The PROBLEM With Starbucks Coffee 

Yeah nah, luckily Starbucks failed miserably here in Australia, especially in Melbourne. They can’t compete with our amazing local coffee shops and cafes, not just price but also quality and experience. A massive win for the local business owners.

Starbucks is the only job I’ve ever worked at where I talk to a millionaire and a crackhead at the same time, all three of us being exploited by this corporation.

Starbucks has actually gotten so expensive it's cheaper to just go to the high-end local café two blocks from my house! Thanks Starbucks, if it wasn't for your outrageous prices I wouldn't have tried anything better!

Used to work at Starbucks back in the Philippines. On our first week, they taught us to reuse the used coffee grounds served that day (they're always thrown in their own separate trash bags) by leaving them out to dry overnight. Come the next day, morning shift would bring those grounds back in and use them as the base for frappes. They told us that we were saving the environment so that we wouldn't have to waste any new beans. I was pretty young then so I ate all that up and it wasn't until I worked at a specialty coffee shop did I realize how horrifying that actually is.

Starbucks doesn't sell coffee...they sell desserts masquerading as coffee.

Starbucks is the fast food of coffee. What really grinds my gears is the fact they are priced the same as a local coffee shop and act like they make high quality products

Starbucks failed terribly here in Slovenia. Part because we already got coffee shops literally everywhere, partially because our coffee culture is so different from american ones. Also the price of a Starbucks coffee was so high no one bothered when you could go to any coffee shop and get a coffee for 1-1.6€.

Hey I’ve been working at a Starbucks for 3yrs now. All I can say in honesty is in my store and my partners, we are people too! We are tired, overworked, understaffed and underpaid 🥲 at least at my store. I genuinely love my coworkers and making coffee and love my interactions with Customers. I DO BELIEVE OUR COFFEES AND FOOD ARE WAY OVERPRICED 💔😓

As an ex-Starbucks employee, the entirety of the company is all talk, no walk. They may switch over to more environmentally-friendly cups for a week, just to say that they did it, but they don't even pretend to care about that stuff behind the scenes. They like to brag that they made "the third place" and are gods amongst modern-day coffee shops but they don't care about their customers or workers even a tiny bit. It's all about numbers. I worked there for a little over a year and I have never felt more disrespected, humiliated, and disposable than when I was a Starbucks employee.

I would pretty much like an in-depth view of the "environmentally friendly" certifications since so many brands nowadays take advantage of eco-friendly products.

I worked for Starbucks at the time they started popping up on every corner, they had terrible practices like making employees work through their breaks and lunches while also trying to force people to stay past their shift. They don’t recycle they don’t do anything good for the world. It’s literally a shit ton of sugar and some coffee put in it.

As an ex barista, I gave up Starbucks recently due to their actions towards union busting, and cutting hours so badly that baristas are losing health insurance. Everything in this video makes me even more glad I made that decision.

I'm a barista at a small "third wave" specialty coffee company that works directly with the farms they get their beans from, and our menu is very limited, it's just coffee. Even then nearly every day people will come in and order a "venti white chocolate mocha", a "grande caramel macchiato", "a latte with 3 pumps vanilla", or frappuccino's, with so much confidence and only a glance to our menu. I have to constantly explain to customers that we are not Starbucks and don't have those drinks or sizes, and a Starbuck's macchiato is a latte, all of their drinks are a latte... There are multiple Starbucks within about a mile from my shop, but yes our coffee is better because we are constantly dialing in to taste and still use manual espresso machines; but once you put in all the sugar Starbucks' people expect, you can't tell the difference. This type of customer orders our Geisha heirloom-bean pour over just to flood it with milk and syrup, smh. Starbucks is ruining coffee because it's become the norm/ baseline people expect and it's making it harder for specialty coffee shops to be successful because they assume every coffee shop must have what Starbucks has. Plus, they usually make a face when they have their first sip because they can actually taste coffee in their drink, then ask for more syrup.. It's like going to every burger chain and ordering a Big Mac because McDonald's has it then getting upset when they suggest something of higher quality.

I’ve always thought Starbucks coffee tasted burnt and thus avoided it. Later I watched an interview where the owners admitted to accidentally over roasting their coffee and liking the flavor. So my suspicions were confirmed saving me enormous amounts of time and money.

