Starbucks reinvents coffee

Well, that's the understatement of the century. They already did that in the twentieth century. Starbucks became the brand name synonymous with elitism and fashionista coffee based beverages. It's all in the way it's presented, and good ol' Howard Schultz, who bought the company in 1987, did the unthinkable; he promoted a company that produced mediocre sugar based hot and cold beverages to the ultimate in pomposity and elitism. And all at 5000 to 6000 percent markup. Yeah the crown jewel of wet dreams for Wall Street capitalism, with the share price of Starbucks stock valued at over 600 times its earning potential. 

Only in America

So Starbucks has got a pretty well deserved big head. I mean really, they've done what no one else could do except the likes of Gates, Jobs, the Woz etc. So now Starbucks knowing full well that they have the Midas touch and that anything they do will turn to gold because, well, because they have that elitist brand mentality. Next on the list, instant coffee. Yeah, I know, it sucked in the past, and Starbucks tells us that they can make it so everyone will love the stuff. Because the Starbucks name will be on it.

In Augusta Georgia the company built a modern state of the art plant to make their new technological wonder, VIA instant coffee. At a cost of 178 million dollars, the facility can produce over 4,000 metric tons of instant coffee per year. And because of the modular design of the system, it can be expanded to increase production by another 2,000 metric tons per year. The new facility has 178 employees of which most are technical jobs. I mean they have to be, the process is proprietary and highly secret. I will tell you though that Starbucks did a fantastic job designing the facility. It's green throughout, highly modern energy saving and ultra ultra cool technologically. 

So, now they make their own instant coffee. It's termed VIA coffee. They used to contract it out. Now it's all their own stuff. How is it? Criminy, it's fucking instant coffee. I suppose that there are people out there that will pour in soy milk and spoons of fake sweetener and flavored syrup and drink the stuff. Because it's got that brand name on it, Starbucks. I don't know of a single person that drinks coffee, and I mean real coffee, black, no sugar, that ever buys their coffee at Starbucks. I'm pretty sure none will buy this stuff. 

But, I'm a realist. I understand that buying that cup with the weird logo on it and drinking frufru crap is what some people need to exist and feel superior to their coworkers or the other drivers on the clogged freeways each day. Brand name elitism, it makes the stock valuable.

Only in America.

Yep