I’m not meaning with 2 sugars, cream or skim milk? I am meaning what are you willing to pay? how good do you want your coffee to be? and do you need it fast and to go? or are you happy to wait?
These different aspects can come down to 4 main factors that come into a coffee buyers consideration when choosing a brew:
Price
Quality
Speed
Convenience / accessibility
These points are pretty self-explanatory and generally you cannot have the best of them all together unless it’s a promotional transaction. Lets create 3 groups and conditions a coffee can be purchased under:
A coffee that is cheap will not taste that good (personal perception). It will be highly accessible (Petrol stations and corner stores) and the speed will be quick, most likely out of a self-service machine.
A coffee that is reasonably priced (on average) will taste good (Not amazing but not bad). It will be fairly accessible (corner stores, bakeries and cafes) the speed will most likely be quick.
A coffee that costs more will taste amazing! It will not be at a great convenience in general (Boutique inner city brewer) and the speed will be slower, suited for have in.
These are just general assessments and of course can come down to personal preference’s in taste, but its a generalization about what you give to what you get in a coffee purchase.
Dont be fooled by McCafe
McCafe is McDonald’s take on a cafe and coffee whilst my experience seems to be they are very slow, they shape themselves as being reasonably priced, speedy (takeaway and drive through) and at a high quality.
All of these I could easily debate from personal experiences as i have had some very long waits for a McCafe coffee. Maybe i was just unlucky and got peak hour? but the accessibility factor is there, McDonald’s features heavily in its store locations.
The drive through frenzy
These growing amount of drive through coffee places popping up in every suburb beside major roads, where do they fit? Well they are built highly on the providing your coffee quickly and at a convenience to the customer, which is why most of these drive through coffee business are built beside major routes people use to commute. The price is normal maybe at the higher end, these places aren’t the cheapest but the quality of your brew should be pretty decent.
In a business sense the best quality coffee would NOT be the cheapest, it’s just business theory if you’re the best coffee maker in town and make an excellent brew you would want reward and recognition for this. So your prices might be that little bit more than average Joe’s around the corner.
The $1 7-Eleven coffee
7-Eleven the over saturated in locations, open 24/7 convenience store offers $1 coffee. It’s a small size and out of a machine but for the average person (students) looking to get a quick and cheap coffee fix this is all they need. The $1 coffee is about being highly accessible, cheap and quick! it’s all these no doubt.
Overrated brands
Well recognized and global brands like Starbucks can attract customers simply because of the environment and perceived nature of the store.
Starbucks is seen as an indie/hippy friendly environment with stores overrun with young adults (students) on Mac books. Whilst it may not be the case, there is a lot of content suggesting Starbucks makes average coffee and from me personally they are at a higher price.
It’s not the first and wont be the last time a global brand who is well-recognized goes overseas and runs of its “hype” and sells overpriced average products.
As from these examples you can see that there is a coffee for everyone, whether you’re in a rush, want a premium sit down and drink or you simply want to be seen in Starbucks doing “work” on your Apple Mac book Pro.