I worked for years at a different coffee shop, and daily had to explain to customers that Starbucks' "caramel macchiato" is actually a latte, and that the closest drink would be a caramel latte. They'd still call it a caramel macchiato the next day. And if they insisted they wanted a macchiato, we'd make a real one, which is something completely different. Whyyy Starbucks...

Almost dropped my cup of coffee from my Finnish hands when he just casually roasts us for our coffee intake 😹☕☕☕

I work there please stop coming lmao

I worked for starbucks and thought the CAFE model I was forced to learn about seemed fishy to begin with. Making their own certification of ethicality and giving themselves basically the perfect score year after year

coming to this a little late but, I worked at one of probably the busiest starbucks in Canada for 2 months and it was hell. The shop brought in an average of 70k per day. we as the workers saw no extra benefits despite the insane stress of the job. the store was also out of date and very small, we only had 2 espresso machines and 1 cold bar station, it was also in a mall so most of our customers were not regulars. this meant that there was frequently a long wait on drinks and very little opportunity to connect with its customers in any way. the thing that made me quit was the fact that we got these like customer satisfaction reports every week that were based on reviews and every week we would score low because it was impossible to make drinks any faster than we were or make “more connections”. But management kept telling us and pressuring us to keep trying to get our score up and not only make 4 drinks at a time but chat with people while we did it. it became so exhausting trying to do the emotional and physical labour of that job. that along with the fact that we saw none of the reward of having our store be that busy and got little to no tips it was simply not worth it.

I got my own espresso machine and started buying beans freshly roasted from a local place. One of my best investments ever. Not only is the coffee crazy good but i dont need any sugar in it and its WAY cheaper in the long run

Australian coffee culture is completely different. Starbucks hasn't caught on here, and because of waves of Italian immigrants in the 50s and 60s, we have a unique coffee culture that revolves around espresso coffee and relies a lot on individual suppliers! One of my favourite coffee places has a direct connection with a coffee farm in Colombia, and they roast it in house! I've always thought it was interesting how Starbucks and Dunkin' are such popular coffee sellers in North America, Australia couldn't be more different.

I worked at Starbucks for three years and they wouldn't tell people when they got exposed to COVID at work so they wouldn't have to self-isolate and close the store/find coverage. They threw food away instead of donating it, while still claiming they were. I packed up leftover food and brought it to hospitals to feed health care workers during the pandemic and was told I could get disciplined or even fired for it.

I worked for a small mom and pop coffee/bakery that served Caravan coffee. And yes, the single origin coffee beans were very "tea-like," in that they came in very diverse flavor profiles. One came through our shop that, when we brewed it right, tasted like blueberries. But those were specialty options, while we kept regular coffee and lattes and frappes on hand.

My first sip of fancy "coffee" ...the frappe was from Starbucks. I will never forget the taste and knowing it was expensive (RM10++ 20 years ago in Malaysia). It was mind blowing at that time haha. Now I haven't had one in good 8 years at least. I prefer local barista coffee...or even better make it myself at home using locally roasted beans. Starbucks isn't selling good coffee I agree.

I went on a coffee tour in Colombia and the owner of the farm and coffee shop was saying that they'd get paid something like 500 USD for so much coffee and it'd be exported and resold for something like 2000 USD. The growers are paid horribly for the raw product but the roster are paid really well for roasting that raw product. That now roaster coffee would still about double in profits once sold as a drink

As a Finn I feel slightly attacked, but let me tell you. Not one of my 8 cups come from Starbucks!

I've legitimately considered building a greenhouse in my basement and growing my own coffee because it got so complicated researching affordable ethical sources for my beans.

There was a point missing, (loved the entire video), and that is: No matter what city you are in around the world, you can always know Starbucks will taste the same. My latte here in Bahrain, tastes the same as the one I had in Tokyo, which didn’t differ from the one I drank in Seattle. Yes there are better choices, once you find them, but initially when needing a fix, Starbucks will remain even keeled.

I currently work at Starbucks, it’s by far not the worst job I’ve ever had, I’m lucky that I have a decent store manager, but there’s a lot with the company that needs to be fixed.

One issue with the video at 1:40 "Starbucks pretty much invented that third-place coffee experience. Somewhere between home and work". The original coffee houses in Austria (thinking specifically about the western world here) were known as Penny Universities because you could learn so much from conversing from artists/scientists etc who would gather there for a couple of hours over coffee. Starbucks may have been influential in bringing back this concept, but they definitely didn't invent it.

