Starbucks Libertarian

I read this article last week off a Pajamas Link. Employment demands and the Fukuyama post crowded it out but it has stuck in my mind.

So I entered the title "starbucks libertarian" into Yahoo search and got 224,000 hits, with the story I wanted represented four times in the top five. I have a lot of liberal friends who will not set foot in a Starbucks. Fine, I'll go with them to an independent place (we're blessed in Boulder and Lafayette with several good ones). But I always say -- or want to say -- that big green created the market and awareness.

Jacob Grier backs this up with Statistics and puts the "Starbucks drives out independents" meme to bed. The piece is even-handed as Grier voices many serious objections to Starbucks's style and quality.

Dave and I come from often opposed ends of the political spectrum. He runs a "red meat" progressive weblog, while I'm loosely affiliated with the libertarian public policy scene in Washington, DC. But we're united by our desire to cross ideological boundaries and by our love for great coffee. So when Dave invited me to write a guest post on "a libertarian perspective on coffee," I was intrigued.

By way of an introduction, I should note that I'm not a full-time policy analyst. I left the 9-5 think tank world a couple years ago to work behind the bars at two of Washington's top coffee shops, places committed to elevating coffee and espresso preparation to a culinary art. In this world, Starbucks is an apparent nemesis, replacing skillful baristas with automatic machines, driving indie coffee houses out of business, and submerging its burnt espresso in heaps of milk and syrup.

Grier describes three waves of coffee adoption and even links to the famous "Coffee Achievers" ad.

I ask people to believe counter-intuitive things on this blog all the time: lower taxes increase Federal revenue, imports make us richer, freer immigration will raise wages, &c. I'll add this to the list: Starbucks is the best thing in the world for independent coffee houses

According to the Portland Yellow Pages, before Starbucks came to Portland in 1989, there were 28 coffee shops in the city. Today, there are 91 non-Starbucks coffeehouses in Portland proper, compared with the chain's 48 stores within city limits.

An excellent article, near and dear to all of our hearts.

Posted by jk at February 25, 2006 1:00 PM