Coffee: It's All About the Brand

Would you pay seven dollars for a cup of coffee?  Even though it may seem insane to some, others are more than willing to pay that much for a specially brewed cup of coffee at Starbucks.  The drink, currently only available at select Starbucks stores, is from Costa Rica and is part of their “reserve line”.  A grande cup (16oz) of the drink costs a pricey seven dollars.  Making it the most expensive coffee at Starbucks.  With the introduction of this drink, a question came to mind: do people buy coffee and other drinks from places like Peet’s or Starbucks for the name, or the actual beverage?  I hosted a blind taste test with two cups of coffee, one from a gas station (cost: $1) and the other from Starbucks (cost: $2).  The drinks were put into the same cup and presented to ten people for tasting.  The results were surprising.  Seven people choose the gas station coffee as their favorite, while only three preferred the Starbucks coffee.  This seems to reinforce what many people (including me) have been arguing for years.  People will easily spend more money on coffee simply because it says Starbucks on the cup, even though it isn’t the best.