I think the Starbucks experience varies widely by geography. In China for example, Starbucks used to be seen as a huge premium brand and a status symbol, people wanted to be seen carrying a Starbucks coffee cup around. Given their strong brand, it's unsurprising to see them dominate the Chinese market over the last 20 years. Recently however, brutal competition from new and up and coming coffee chains like Luckin Coffee and Manner coffee is severely disrupting Starbucks' prospects in China. Chinese consumers are gravitating towards Luckin for a variety of reasons.

Starbucks also has the some of the worst tasting coffee I've ever had--literally on par with gas station or Folgers. If I desperately wanted a cup of coffee and my only options were Starbucks and McDonald's, I'd for sure go for McDonald's.

As a 5 year+ xtarbucks "Coffee Master" (basically, they train you to be super 'knowlegable' of their coffee), I've gotten the impression over the last ~3 years (before COVID, and then accelerating during), the company has just stopped caring about us, and are banking on the good will and experiences they built up during the previous 20 years. They recently made us watch an hour long video the can basically be summerized as "we're sorry we didn't do better, you're awesome and deserve better, here's a portable foam blender to show how much we appreciate-- I mean understand you."

my buddy grew up in guatemala, he was picking coffee beans when he was 7 years old, instead of going to school. But he still likes to drink coffee with me. and i asked him and he told me he was glad he had a place to work because that way he and his family got to eat

This was excellent reporting and information. You should MOST definitely make a follow up video on these labels because consumers lack awreness and time. A video informing those of what the labels actually mean can help get the word out to inform consumers on what they should actually purchase that aligns with their values. Of course, some may find it boring and it could not be worth the views/ad revenue but that's just my 2 cents. Great work! Each video has become better and better

I just love their Green Tea and it is absolutely devastating they bought off Teavana thus limiting the variety of teas.

i literally just quit starbucks last night. gave them 0 notice after being gossiped about by not my fellow baristas, but by my manager and supervisors. only ever called in sick once, too. they're a dogshit company with dogshit coffee, support your local coffee shops

I went to Starbucks when it first came to Australia. I was excited to see how good it was because I’d seen Americans raving about it. When I asked what beans & roasts they offered, I was surprised when told me they only had one blend, all their coffee was made from the same beans. The only choice I had that was different from convenience store coffee was the addition of flavoured syrup. I don’t take sugar, so didn’t want syrup. The latte was no better than lattes at service stations. I’ve never been back. In Australia, coffee shops offer different beans, roasts etc, no wonder Starbucks didn’t do well here.

I hope that more people come to appreciate the pure, syrupy flavor that specialty coffee offers. The classic "coffee" taste that everyone has come to know is the result of impurity and degradation of quality (Usually burning and staling). Ordering coffee from a local coffee shop might open your eyes a little bit. But nothing will change your mind on the quality of coffee more than brewing it yourself. You can brew exquisite coffee at home for a lower price than ANYTHING Starbucks offers.

During the pandemic we decided to venture out and try small specialty coffee shops and roasters within up to an hour away instead of going to Starbucks. We found that 1. Prices are similar 2. The quality of coffee was usually MUCH better than Starbucks 3. There are a lot of options out there 4. We “felt good” about supporting small businesses 5. Starbucks is a last resort and we could survive without it. I ended up buying my own espresso machine during the pandemic which also was fun to try their in house espresso and if I liked it, buy a bag of coffee from that roaster which usually practices fair trade and have good relationships with their coffee bean suppliers. Given that Starbucks has basically been anti-Union as more and more stores have started to become unionized and anecdotally hearing lots of bad stories from employees, I’m glad it’s being acknowledged that maybe we shouldn’t go there? It certainly has a place but if I could choose between the specialty roaster or Starbucks, I’ll always go with the specialty small roaster / mom and pop shop. Beyond their business ethics, the coffee is just so bad that you need to drown it with cream and sugar which is why most their drinks are so high in calories unless you enjoy ashtray coffee. I implore many to buy coffee directly from the roaster and spend a little to buy a French press and a grinder or whatever brew methodology as you’ll get a much better tasting cup and support a small business and farmer in another country who will benefit much more than a multibillion dollar corporation.

