Starbucks filter coffee in Japan is expensive and shrinking.

The price of coffee beans has rebounded and Starbucks coffee bought in Japan has shrunk, Bloomberg reported.

Starbucks Coffee Japan, owned by the world's largest coffee chain (Starbucks Coffee Japan Ltd.) It said it had reduced the amount of filter coffee poured into each cup by 9mm to reflect customers' need to avoid spilling drinks and leave more room for milk.

I'm afraid this will cause dissatisfaction among local consumers. After all, in Japan, a small cup of strained coffee costs 300 yen ($3.60) and Starbucks (Starbucks Corp.) The after-tax price of Seattle, where it is based, is more than double that of $1.70. Starbucks in Japan has raised prices three times since 2006, bucking the trend in a deflationary environment that is squeezing the growth of the world's third-largest economy.

"I like the smell of Starbucks, but it's a little expensive," said Osamu Kawaguchi, a 50-year-old air-conditioning company in Saitama prefecture. "I hope there will be more coffee at this price," he said after buying two cups of strained coffee at a Tokyo store on the 18th. "

Starbucks in Japan last year raised the price of some small-volume drinks to reflect the high cost of raw materials such as coffee beans. The affiliated company, which operates 965 stores in Japan, reported a record profit of 3.2 billion yen in the six months ended Sept. 30.

The reporter actually visited the Starbucks store in the Marunouchi Building Building in Tokyo on the 18th to buy a small cup of strained coffee. As a result, the coffee was 20 mm away from the edge of the cup, but the new standard stipulated that it was 15 mm, and the amount of drink was obviously on the low side. Starbucks originally required employees to pour coffee 6mm away from the rim of the cup.

"customers complain that they are so full that they are scalded by spilled coffee," Norio Adachi, a spokesman for Starbucks in Tokyo, said by phone. He said the move was not about cost savings.

Global coffee bean prices have come back this year. According to the ICE Futures futures exchange in new York, the price of Arabica coffee beans hit a 14-year high of $3.089 a pound in may last year and has fallen 53% since then, as growers increase production and processors add low-cost robassta to composite coffee beans.

"the coffee is too full for me," said Shuhei Sano, 32, after spending at a Starbucks store in Tokyo's Chizaka district. It was so full that I had to be extra careful when I took the first sip. "

Japan's Starbucks will listen to customers' responses to policy changes and respect any request to increase the amount of coffee, Mr. Zuli said.

Some customers question whether it is appropriate to shrink coffee at the current price of Starbucks in Japan.

Yumiko Sakaue, a 36-year-old telecoms worker, said: "the company should inform customers that the standards have changed. Unless the price is reduced, they should change back to the original quantity. "