Starbucks: Part of Youth Culture

A phrase commonly heard around universities and colleges is, “Do you want to get some coffee? ” Perhaps this is one of the reasons that there are so many cafés around the ANU, such as Sullivan’s and The Purple Pickle. Many students spend their free time in such cafés, and it is not uncommon to run into more than one familiar face. But the coffee experience as students know it was not always this way. Starbucks pioneered the modern coffee lounge in 1971, after its director travelled to Italy and discovered its coffee bars1. He decided to bring the idea back to Seattle and founded Starbucks. As of December 2003, Starbucks had over 7,500 stores open Internationally, opening stores at the rate of over 300 per year2. However, many anti-globalisation activists paint a not-so-rosy picture of students’ favourite past-time, pointing out that the coffee is purchased at prices which are unsustainable for farmers, sometimes even less than the costs of production3. Some even claim that Starbucks mistreats its own employees, “by being anti-union ” and “denying managers overtime pay, ” or that they push small businesses out of the market4. In Australia, Starbucks sources both its milk and coffee beans from local distributors; Starbucks coffee beans brewed in Canberra are sourced from East Timor, and are certified Fair Trade. This ensures that while Starbucks ’ profits go to America, much of the wealth does in fact stay with Australian and East Timorise milk and coffee bean distributors