"Tea-like" means a lot of the natural flavours of the coffee, which the producers worked so hard to farm, are brought out rather than bombed out by the roast. It's the highest compliment I've heard for a coffee I think

The moment Starbucks charged me almost $7 for a small (short) cup of coffee was the moment I was done with them. It's just no longer affordable. I'm shifting focus to smaller businesses who offer the same product-at a much lower price. They need support too..

Used to work at a 3rd wave coffee company and we had blends designed for those who want an old fashioned coffee flavor. I notice that most of the small and medium sized roasters all have at least one product like that. Same high quality beans and careful roasting but a blend of Central American coffees that perform best in a drip, percolator, or pour over method. (Brew method changes the flavor profile just enough to notice.)

DEFINITELY would love to learn more about the certifications for each thing! Your content is great and we learn so much every time you release a vid. Please make that certification vid

"In fact, Starbucks very intentionally avoids marketing the coffee flavour itself" - because, I mean, obviously it's not like their coffee tastes any good. It never ceases to amaze me that Starbucks is so big and so successful, without caring even a little bit about the taste of their coffee. Which is bad.

In a British TV Interview about Starbuck's plans to invade Europe with it's chain, I had to laugh at Howard Schultz when he boasted that he was going to teach the Europeans how to make coffee, considering that Vienna coffee culture has been around a long time. I resolved then to never have one of their coffee. You find mostly tourist and some younger locals there, but an overwhelming majority enjoy the real coffee culture. My daughter and I were in London when I had one of their hot chocolates which paled in comparison to Pizza Hut's. Having lived in Europe for 30 years, I'll take a Vienesse coffee anytime! By the way coffee houses began in the 1600s in Europe!

I grew up in America during the 80s and first half of the 90s, and through most of my growing up, coffee shops were not a thing in most of America. I remember reading about how popular coffee shops were in Europe in middle school in the late 80s, but they didn't start popping up in America until towards the end of my high school life around 1993. And I don't think I personally went to a coffee shop like Starbucks until 1995 or probably 1996. Going out for coffee wasn't part of the culture in America, people thought, why go out for coffee when you can just make some Folgers or Maxwell house at home? If you can't remember the American world before say 1997-1999 or so when it became firmly entrenched in American life like now, you won't get it.

What cracks me up is that Starbucks adopted sippy cup lids to reduce plastic straw use but when you order egg bites they put plastic utensils in the package unless you specifically tell them not to.

Are we surprised about the CAFE certification given the way that Starbucks has dealt with unionization?

i worked at starbucks for almost 4 years from 2013-2017, and honestly... it was a really stressful job lol. if you get a particularly bad manager (like the one that made me quit), they're basically slaves to corporate and bend over backwards to make them super happy. its all about the numbers and pleasing the higher ups (who would come in and make totally not store-sustainable changes, like ignoring the large amount of theft of our merchandise and putting huge amounts of it right near the entrance instead of just 1-2 each, etc) they were constantly on us trying to make sure we were talking and 'connecting' with our customers. the point of starbucks is a lot around the experience, as you said. that wasn't the worst but if someone clearly didn't want to talk (they were on their phone clearly trying to not chat, or in a group and chatting with their friends and ignoring the baristas) we would often get in trouble for not trying to engage them in conversation. i feel a lot like the people who worked in higher up positions cared only about the vibe we gave and not the actual people working there. towards the end of my time with them, i (think) i needed 20 hours a week to get their benefits and i would always get 19. every week. even when i asked for more. corporate didnt want too many people to have the benefits, so they kept it under the minimum hours required. (their benefits are really awesome!!! too bad more than half the people at our store never got them!!!) at one of my friends locations, she was one of 3 people who frequently got 8 (+!!!!!) hour shifts and basically struggled from short staffing all the time. new people were hired on and barely given hours so they were slower (since when are you supposed to practice if you're never there??) i will say i was surprised they weren't with fair trade anymore... or for like... the entire time i worked for them. since i started working for them in 2013, which is apparently when it ended??!? but when we were trained, they definitely said that it was fairtrade, and definitely talked a lot about how they pay their farmers etc etc (it's been a while since i was trained though, so maybe that's changed?). tbh i dont really drink or like coffee and i could never stand the smell of the pike (medium roast) since it reminds me of cigarettes but they definitely tried to make sure we knew where any new coffees were from and the flavour notes and we would do tastings of the coffee and stuff. i cant say whether it was good since i have only ever tasted one coffee ever there i even liked, and i only ever saw it in rotation one time (i totally forget the name i'm sorry). i feel a bit lied to by the company since i just assumed the stores i ended up in had a manager at the end i couldnt' deal with, but its weird to see that its actually potentially a problem with the whole company. obviously i was suspicious since they've been going through the whole unionization thing and what-not, but i try not to be quick about just putting it in the 'bad company' side just because of my one experience. it wasn't the worst job i ever had, and i did like meeting the people there... but people are who you leave and in the end, the management and the coworkers (who were overly competitive imo?!?) were just too much for me. also as a tea drinker, i was really angry when they swapped from tazo to teavana tea. like. i'm sorry. i know its a coffee company. both the tea brands are big brands, but.. yikes. the lack of actually GOOD ingredients in teavana is YIKES, it's super watered down/less strong and it was very disturbing to me at the time especially since some people were saying there were a lot of pesticides in it etc etc etc . nobody seems to rly talk about the other aspects of starbucks past the coffee and the sourcing (which are obviously important too!) but like, they have a ton of food which just gets shipped in from (???) somewhere, and they partnered with (or own, maybe?) a tea brand that i find kind of..... eh. i haven't looked into it, but i think its kind of worth mentioning on the off chance someone is reading this comment and goes 'wait a minute...' and thinks about that too. earl grey tea lattes/london fogs and FOOD especially were a large part of sales.

