Espresso News and Reviews – TheShot.coffeeratings.com

Independent coffee shops complaining that Starbucks muscled in on their turf and waged unfair competitive practices are nothing new. Starbucks buying up the competition is nothing new. What is new today, however, is a class action lawsuit filed against Starbucks. It claims that, among other anti-trust practices, Starbucks signs exclusive lease agreements with property managers [...]

If you already thought two Starbucks on every corner was overkill, and if you thought their breakneck expansion diluted their quality like a packet of Kool-Aid dumped in a county reservoir, you ain’t seen nothing yet. At least according to Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz, who recently said, “[T]he saturation opportunity in the US is not [...]

This is an old story to those in Oregon (it was announced last week), but it’s also an all-too-familiar story across the country. Oregon’s Coffee People started in the late 1970s as a hippy-friendly mom & pop (Jim and Patty, where Jim is now a regional barista judge). It was ahead of its time — [...]

InsideBayArea.com, a Web entity representing a number of local newspapers including the Oakland Tribune and the Marin Independent Journal, published an article today on the growth dilemma facing Peet’s Coffee & Tea: Inside Bay Area – Coffee roaster pushes beyond its ‘Peetnik’ roots. (There’s a bit more detail in this article than in the related [...]

Giving Starbucks the Starbucks treatment? Unthinkable. Today’s Washington Post published an article on how Dunkin’ Donuts plans for coffee imperialism are now colliding with those of Starbucks: Big Fight Brews For Average Joe. With new Dunkin’ Donuts outlets opening next door to Starbucks, the Coffee Wars are getting more interesting all the time. Fight! Fight! [...]

Ten years ago in London, Starbucks was a complete no-name. Today London has more Starbucks than Manhattan Island, according to an article in today’s Scotland on Sunday: Scotland on Sunday – Business – Waking up to smell the coffee. Not too shabby for a traditional tea town. Point is that the rampant growth of the [...]

Today the San Mateo Daily Journal noted that San Carlos is cooling off on a proposal to scale back the number of coffee shops in their downtown: Coffee shop ban idea back on the burner – San Mateo Daily Journal. Of course, the measure was proposed in response to news of a second planned Starbucks [...]

In the August 7 issue of BusinessWeek, there’s an article titled “Basta With The Venti Frappuccinos.” According to this article, Andrea Illy, the head of Illycaffè, is out to show the Starbucks of this world how espresso should be done. They have started rolling out hundreds of licensed cafés under the brand name Espressamente. Espressawhat?, [...]

Teri Hope, owner of the Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company, was interviewed for today’s issue of the Metro about how her successful Palo Alto Roasting Company was shut down this year: News & Culture in Palo Alto, CA | Stanford Shopping Center. They may not have been the greatest local roaster in the Peninsula, but [...]

Today’s Washington Post published an article telling the tale of a small, independent coffee shop that succumbed to consumer preferences for big national chains: Quick and Easy Killed the Coffee Shop. The demise of Sirius Coffee in D.C. is a tale told all too often. But, despite the author’s point about the trap of consumer [...]