Tall Coffee

I've always wondered how can a small cup of coffee be called "tall!?" I know people by now are used to ordering their voguish Starbucks drink, with impeccable knowledge of blends and brews, but did it ever cross their minds that “small” is the opposite of “tall?"

This is just one of those screwed up ideas perpetuated by the Starbucks propaganda. Renaming a size of a cup of coffee so that people won't feel bad that they just paid top dollar for what, a cup of coffee? Don't get me wrong, I am a Starbucks fan but I am a fan of coffee even more. Misleading people that its OK to order a $5 cup of coffee because of the sophistication that comes with it is forgivable - its called marketing. But when quality is compromised and more and better choices are laid on the table, one can't help but think am I getting what I paid for?

What exactly are you paying for when ordering a Starbucks coffee? Starbucks aims to offer a haven or a place away from home or office. It offers WiFi connectivity in most stores worldwide, free electricity, mood lighting, soothing music (caveat: soothing may be subjective here) and super comfortable chairs that makes you uncomfortable for that very reason. So its really not the coffee per se but the experience it offers.

But ultimately, its the coffee that we go there for (well, for me anyway). I don't understand why one has to understand the mind-boggling preparation involved in making a drinkable cup out of it. What I need Starbucks to do for me is when I smell coffee and order one, they should give me that cup of coffee. Coffee which has no under taste, not watery and strong enough to jumpstart my much needed caffeine fix for the day. If other people needs to order a complicated drink, they should have a separate lane for them. Starbucks needs to have some sort of an express lane where all you have to say is "I need coffee, give me a cup."

So now, Starbucks is scrambling to get its ass back on track after the phenomenal U.S. expansion had since dwindled and led to layoffs and closure of stores . Expansion is now targeted in foreign markets where demand for the product and the brand continues to rise. Good for us. It would be us the consumers who will benefit from a healthy competition being given to Starbucks. As for the Starbucks loyalists, well just ask yourselves when was the last time you ordered a Tall Caramel Macchiato and got a small one?