Starbucks Coffee - new openings in Munich

that's not my point. when you're in a foreign country as a tourist, it can be overwhelming. you gravitate to what you know cause it's comforting and easy. that's why in madrid, i settled on a starbucks's cause i knew i would find non-smoking and a comfy seat to rest my feet (albeit the one on leostr. has no comfy seats). it's the same reason i went to the gap. i knew there i could find my size 8-short pants and they would fit!
it's easy for us "munichites" to chide tourists who crave their frappachino. they don't know better. we do.

I guess it varies with different people

Coffee-beer

A drink somewhere between coffee and beer could soon be on the menu. Nestec, part of the Nestlé empire in Switzerland, has filed patents in every major market round the world on a "fermented coffee beverage" that pours and foams like beer, but smells of strong coffee and packs a concentrated caffeine kick.

The beverage is made in a similar way to beer, but fine-tuned temperature control stops the formation of ethyl alcohol. So the new drink could go down well with people who want a long tall pick-me-up while driving.

Nestlé admits it was tricky to preserve the characteristic coffee smell in the production process. Coffee beans are roasted normally, and the chemicals containing the natural aroma collected in a cryogenic condenser, before being converted into coffee oil. The remains of the roast are then ground to powder, mixed with yeast and sucrose, and fermented for 4 hours at just below 22°C. At this temperature the yeast can still metabolise but does not generate alcohol.

The aroma oil is then mixed in with the liquid and nitrogen is injected to make it foam. Adding a touch of extra sugar also helps trap the aroma until the drink is poured, Nestlé claim.

Read coffee-beer patent, here.

Starbucks are now making films by the way. Be afraid, be very afraid.

The US coffee giant, which currently has 12,000 global outlets, sees half of the eventual 40,000 stores being in the US and the other half overseas.

How many little coffee shops that have been around for years, have closed down because of Starbucks...

Let's try and predict:
a.) where the next one will be, and
b.) how many they'll stop at in Munich!

I say Ostbahnhof, and 10.

I've lived here for 4.5 years and haven't noticed any coffee shop near the other Starbucks closing when Starbucks opened near them, or after Starbucks opened. It would be a trend which makes sense, but it's not always so in every single case.

No statistics to back me up so just a hunch from my experiences in London where whole High Streets have been taken over by these places - clearly a booming market.

I read online that Starbucks shareholders recently voted to purchase at least 50% of their coffee beans from organic/fair trade by 2010. They pay more for their beans, and pass on the difference to the punters - I think that's a good thing. Not sure the same could be said about smaller outfits.

Pay the coffee farmer a cent more the kilo, label your coffee fair trade and you can sell of every cup for 10c more

If that's your criteria for a "caffee" (come on, starbucks is McDonalds for people who are capable of reading and can't be considered a real "Kaffehaus") - fine!

@MM

If that's your criteria for a "caffee" (come on, starbucks is McDonalds for people who are capable of reading and can't be considered a real "Kaffehaus") - fine!