Ten new cafes opened in Kingston over the last 12 months.
Its a record number of cafes in the struggling Jamaican economy. Moreover the city didn’t even drink quality coffee until recently. The farms instead chose to export the best grades to Japan and most Jamaicans drink cheap instant shit.
Reduced export earnings forced farms to find new markets and that new market is domestic. It has resulted in the Starbucks culture finally brewing its way into the island even without a phsyical store presence.
Kingston now probably has about 15-20 proper cafes. Many are within hotels but also on every decent mall. The owner of one of the pioneering cafes said: “Where are most of these cafes now. I expect them to continue disappearing in a year”.
Starbucks 1st Colombia Store Blueprint to Enter Jamaica
All beans sold at Starbucks in Colombia are sourced from Colombia. That’s a model which finds favour with strict coffee boards in core coffee countries.
Starbucks described the concept of single origin beans as novel for the global chain that started in the Seattle, USA.
“It’s also the company’s first and only store in
the world to serve 100 percent locally sourced coffee,” states Starbucks on the deal.
Starbucks wants 50 stores in Colombia in the medium term for the 50 million fast growing nation.
Its a single-source model that could find favour in Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras and Jamaica.
Starbucks however would need to bunch smaller countries like Jamaica with existing investments in Central America for such a venture to even register as a single digit in the company’s financials which earned US$15 billion revenues last year.
“When we set out to design
this store, we wanted to reflect that coffee heritage through store design and create a truly elevated experience for our customers,” stated head of Starbucks design Latin America Bret Lewis.
The highlight of the local selection is its Starbucks Reserve® coffees from Colombia. These are rare collections of single source coffees,
available only in select stores worldwide.
“As our first Reserve location in the region,
serving some of the finest and rarest
Colombian coffees, we had a unique
opportunity to try a bold design that captures
our coffee passion,” Lewis said.
Starbucks own coffee
heritage with Colombia dates back to the
1970s.
On the second level of the store, past a short
flight of stairs, a one-of-a-kind interactive
coffee bar experience awaits. Here, customers
meet one-on-one with Starbucks baristas to
learn about sourcing, the art of blending, the
coffee roast spectrum, and to try various
brewing methods – from the manual pour-over
style Chemex® Coffeemaker, to the classic
coffee press. It’s an opportunity for customers
to try any of the five different varieties of
Colombian coffee offered in the store.
jamaicamocha 