Devon- UK, Europe, US, and beyond –

It all started in a coffee shop at Capitol Hill – Seattle

Do you recognise the situation, when you are looking for something, like in this instance, somewhere to relax and sit down for a coffee and it then appears right in front of you? Only this place offered more than I imagined and than the unassuming exterior seemed to suggest at first sight, just  next to a busy print shop.

The moment I stepped into the café, from a side entrance,  I thought nice place, this is exactly where I want to be after a long journey from London to Seattle that day together with John. 

We had just been into the print shop and were both dying for a cup of coffee. The smell of freshly brewed coffee met us as we entered the cafe,  rustic, eclectic  furniture  and velvet covered sofas/ arm chairs thrown in here and there, people of mixed ages on their own or together absorbed in conversation, or in books, laptops or both.

The staff there went about their work in a  focused and engaged way in the different activities they were involved in to  producing   cups of coffee. There was a feel of calm, busy productivity around the place, with a sense of respect for the product they were selling and how it was made and served. To be asked about whether you wanted your coffee medium or dark roasted was  a treat and an opportunity to try out new tastes.

The coffee I went for in the end was medium roasted, and I liked it, the taste was subtle and satisfying. They also sell beer, wine and serve food, and do live music which I later found out.

Even though Seattle is the place where Starbucks was launched, and it now also appears as a popular feature of the town’s history, I couldn’t help being surprised and confused at the same time when I noticed  their logo around the till area, the logo otherwise not visible anywhere else in the place as far as I could see.

I asked a member of staff if the café was part of Starbucks and she said it sort of was, but that it was the only one of its kind, and very different. This intrigued me, and so I asked around the area about what this specific coffee shop’s link to Starbucks was and got the impression  that that Starbucks had started to experiment with a new brand that came across as ‘local’.  When I had a look at their web site later on, it came up with words like ‘inspired’ by Starbucks.

So this is quite intriguing, that Starbucks as a business started off as a local business to Seattle, ended up becoming a global business, and has returned in some form or other to its local roots launching a new brand as something different and local. Of course Starbucks sees a commercial opportunity in jumping on the popular interest in ‘what is local’ …. I can’t help asking myself, but what if this new brand ends up going ‘global’ as well, wouldn’t that be a contradiction in terms?

An interesting small art shop just opposite

Well it just reminds me that we connect and share experiences, as every day users, as customers, consumers, bloggers, friends or via all sorts of interests etc. –  we will  be spreading the word, will visit places that others speak about and recommend, will go there  again if we like a place or won’t if we don’t,  and we will continue to share our experiences where ever we are and how ever we can.  I quite liked to be reminded of that 🙂 

And it was this experience, the thoughts of what we consider to be ‘local’ and/or ‘global’ that got me inspired to start this blog series in the first place – looking forward to explore this concept, in all sorts of ways with you guys too –  through asking  questions and sharing experiences and views 🙂