Here in Spain we have cafes all over the place. You can sit and enjoy a good coffee for 1.20€ and are not chased away as soon as you finish.

For political reason, i refuse to ever buy a cup of starbucks cofffee.

Specialty coffee roaster here! James Hoffman made a fantastic video on the differences between the different labels, I'd check it out. An important thing to note: lots of specialty coffee is organic, generally ethical trade but since the label itself is so expensive, most specialty roasters cannot afford the label, nor can the farmers, and so they opt out of getting the label but still buy organic coffee at an ethical price. Basically: ethics over labels! There are a LOT of politics around labels: "fair trade" , "direct trade", "ethical trade" etc that play into the image and ethics of the coffee we consume. Like clothing, it can be hard to trace one's coffee origin and I often avoid these labels as they are more for show. The best is to buy single origin coffee by roasters who directly buy from the farmers themselves or through B Certified Corporation Green buyers (yes, they exist). A final detailed note: the whole "thirdwave coffee shops are snobs" is a very damaging caricature of the industry. Most of us specialty coffee shops (I roast and run a shop) cannot stand the snobby, pretentious attitude and we are quite welcoming and warm. The "hipsters" make up a small % of the community and industry folk call out that snobbery (it's a big movement). It's still a very "bro" and male dominated field, however, which needs to change drastically. I think if you'd like to encourage people to go to local coffee shops, please don't caricature the industry: we are warm, passionate, and want to make the best experience for clients: we are not all men clad in tattoos and black beanies (woman here!).

I have been over joyed to see that it's actually getting hard to find a Starbucks in my city. So many closed down. In the mean time at least in my local area independent coffee shops are thriving and new ones are opening. Might just be my hood but I can think of 10 coffee shops within 20 min walk of me that are not a chain or franchise.

Worked for Starbucks for 8 years and can confirm, everything you’ve mentioned in this video is accurate.

what a scam. I dread when the family wants to hang out at Starbucks. Not only is the coffee ridiculously expensive, it is also bland, and weak while the rest of the family gorges on unhealthy frappes

As critical as I am with Starbucks, and being myself an avid third-wave coffee drinker, we have to acknowledge that thanks to Starbucks, we have all this quality obsessed cafes in every city now. They groomed an army of well trained baristas that would end up opening their own cafes, rediscovered the artesan high quality Marzocco machines which, when substituted by the current ones found their way to the second hand market igniting the first flame of the speciality coffee scene and, of course, showed consumers that more could be asked from their everyday coffee in terms of quality and experience. There wouldnt be any ethically grown high quality speciality coffee without the bucks. Now Starbucks seem to be somehow transitioning to speciality at least in some of their coffee shops, with filter devices and such. The quality of their coffee remains as their biggest weakness. Also, there is no Arabica farm in the world that could provide Starbucks with enough beans to fuel their machine. Robusra is more future proofed, better equipped to deal with the ailments of climate change. There have been some talk on high quality robusta beans and new brewing methods more adapted to this variety. I would like to see Starbucks diverti g some millions to R&D new cofee species (there are hundreds, of which we just consume two: Arabica and Robusta.

