When it comes to taste, Chuen Chuen Café’s coffee beats Starbucks, says Tan Wen Hui.
Starbucks Coffee Advertisment, Photo Credits: Suite 400 Magazine
To say that Starbucks versus Chuen Chuen Café is a classic case of David versus Goliath is certainly no overstatement. After all, what is Chuen Chuen Café but a traditional coffee outlet, while the former is everyone’s favourite hangout joint?
Talk about a classic case of comparison between two names. Of course coffee is the common factor here, which makes comparing worthwhile.
So, what is, or are, the differences between the caffeinated drinks served by Starbucks and Chuen Chuen Cafe?
Coffee Fragrance:
Perhaps the first difference for you to note depends on how sensitive your sense of smell is. That is, if your nose is able to pick up the significant change that has plagued almost all Starbucks Coffee outlets. The coffee giant has successfully gotten rid of the aromatic perfume emitted by its coffee beans – a sign that tells you a coffee outlet is lurking in the vicinity.
As for Chuen Chuen Café, the aroma of its roasted coffee beans is alluring you can easily pick it up from a distance. Thanks to that, patrons can be assured that its coffee packs a punch of goodness without having to taste it.
Coffee Taste:
Coffee taste is linked to economic factors!
If you have been either a Starbucks fan, or addict since a decade ago, you would most probably have noticed the difference in its cup’s taste. And sad to say, there is nothing extraordinary about the taste of Starbucks coffee today for it is either too sweet, or diluted. Gone is its coffee’s exquisite flavour and silky finishing.
This is all thanks to the way its coffee is being prepared by staff with little training in coffee-making, they simply add in sweeteners to make up for the loss.
Compared to Chuen Chuen Café’s coffee whose robust flavour and thick essence essentially converts virgin drinkers to becoming regular ones, the coffee giant looses out to David in this aspect.
Besides, Chuen Chuen Café’s coffee is priced at $1.30 per cup makes it a great deal for the calculative Singaporean. Whereas Starbucks’s coffee is six to seven times more expensive than the former.
Coffee Taste Tied with Globalisation
Needless said globalisation plays a major part in pushing up the price per cup for Starbucks Coffee, while the rapid expansion of its coffee outlets (which is a lil’ too fast) without a sound business and marketing strategy has led to severe looses.
Particularly in areas where rental is high and sales of coffee and drinks are poor, and not forgetting to factor in economic downturns such as the 2009 Financial Crisis.
Hence, cost-cutting is the only evolutionary step towards saving the coffee giant, which is done at the expense of its coffee’s quality.
Moving on to Chuen Chuen Café whose specialty is in preparing Hong Kong-style coffee and drinks that goes with warm food. With no expansion and marketing plan yet in mind, except for a Facebook fan page, Chuen Chuen Café remains a humble Hong Kong café.
This well explains why Chuen Chuen Café is able to maintain a reasonable price and tide over globalisation without inheriting any damages to its coffee and deep pocket.
Now back to my point: do you see why Chuen Chuen Café’s coffee beats Starbucks?
NEWSPRINT
Posted on July 15, 2011
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