At one point, Starbucks was a local coffee shop. One of the reasons it was successful was because it made its drinks unique-- it puts a tiny amount of caramel i

At one point, Starbucks was a local coffee shop. One of the reasons it was successful was because it made its drinks unique-- it puts a tiny amount of caramel into Mochas, which give them a distinct taste that people feel they can't find anywhere else. The coffee is only just decent, but 99% of people don't know or care about that. Most people wouldn't know what good coffee tastes like. They assume -- and, through the power of placebo, taste -- the coffee is bad because of the undertones about Starbucks in society. I don't think this is about coffee or brands directly. This is about perception. The perception of localness is what Starbucks was hypothesizing to be powerful. They either failed in their experiment (likely by mentioning that it was inspired by Starbucks) or discovered their hypothesis was incorrect.