I hated working for Starbucks, I actually really enjoy making coffee but our options were pretty terrible compared to stuff I could make at home. The espresso beans just feel way too sour and burnt tasting.

"Coffee is an incredibly *dramatic* plant", I can just about imagine a coffee plant having an existential crisis like Larry David's character in Whatever Works

The main problem with Starbucks is that they spend all this money and go to all this trouble to make a great cup of coffee, then let the employees choose the music, which is always TOO loud and completely ruins the conversation you're trying to have with the person across the table from you. The sound of people talking and the noise of the beans grinding and the banging of the expresso portafillers against the waste baskets is enough noise. Real Italian coffee shops know they don't need "background" music to fill the void. The coffee and the conversation do that. Such a huge foolish mistake - we don't need background music, which is more often that not intrusive and very much in the foreground.

My brother used to have a bumper sticker that said "Friends don't let friends drink Starbucks" always loved that lol

I live in Italy and i must say that Starbucks has really bad coffee, their espresso sucks most times and their americano is average. I'm not saying "here in Italy we make coffee better blah blah", we have shitty bars and coffee shops too, it's just that i never had an espresso from Starbucks that actually tasted good. BUT the thing is Starbucks shops are just convenient. I travel for work and sometimes i find myself at the airport in the middle of the night and i need to wait hours for my flight, and Starbucks shop is always there, i can just get an espresso and sit there for hours, working on my laptop while i charge it and maybe also charge my phone at the electrical socket. in that case, coffee quality is just not important for me.

Personally I love Starbucks. My husband and I go to starbucks every weekend to have coffee, work on on our laptops etc... I always order a tall Pike and get free refills the whole time I'm there. Baristas and service is always great, stores are clean. I mean if you are going there to get a mocha or something then it's not good for you. Drinking coffee with half and half isn't bad for you. I worked there for over three years as a Barista and as an employee they treated me well. I was going to college and always were flexible scheduling me around my class schedule. I got a lb of coffee a week, free drinks on shirt and a free food item on shift. I had a good experience working there and felt respected.

I've had experience 3 different coffee shops, one of which is a Starbucks. I hate Starbucks ethically, morally, and personally, but its the job I'll be staying at through uni. My experience with third wave was horrible - I loved the coffee, but I was looked down upon so much by the employer for not making my whole life about learning everything there is to know about coffee and not being able to afford speciality coffee at home AS A FULL TIME STUDENT. He would make me cry, and despite my desire to work for a better company, ultimately I remained at starbucks as I couldn't emotionally handle the pressure of third wave pretentiousness.

I’m working at Starbucks to work my way through college in NYC. It is extremely miserable as you can expect some days. I’ve been looking into working at local coffee shops recently because I’m tired of this company even though I only viewed it as a job. The local coffee shop culture here is very intense and it’s been like that for at least 15 years. Starbucks still has a stronghold in the city but it still competes vastly with simple cafes nearby that the locals have been going to for years.

I'm in Austin. We had a thriving independent, local, coffee shop hangout culture long before Starbucks ever invaded. In went hand in hand with the college town vibe that I loved, but died off as the corporate culture invaded and brought their disgusting Starbuck's coffee with them.

Here's the thing though: The sustainably sourced local 'tea like' coffee shops are either slightly cheaper or similarly priced to Starbucks. At the town I went to for college, the local fair trade folks could whip up a really good cappuccino for $2.99. Starbucks? $3.25. Also, minor point, but the quality of the cappuccino is also usually a lot better at the local shop. The pour-overs are a bit cheaper at the bucks, but the quality is so much better at the smaller coffee shop because that sort of thing what most of their customers want (not a venti, triple caramel frappuccino) Unless you want your 750 calorie coffee flavored smoothie on the regular, I would recommend going to one of these local shops purely for cost.

Your work is impeccable, I'm hoping that you cover other companies as well, thank you!

I had been a “partner” as they call it for 4 years and I just left this June because I had enough of being dragged around in circles being led on about my development to promote. It was a lot of talk about “missions and values” but it never mattered that I was the only “Coffee Master” at my store or any store in my area for that matter. I work at a family owned specialty coffee shop now and wow its been a trip unlearning the corporate-ness thats been drilled into me. The amount of abuse we are supposed to put up with at Starbucks for the sake of a “third place” is stomach churning. I’m so glad i left. People are always happier when they leave.

