It's no secret that I hate Starbucks. And it should be apparent ta BurningJournaldotcom readers, fans, friends, and members (in good standing) why...

Not only are they (Starbucks) out ta kill the competition, but they've gone too far when they actually bought out Seattle's Best, then merged that brand inta Starbucks. Seattle's Best is no more!

Then they destroyed Tully's, which had barely 1/10th of the market share in Seattle...let alone had no rel distribution network outside the "Emerald City," yet Schultz & Co. felt so threatened by Tully's that Starbucks opened a cafe across the street from damn near every Tully's in the city...and began an open war against Tully's.

Regretably, Tully's threw in the towel a few months ago, and declared bankruptcy. So Howard Scultz and his merry band of scumbags wins another skirmish.

But I'm still pissed off, and I still maintain my attitude towards 'em... Boycott the bastards!

By Quentin Fottrell

At $7 a cup, Starbucks new ultra-premium coffee costs more than three times as much as its standard brew a price experts say is highly over-caffeinated.

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Here's what Starbucks' $7 coffee is really worth

MarketWatch's Quentin Fottrell take a look at the real numbers behind Starbucks' new high-priced fancy coffee and what it really costs the coffee chain to make it.

While the Costa Rica Finca Palmilera beans which went on sale at select locations this week are expensive they come from a relatively rare cherry of the Gesha tree the 16-ounce cup should cost just one dollar more than a regular cup of coffee, including the companys overhead, says James Freeman, owner and CEO of Blue Bottle Coffee. (The price of Starbucks regular Grande coffee is $2.20 in New York.) Freeman should know: his chain also charges $7 for a similar cup of Gesha coffee. In fact, an 80% markup is standard in the coffee business on the higher-end brews, he says. Joseph Brodsky, founder and president at Ninety Plus Coffee, which supplies beans to coffee shops in 30 countries, says the new coffee only costs Starbucks an extra $1.30 per cup.

Reviewers mostly rave about the fancy beans, which have been dubbed the Sauternes or Sauvignon Blanc of coffee. Earlier this month, CoffeeReview.com, described it crisply sweet, quietly but profoundly complex.

Alisa Martinez, a Starbucks spokeswoman, says its difficult to put a cost assessment on the companys premium coffee and declined to say how much Starbucks pays per pound. There is a limited availability Finca Palmilera from this particular farm, she says. Its grown at a 5,000 feet elevation and we purchased all of it. The price per cup would be less if its brewed at home, she says, but this way customers can taste it in the store first.

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Coffee prices fall, but not at Starbucks

The price of Arabica coffee has dropped by about 30% from a year ago. So why are coffee retailers like Starbucks still raising prices. Photo: Reuters.

For those who want to brew the beans at home, Starbucks is charging $40 for half a pound nearly four times the cost of unroasted Gesha beans, says Kenneth Davids, editor of CoffeeReview.com. But even at those prices, home brewing is a bargain compared to the $7 Starbucks is charging per cup. Consumers could brew their own 16-ounce cup at home for as little as $2.66, says Brodsky. Its very good business from Starbucks perspective, he says.

And now that Starbucks has moved into the priciest coffees on the market, experts say consumers should expect to see more $7 coffee on the menu elsewhere. Caroline Bell, co-founder of Café Grumpy, a roaster and retailer in New York, is looking at a Kenyan green coffee to sell for $7 a cup for the holidays. A couple of years ago, Bell sold a $12 cup of coffee, the priciest cup of coffee in America; it was brewed from a rare Ethiopian coffee bean. It wasnt a permanent fixture on the menu, but it got people talking. I dont know why people think its so crazy to pay for something thats hard to get, she says. If the coffee is really good Im not sure why we should be questioning paying $7 a cup.