Rather than the coffee, it's all about atmosphere-about the coffee shop. The company even trained its Chinese staff in Seattle so they could recreate the Starbucks experience. The same uniforms and the same coffee shop lingo appear in San Francisco and Beijing. Unlike some of Beijing's European coffee shops, where customers have reputations for being pretentious and arrogant, Starbucks creates a casual yet elegant environment, catering to young Chinese. Sitting in Starbucks, you see people in crisp business suits talking alongside casually dressed young men weaving internet start-up dreams.
Someone works on a computer, someone else reads quietly, but many engage in lively conversation.
Even more novel in China's collective culture is a respect for difference and for personal space. So people happily pay more for coffee at Starbucks, buying something still luxurious to average Chinese, and something invisible, like privacy.