Talking about Starbucks got me thinking about just how much they charge for their coffee. Here's the way I figure. Let's just say a can of regular coffee, about 3lbs, costs $5. Now this is all guess work and estimation, but I think it's roughly correct. The can we have makes about 240 servings and is less than 3lbs. 250 cups at $5 comes to $0.02 per cup. At Starbucks I think you can get the coffee of the day for $1.70... I think. That's a sample of their 'high quality' coffee, which is supposed to change daily. We'll go with that for now. This is the United States, so we have to take into consideration that a 'cup' at Starbucks is going to be much larger than a 'serving' out of a can of grocery store automatic drip coffee. We'll double it. So at home you can brew a Starbucks serving of coffee for $0.04, for a difference of roughly $1.65. Most people go to Starbucks for the fancy stuff though, and pay around $3 I believe for a regular, or 'grande' size cup of whatever it is they drink. Granted it would cost more to make this at home, but the difference is astronomical if you think about it.

Of course Starbucks needs to charge this much for their offerings because the employees are compensated well. Still, you think if the majority of people that patronize Starbucks had to watch their finances more closely they would take into consideration that the high price of the beverages benifits the employees' well being? Not only 'no', but 'fuck' no! When it comes right down to it, people don't give two shits about the coffee grinders behind the counters of America's favorite cappuccino vender.

Just looking at the website, here's what they have to say about the bean buying process...

The coffee we buy is truly special, spectacular coffee. The coffee buying team evaluates over one thousand "offer samples" each year. The evaluation process includes roasting small batches of coffee and tasting these batches in a process called "cupping." Only a very few of these sampled coffees make it into our warehouses. Starbucks coffee buyers spend approximately 18 weeks per year traveling to countries of origin. The purpose of these travels is not to directly buy coffee. The goal is to continue to learn about coffee and to strengthen relationships with growers and suppliers. These relationships are critical to our future success - they solidify our role as champions of quality and progress at every level of the coffee business. It is because of these relationships that Starbucks gets the first pick of the best crops worldwide.

I'd like to see on their website the true story about how the person lives that actually picks the beans. I'd be willing to bet the story is similar to the American migrant worker's story.