Starbucked: A Double Tall Tale of Caffeine, Commerce, and Culture

Taylor Clark

Language: English

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: Nov 5, 2007

Description:

STARBUCKED will be the first book to explore the incredible rise of the Starbucks Corporation and the caffeine-crazy culture that fueled its success. Part Fast Food Nation, part Bobos in Paradise, STARBUCKED combines investigative heft with witty cultural observation in telling the story of how the coffeehouse movement changed our everyday lives, from our evolving neighborhoods and workplaces to the ways we shop, socialize, and self-medicate.

In STARBUCKED, Taylor Clark provides an objective, meticulously reported look at the volatile issues like gentrification and fair trade that distress activists and coffee zealots alike. Through a cast of characters that includes coffee-wild hippies, business sharks, slackers, Hollywood trendsetters and more, STARBUCKED explores how America transformed into a nation of coffee gourmets in only a few years, how Starbucks manipulates psyches and social habits to snare loyal customers, and why many of the things we think we know about the coffee commodity chain are false.

From Publishers Weekly

There's a double shot of skepticism in this account of Starbucks' ascendancy as a permanent fixture in the global landscape written by Clark, a Portland-based journalist, who's been mulling over Starbucks ever since the coffeehouse chain opened three branches in his small Oregon hometown. His coverage begins with a Seattle trio who set out to emulate the high-quality coffee of the California-based Peet's chain, before Howard Schultz took over the company and laid plans for its massive expansion. While Clark grudgingly admires Starbucks' ability to repackage coffee as beverage entertainment for a hyperprosperous society in search of emotional soothing, there's a lot he doesn't like about the company. He's convinced that Starbucks diminishes the world's diversity by ruthlessly outmaneuvering local competition on a global scale, and dubs the baristas' work as a textbook McJob. Even the quality of the coffee, he says, has gone downhill. Though Clark loses some of his focus by trying to rope in so many arguments against Starbucks, overall, his dubious perspective on one of the modern world's most ubiquitous icons is just frothy enough to prove entertaining. (Nov. 5)
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Review

The question of how this specialized littleSeattle joint became one of the biggest brands inAmerica and the world is one of the greatest business mysteries of modern times.Clark does a better job of answering it than anyone else to date, injecting his story with plenty of zip and humour along the way. BeeWilson, Sunday Times</FO -- Bee Wilson, Sunday Times 20080224 engaging, chatty -- Judi Bevan, Sunday Telegraph 20080224 "An intriguing and witty observation of the Starbucks Phenomenon." -- Scotland on Sunday 20080210 "entertaining and intriguing... His ambivalence translates into a wry balance, and makes for suprisingly gripping reading." -- Independent 20080228 'Fans of coffee-flavoured hot milk will find herein the story of how Starbucks spread accross the world like some kind of alt-muzak virus." -- Guardian Review 20080301