'Coffee shouldn't be this expensive'


And that's how consumers feel. $3, $4, $5 for a cup of coffee? Didn't caffeine just make the "bare necessities" list a couple of years back? As the name goes more Italian, the prices go insane. Machiato, Misto, Frappuccino, just watch your dollars fly out of your pocket. With all that money you take for coffee, might as well pay your employees, but good ol' Starbucks keeps it real by paying Barristas minimum wage.

'Relax, it's an image thing.....'

Nevertheless, I find the urge almost everyday to go and repeat the magical words, "Grande, Iced Caffe Mocha, please".

So why, when we wouldn't even want to spare change [wait, I do] to the homeless guy on the corner, would we invest in a cup of coffee every time we feel the need?

Coffee isn't bragged about health-wise. Pregnant women are advised to limit their drinking, best to stop. Children are to stay away from caffeine. I remember when they said that coffee is for you only after you've reached the age where you live in a dorm, attend class after class, and have piles of papers to do.

Take this as an example: Starbucks is increasing in bookstores. You know the drill, you go to Barnes&Noble to get your weekly literal education and you go thirsty. You take your book to Starbucks [just footsteps away] and you enjoy a nice hot cup of coffee. Now you need to be entertained. You go to the magazine section now, pick up People, Us Weekly, Vogue, and you open it and wahlaa!, your idol is on the page, caught by a pap, holding a Starbucks. Now don't you feel a sense of achievement? This, plus perhaps you dress or talk like them and watch all of their movies and listen to all of their tracks, is you guys's bond. Think about that. A tall cup of Starbucks coffee brings you and the celebrity together. And probably the closest you'll ever get to fame.

'Even coffee needs to be pretty, a make-over now and then'

Starbucks takes care of your needs. With dogs [what happened to Tinkerbell?] and Babies coming into the fashion scene, coffee need be chic.

Other than the free celebrity endorsements they recieve, Starbucks is stepping coffee up a notch.

Starbucks signature cups, the chic-ness of their names, the cup-holders, the flashy logo, the wisdom on their cups, the Starbucks products, the mugs, the glasses, the chocolates, the cakes, the 'other drinks', the sandwichs [and other food] the liquors, the ice cream, the philosophy that coffee and jazz should elope and they did and boy are they the couple. Next up, is going to be clothing. Debuting in the Paris Fashion Week.

You aren't paying for coffee, you are paying for an image. You are paying for all of the above. All of the glitter and tinsel that makes Starbucks stand out.

Starbucks is no longer a coffee-house, it's a lifestyle.