Starbucks is attacked on all sides again in the coffee industry.

Today, Starbucks is being challenged and repositioned in every way. An idea is quietly brewing that today, coffee is more than just Starbucks.

Just when you think the world is divided by Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, some new forces have brought new changes to the coffee industry with the goal of taking the place of the green mermaid.

Pete Licata, for example, was named barista of the year at this year's American barista contest in Houston. Likata is not from Starbucks, but from Honolulu Coffee Company (Honolulu Coffee Co.) in Hawaii. Then, Likata went to the Colombian capital Bogota to participate in the international final and won the second place (the champion barista is a Salvadoran named Alejandro Mendes).

Today, Starbucks is being challenged and repositioned in every way. An idea is quietly brewing that today, coffee is more than just Starbucks.

Coffee tastes in the United States (and around the world) have changed and evolved, and today's coffee culture discusses the mysterious properties of coffee beans such as Kenyan round beans, Brazil's Serra Negra and Grand Cru. To reflect the new trend of coffee tasting, restaurant menus use the way people describe wine to describe coffee. For example: "medium full-bodied, smooth taste, light cocoa taste". Some menus even mention Chuck Boerner, a coffee grower in the Kona area of Hawaii. Artisanal coffee shops such as BlueBottle, Brooklyn Roasting Company, Dunn Brothers in Minneapolis, and Ninth Street Espresso in Chelsea Market, New York, offer richer, more chewy lattes and extremely fragrant morning coffee, focusing on what they think Starbucks initiated but failed to follow through.

The Honolulu Coffee Company's coffee bar is made of mango and Koa wood and has the same unique texture as the coffee served in the store.

Ed Schultz, founder of Honolulu Coffee, where Pete Likata bakes his best coffee, says: "A company with 13000 stores (like Starbucks) can't see itself as a boutique brand. Some people want to enjoy the pure coffee experience instead of sitting in the third space. " Schultz and others focused on the coffee itself, from the beans to the coffee cup, rather than pouring a large eggnog latte from an oversized automatic coffee machine.

"there are a lot of people who are satisfied with Starbucks and have no interest in us at all," said James Freeman of Blue Bottle Coffee. "Coffee shops like ours don't pay that much attention to their customers. We only have six kinds of drinks, and we don't offer large, medium or small cups or taste choices. We have fewer employees, fewer choices and smaller cups. "

Starbucks does capture the comfort of European cafes, while other brands are promoting taste experiences. While this may be a goal Starbucks was committed to in its early days, some people, such as Ed Schultz of Honolulu Coffee, think Starbucks failed to achieve it. "you can't make the company so big and pretend to serve artisanal coffee." 'in European cafes, you'll find only one person making coffee, using an authentic handmade way, 'Mr. Schultz said. "

Freeman of Blue bottle Coffee agrees, saying, "We have more manual programs, fewer buttons, less communication, but spend more time on each drink."

It seems that in addition to telling us what coffee should taste like, Starbucks also makes us look forward to coffee. Just as we abandoned Mateus and Liebfraumilch a few years ago to follow the Napa Valley wine (Napa Valley), today we crave better coffee.

This trend may reposition Starbucks as a coffee shop that only provides consumer experience, but Starbucks is also under pressure at the experience level.

Today, in addition to thousands of local cafes showing off leather seats and imitation library layouts, there is Nespresso. Nespezo, owned by Nestle (Nestl é), has lavishly designed boutique coffee shops and a $400 Nespresso coffee maker, which makes it the Louis Vuitton of the coffee experience. I don't want to use too many metaphors, but these stores look like they were made by Porsche Design Group (Porsche Design).

Nespico positions itself as a global pioneer and market leader in the highest quality coffee, and its ultimate coffee experience can be enjoyed not only at home, but also in high-end restaurants, hotels, luxury stores and offices. Nespezo cleverly offers a fashion alternative to the ubiquitous Starbucks. And its sales performance also proves this point. In a recent press release, the brand proudly declared "significant organic growth of more than 20 per cent in the first nine months of 2010".

About two decades ago, New Yorkers walked down the boulevard, wondering what had happened to the deserted Chock Full O Nuts coffee shops on the streets of Manhattan. These retail stores became popular in the 1940s, but they were no longer popular in the 1980s. Then Starbucks appeared and rekindled our taste for coffee. But if the mermaid is to survive, it should no longer regard Donndole as its main competitor, but focus on the high-quality coffee and in-store experience that sets it apart.

In a recent survey, a coffee consumer summed up the general rules of fashion. "at first you are fresh, different and unique," she said. "then you are popular and become mainstream. Next, you will become ordinary and boring. " make a pointed comment.

If you think that today's re-emergence of handmade coffee will not become much of a climate, then you certainly do not understand the current trend. Honolulu Coffee Company is opening a new store in Taipei. Blue bottle Coffee is opening new stores in Rockefeller Center and the Chelsea area of Manhattan, and may even enter Tokyo. "I love Japan!" Freeman said. "the coffee culture there is very enlightening to me." Nestl é is using TV commercials to sell its stylish round Dolce Gusto coffee maker in China, with James Brown's "Sex Machine" in the background.

Sex. Coffee. Two things we don't seem to be able to give up. (Forbes Chinese website)