I've been wondering about this for years, too -- albeit from the opposite angle: why did this happen in Seattle and not in New York City (i.e., Manhattan) -- which was, arguably, the previous capital of coffee culture?

When I first began reading about Seattle becoming the center of coffee drinking culture and the coffee trade -- I believe it was being written about in the "New York Times" (?) in the early 1980s -- I was both skeptical and "annoyed." What kind of center of coffee drinking culture could Seattle really be when "everyone knows" that New York City (i.e., Manhattan) is the "true" center of coffee culture (at least in the U.S.)? Not only was coffee the unofficial drink of fast-paced NYC, but it was where coffee was glorified in song (e.g., Irving Berlin's "Let's have another cup of coffee," etc.) and where coffee / "foodie" trends, both mass market and gourmet, seemed (at least to me) to begin: Horn & Hardart's (1930s?), Chock Full O'Nuts, bohemian coffee houses serving expresso, etc. (1950s?), premium Columbian coffee (served, for instance, in art movie houses like the Beekman in the 1960s), drip coffee (instead of percolated), etc.

Plus NYC had already had, for many years, such specialty coffee stores as McNulty's and Porto (sic) Rico (and Zabar's [?], Balducci's [?]) and was seeing the development of new (in the 1970s) establishments like "Food" (a gourmet upscale cafeteria in SoHo) and Dean and DeLuca's (a gourmet food store, down the block,) that also served coffee) that appeared to be pointing the way to a new kind of upscale "foodie" version of the bohemian coffee house. When I had first seen saw "Food" and "Dean and DeLuca's," and some other similar establishments, I had hoped that they would become NYC, and then national, chain stores -- NYC's own entries" into the McDonald's "sweepstakes." And when I saw my first Starbuck's, it seemed so New York / SoHo -like to me, that I thought my wish had come true. (Alas, only the founder of the chain, Howard Schultz, is from NYC (Brooklyn)!)

So what happened? I guess it's a little like Detroit eventually being surpassed by foreign upstarts (like the Japanese).

Why did it happen? In part it may be because of the same reasons that Detroit lost its hold on car culture -- new things get developed in new places and in the old places people get too attached to the established traditions that don't really leave enough economic room for new the ways to take hold.

But I wonder if it may also be due, at least in part, to an anti-commerce, anti-chain store and anti-city mentality (e.g., anti-street / storefront and pro-economically sterile plaza and open space) mentality of so many New Yorkers (including those who like to think of themselves as being pro-urban). After all, New Yorkers were open-minded enough to jump onto the Starbuck's bandwagon once it did appear in New York -- therefore the market to this kind of establishment is, obviously, here. So one wonders what would have happened if Manhattan had more viable retail locations at lower rents (i.e., more streets, smaller blocks, and more street-level retail space) and if New Yorkers had less of a anti-commerce mentality? Would a local Starbuck's-like establishment have arisen out of New York's very rich coffee loving heritage?

Posted by: Benjamin Hemric on December 10, 2008 2:17 PM

CyndiF,

Pupu has a pet theory on that! Let us call it the Second Law of Thermal Dynamics of the Coffee market.

With competition, the strength of coffee served cannot go down because once someone is used to drinking strong coffee, she won't get enough kick out of a weaker cup so she will leave for a stronger cup. In order to deter competition, coffee shops have to keep their coffee strong. Over roasting is a part of the game. It would be fun to check whether the coffee served in restaurants in Seattle is weaker because they do not compete on the quality/strength of their coffee.

Posted by: Pupu on December 10, 2008 2:27 PM

can I be the contrarian here? I live in Atlanta where it's mild to extremely hot and it never rains. we had a constant draught here for the last 5 years. I think we have the same number of coffee shops as other cities I think. The question we were asking ourselves Sunday is "do you think Starbucks has peaked"? One of my friends argued that a $4 cup of coffee is not the first thing people will buy in a recession. the other guy said he wanted to open up a Starbucks franchise since he is having a hard time finding a job.

Posted by: michael on December 10, 2008 10:48 PM

Sounds like whisky weather to me.

Posted by: dearieme on December 11, 2008 7:52 AM

Was your wife actually playing tennis in that miserable weather?

Posted by: buster1 on December 11, 2008 11:21 AM

"With competition, the strength of coffee served cannot go down because once someone is used to drinking strong coffee, she won't get enough kick out of a weaker cup so she will leave for a stronger cup. In order to deter competition, coffee shops have to keep their coffee strong."

This is the triumph of perception over reality then, because the more you roast coffee beans, the lower the caffeine content!

Posted by: CyndiF on December 11, 2008 12:36 PM






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