I live in Guatemala and work with small coffee producers doing tours and showing visitors the real face behind their cup. Its well known which farms Starbucks get their coffee from, those farms typically work with a "slavery" kind of system and use children's to get the work done faster. Its funny to see how people that work at Starbucks complain about the "bad environment" or how they feel disrespected. When you see the whole coffee process, the barista is just the last person in a huge chain, and they tend to be the loudest ones. People complain about "hipster coffeeshops" because they are too expensive. Well, guess what? They need to be expensive to give farmers what they deserve, not what a corporation decide its best for them. You are not paying for a good cup of coffee when you go to Starbucks, you are paying for the brand and the conviniance that you will find one in each corner. Its the McDonalds of the coffee industry.

I for one would totally appreciate a detailed video for referencing all of the various standards, certifications, what they mean and how they are kept honest and ethical yes!

Amen! The coffee all tastes the same - burnt.

Hi Levi and team! RU-vid's coffee guru James Hoffman actually made a pretty extensive video about many of the different certifications for coffee. You could check it out and link to it. Or you could comment on what he presented with your own thoughts.

I grew up in Seattle, so I grew up going to Starbucks. One of the things I’ve noticed about companies is that they always promote super “progressive” trends but with our capitalist system, they all default to making profits. I feel like the quote, “You either die a hero, or see yourself become a villain,” is quite applicable when talking about Starbucks

This is why I "on the go" get my coffee from 7-Eleven, of all places. The quality of 7-Eleven coffee has dramatically improved in the last 20 years, and at least the 7-Elevens in my area actually serve a decent cup of coffee.

As a "coffee hipster" I really appreciate this video. And yes, traceability is very important for Specialty Coffee.

A wise person once explained coffee and roasting to me as analogous to cooking a steak. The more well done you cook a steak, the less it tastes like the cut of beef you're preparing and more like your preparation method. Ribeye and eye round slowly become indistinguishable. The same is true of coffee. When people think of "traditional" coffee, the smell and flavor they're associating it with is the dark roast and not the coffee. Coffee's a cherry seed, it tastes like fruit!

All of the Starbucks near me in Michigan unionized together. The company had a bit of a hissy-fit and then raised the wages on stores nearby that had not unionized yet by a small, insignificant amount for spite.

I found your channel recently and everything you say is completely accurate. Your insight, which you keep to a limited extent, also grants important information about this. Rock on Future Proof!

Hi Guys, great vid as always! Actually the "tea like" style of brewing coffee is what got me into coffee. Honestly I love the taste of chemex or aeropress because its not so dense and bitter as espresso and the taste is not killed by a bunch of milk and sugar like lattes or cappuccinos. Also buying a chemex or aeropress is much cheeper than buying a coffee machine and tastes much better than instant coffee.

I lovvve local coffee. I'm Canadian and to me there are 4 main coffee drinkers. 1) Timmies peeps. These are people who do not GIVE A SHIT about coffee. They just are addicted and want caffeine. They're the ones buying triple triples (vomit). 2) Starbucks types. Pretentious sometimes, but want better coffee, and better atmosphere that's not the blue collar, often literally dirty and unhappy vibe of Timmies. 3) Good coffee seekers. That's me, we often go to local places and really enjoy paying Starbucks prices but for actually good coffee. And then 4) The coffee snobs. I have a buddy who is a welder (doesn't fit the Timmies stereotype at all) and carries around a grinder, an aeropress, and a bag of beans with him everywhere, plus something to boil water in. He brings all of this even when he's backpacking camping and when he goes to other countries. He loves good coffee. I always love when he makes me coffee. But yea, fair trade is important, but I also unfortunately don't think people care enough. Like with child labour for clothes and such, people just keep buying the clothes, often because it's the only option. I only have access to local coffee shops because I live in an urban area. My old hometown in the suburbs had Timmies and Starbs, that's it. So Starbs it was...

My late uncle sort of gave me a scare when I was in my late teens. He told me that the instant coffee blends packed in-house and sold by high-end coffee shops have extra additives like coconut husk ash to bulk up the product and save costs. Ever since then I avoided those and decided to make my own coffee at home. It's mostly the freeze-dried stuff and local brands as I'm not much of a serious coffee drinker.

