I used to feel the same way until I was recruited into the coffee business ;) Our coffee is most definitely not American but it's also not Vietnamize for the reason mentioned in the main post: trafficking. We have personal relationships with all the plantations we use to help ensure a direct trade product line. But in all honesty your first statement is exactly the kind of customer we want to target and further educate. If you were an average Joe content with Starbucks what do you think would make you switch to something new?

Sure, let's talk about average Joe content with Starbucks. Maybe the problem isn't that Joe just doesn't know any better. Maybe the problem is that Joe actually likes Starbucks coffee. I mean, people rag on Starbucks all day long, and I'm sure Starbucks cries all the way to the bank. If I were you trying to attract Joe, I'd think very specifically about the qualities of Starbucks coffee and being that but better. And if you can't fathom the idea of debasing yourself, I guess try to get out and find people who actually really like it and talk to them about it.

But let's talk about me for a moment. The idea that I (or Joe for that matter) just need to be educated to be brought over to the shining holy light is a bit perverse. I've been there and done that already. I've traveled the coffee world, from the US to Colombia to Morocco to Italy to Jamaica to Vietnam, and had coffee from dozens of people who "No really, this time we mean it" care about fondling every bean from dirt to drink and who think it makes an iota of difference outside of their dreams. Excepting the arabic coffee method, which I'm not talking about here, it just doesn't mean much. It makes fine coffee, sure, maybe, but it doesn't make memorable coffee. Only one coffee bean I've ever had was actually memorable. It sticks with me everywhere I go after hundreds of different coffees. When I go to a new country or city I go way out of my way to find it. Only one. And it's not because someone is best buddies with the farmer.

Now we can get back to Joe. Maybe what Joe likes about Starbucks coffee is that their preparations, for all of the hemming and hawing about how they ruin their beans or spoil the experience by self-professed coffee devotees, are actually memorable. If you want to target Joe, maybe start with a coffee that Joe and I don't have to already love. It's not my child, it's my drink.

> Only one coffee bean I've ever had was actually memorable. It sticks with me everywhere I go after hundreds of different coffees. When I go to a new country or city I go way out of my way to find it. Only one.

Oh come on, don't be a tease.

Sorry, I thought it was clear that it was Sang Tao, which I'd mentioned in my first post. Good luck finding it outside of a Vietnamese import shop. They have a numbered line that goes from 1-8 that gets progressively more expensive. But don't think that you have to get the 8. It's more expensive but not necessarily better. Personally I think you can do some really magical things with the 1. Opening the bag punches you in the back of the nose like you've just cut into a steaming hot chocolate lava cake. That's not an exaggeration.

Its on Amazon, like everything else. Will give it a shot.

In the US that's certainly true. I'm always amazed at how poor Amazon is in other countries.

> Only one coffee bean I've ever had was actually memorable.

C'mon bud, spill the beans!

Lol, nice one. Anyway, see my response to mixedCase.