Connoisseurs of filter coffee in South India and those non-resident South Indians who have settled in their land of opportunities abroad would not at all be overly enthralled by the entry into India of the US-based Starbucks, the maker of variegated liquid beverage. The Seattle-based Starbucks Coffee Company has formed a joint venture with Tata Global Beverages (TGB), the partner of Tata Coffee, to dish out its bewildering variety of brews by proposing to open as many as 50 stores across the country with an initial investment of $80 million. It is only just a year ago that Starbucks forged an alliance with Tata Coffee Ltd to source and roast Arabica beans in India. Even as the Government has notified 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in single-brand retail, Starbucks, a retail giant with a colossal brand identity, is averse to testing the waters of India single-handedly but instead opted to ally with TGB which has a medley of expertise and experience gained over decades.
The Coffee Board, engaged in the task of regulating coffee production and exports, had a monopoly procurement of the beans but this was dismantled in the mid-1990s, enabling the private industry to establish itself in the beans business with Tata Coffee emerging as a big player. In fact, the Coffee Board which boasts of having scores of distribution and sales outlets pan-India is now relying increasingly on supply from private industry with the Department of Commerce weaning the Board imperceptibly but resolutely from its apron-strings in tune with market dynamics.
While announcing the JV formation in India, President of the Starbucks China and Asia Pacific region, Mr. John Culver said that the company is keen “to sell our products in multiple channels such as hotels, restaurants, colleges and universities”. At a time when the country's demographic dividend is a morale-booster to any overseas beverage makers to batten on, Starbucks' focus on youth is understandable. The café market in the country is reckoned at $170 million in 2010-11 which is likely to set a scorching pace at a compound annual growth rate of about 30 per cent over the next five years. Already, big players like Café Coffee Day (CCD), Barista (Lavazza), Costa Coffee and Italian coffee chain Testa Rossa have gained solid foothold in recent years in North which seldom saw coffee consumption in any distinct manner as is seen today.
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Plain vanilla coffee that is being made using a conventional filter in most of the houses sans any adornment or the retinue of cream, a pump of flavoured syrup and some sugar are not bad for drinkers. In fact, most of the people who drink daily such a refreshing home-made cuppa could go lyrical about its callisthenic effect on the mind and on stimulating the nerves with the concurrent benefit of recharging the energy level to a new high. But one need not be a nutritionist to contend the most calorific drinks on offer by these cafes are the ones blended with sugary flavourings and crowned with whipped cream. Interestingly, Starbucks heralded 2012 in its own home turfs with the tidings that it would provide calorie information with their drinks so that customers can ‘make an informed decision at the counter'!
Starbucks maintained that 15 drinks from its repertoire fall under 150 calories—the equivalent of one average hot dog, even as it pigeonholed to name some of its less streamlined servings, headed by Praline Mocha with whipped cream. While even a large latte made with skimmed milk would not exceed 200 calories—around the same as a bowl of plain porridge--, the problem starts once the gullible consumers exercise their preferences for Praline Mocha with whipped cream or other servings lavishly which would add 2220 calories on those drinking an average of four cups a day! It is small wonder that that New York passed a law in 2009 compelling all chain cafes with 15 or more outlets to print the calorie count of each of their individual offerings in a font equal or larger in size to the name of the item, with a costly $2000 penalty for any contravention of this proviso.
How salutary such a legal provision in preventing people from wallowing in their coffee with all its supernumerary servings is still being debated in the US. But in India the consumer law provisions being measly and patchy, the situation may turn out to be unwholesome for millions of youth getting mired in café culture before long! It is time that the Indian authorities gave full freedom to Coffee Board to promote its own 16 South Indian coffee varieties(three of which are speciality coffee) carried forward from ages by the small, medium and large plantations within the country. Since coffee from coffee chains is invariably unhealthy than the one being made at home or being sold by the Coffee Board outlets with just milk and sugar simple offerings that it adds to caffeine, a bitter chemical.
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Coffee Board can set up vending machines in malls/metro stations/universities/cinema halls to promote India-brand Arabica roasted and grounded fresh to serve the palates of those who seek simple coffee flavour and not the dressed-up beverage that would be lethal just as junk food in the long haul if you get addicted. This way the price per cuppa could come down drastically with the drinkers' thirst getting slaked in tow!
Unfortunately, India's per capita consumption is barely 90 grams as compared to 4.8 kgs in Brazil and 6 kgs in the United States, even as domestic consumption has been galloping annually with more than half coming from the non-traditional coffee-quaffing regions. Already, retail coffee outlets such as Barista and CCD have caught the fancy of the youth in the North, making other overseas retail café chains to enter the fray. It is time the authorities in India saw the writing on the wall to help promote the weal of Indians by making them aware of the risks in huge servings on coffee in preference to the simple serving that Indian coffee is traditionally known in general and south of Vindhyas in particular.
(geeyes@thehindu.co.in)