Hey Levi!!! Can you PLEASE do a video about what envoirementally friendly certifications to look for when purchasing coffee, tea, fruits, etc. and what they mean/why we should look for them/which ones are reliable??? Thanks ❤ ❤

I was a Barista at local coffee shops through out my college years. And I must say, single origin light roasted 'floral/fruity' coffee is not for everyone. I personally hate it, but that doesn't mean ethically grown DARK roasted coffee is out of reach! I love my flavored coffee and will often use a coffee subscription at home, with darker chocolate tones & sugar/cream to taste. Not all ethical coffee has to be bright and tea like!

I worked as a manager for Starby’s in the later side of the ‘90s, when they first began to really expand nationally, and they were very, very genuinely (at least it seemed) focused on treating their employees above the standard. their coffee was always unethically sourced and terribly over-roasted to hide low quality green, though.

Besides being a horribly evil mega corporation with basically a monopoly, one of the things I find most upsetting is their consistent efforts at making people believe they actually serve coffee. So many people come into the coffee shops I've worked at expecting it to be like Sbux and are so deluded into thinking that's the height of the coffee experience that they can't even recognize the quality of the product on offer. How many times people have come in and asked about our lovely single origins that we source directly from growers and roast ourselves only asking to drown it in CARAMEL and milk makes me CRY.

Would definitely appreciate a video about food certifications! Thanks for your research work 👍🏼

Yes, I'm wondering what's the difference between Fair trade and rainforest Alliance. Also could/would you do a similar video about tea? I never drink coffee and am curious if there are similar ethical issues with tea growing, harvesting, and marketing. Thank you

Id love a deep dive into the teas offered at Starbucks. I was talking to a barista the other day about how their menu has changed so much in the past 10 years to include so many non-coffee drinks.

Starbucks never fails to disappoint me with their tasteless coffee. Swe is second after Fin when it comes to drinking coffee.

So glad i discovered this channel, thanks!

Is the certification video done yet? I think it would be super interesting and necessary, frankly. Thank you

I buy 12 ounces of single origin beans every 2 weeks. Spend about 10 minutes every morning brewing 2 cups. The cost comes out to about $1.60. Much cheaper and better tasting than a grande pikes place!

I think here In Norway, Starbucks is mostly visited by younger people specifically because their coffees don’t really taste like coffee with all the stuff they can add to it 😝 Older Norwegians are all about the very very black coffee no sugar 😎☕️ Norway is in second place of world wide coffee consumers after Finland, and Iceland is third. Guess we need the caffeine to keep us awake during the dark hours of northern winter 😂 The biggest coffee shop chain in Norway is Espresso House which comes from Sweden 😝 Scandi’s love their coffee 🤷‍♀️

I went back to Vancouver expecting lines at Tim Horton's but downtown Vancouver, just like the financial core of DT L.A has them almost at every 3 blocks. The canadian shops such as Blenz and Tim Horton's are almost like ghosts towns. Starbucks was always packed and had a happy vibe. I don't even go to SB in L.A. as I prefer Coffee Bean. Just an observation..

I actually like Starbucks coffee, as coffee. I'm talking just coffee here. I never, ever get drinks at a Starbucks store; most of their "specialty" drinks are absolutely disgusting sugary swill, and also stupidly expensive. However, I do buy their beans, take them home, grind them, and make my coffee in my kitchen with an old-fashioned pour-over cone. Their Sumatra roast is actually one of my favorite coffees anywhere.

I would love more "quick" ways to avoid green washing. I have had good luck looking for B Corps to get many items, but any more guidance on best ways to weed out the marketing ploys from actual certification would be awesome!

Yeah, Starbucks is definitely an occasional treat; I couldn't imagine going there every single day, even if I drank actual coffee (that Caramel Brulee Latte, though... I must work out a dupe :p), the financial commitment is insane

I sometimes get coffee at a Starbucks which is in a Target store. But lately the quality has become very erratic. Some days the coffee is watery. Other days it's okay. The last one I got was lukewarm (not hot) and filled with coffee grounds. Do these guys receive any training on how to brew coffee?

Their non-house blends are not terrible. But pretty much anything I make at home (aeropress OR regular coffee maker) outshines them easily. Even some Folgers if made the right way knocks the socks off Pike most of the time.