Starbucks in Budapest: A Report

On our way home on Saturday from a conference in Vajta, we stopped in Budapest to eat and feed the baby, and we figured since we were there, we might as well try out the new Starbucks in the Westend mall.



The long and short is this: It's expensive. But that's probably not a surprise to anyone.

I got a solo espresso for 420 HUF and Rosemary got a caffé latte for 620 HUF. My espresso was good - but certainly not amazing. Rosemary said her caffé latte was very weak and tasted mostly like warm milk.

For anyone who likes Starbucks memorabilia - the mugs or thermoses, they have them there. They also have lots of expensive pies and cakes.
The atmosphere is very hip, and the place was packed. They do have free wifi, which is a major plus for any coffee shop - and an improvement on the US Starbucks, where there is wifi, but it's not free.

They also sell coffee beans for making at home - the espresso roast was 1500 HUF for 250 grams, which isn't bad for gourmet coffee. Illy costs at least 2000 HUF/250 gm.

So, if we go back it will probably only be to buy beans - or to stand outside and use their free wifi :)

The thing is that there are so many other cafés with coffee that is just as good and an atmosphere that is just as good at far better prices. The prices were all the more shocking since we had just come from Vajta, where we spent our days drinking espresso which tasted just as good for almost a third of the price.

One of the only things Starbucks offers which is unique is that if you want - and are willing to pay for it - you can get a GIGANTIC coffee. But I think we've been in Europe too long to appreciate that :)

A New Dawn

A new day has dawned in Hungary - a new era has begun today in Budapest.
The first Hungarian Starbucks opened today in the Westend mall, which has resulted in widespread joy and babies smiling all over the world.

Ok, maybe it's not quite that revolutionary that Hungary has now joined almost all of its neighbors in having Starbucks coffee in their country, but hey, at least there is one more thing to spend money on when I go to Budapest :)

First Starbucks in Hungary

A few weeks ago I wrote about how plans for the first Starbucks in Hungary had fallen through. Well, yesterday I got this link in a comment.
Turns out that they really are opening a Starbucks in the Westend mall in Budapest after all.
Check out the pictures:


I can't say I'm all that excited about it - I'm much more interested in the new Café Frei coffee shop that just opened in Eger.

More about Starbucks.

To add to what I wrote yesterday - I looked into it and found out that Starbucks already operates stores in Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria and according to Wikipedia they have a store in Serbia too - although I couldn't find any evidence of that on the internet.

Another thing that some people might find interesting, is that Starbucks also owns Seattle's Best Coffee company - a former competitor of theirs, which they purchased in 2003.
So, if you thought that by buying Seattle's Best coffee you were fighting against the big corporate giant of Starbucks, you actually were actually doing just the opposite. Oops :)

Starbucks in Hungary

There have been rumors for a long time about Starbucks coming to Hungary. They already have Starbucks in neighboring Austria and Romania, and probably in other places I don't know about yet.

A few months ago people started getting excited about Starbucks coming to Hungary, when a sign was put up in the Westend mall in Budapest, that a Starbucks was set to open there. Additionally, according to this blog, in January there was even a job listing posted in a Budapest newspaper for a manager for this Starbucks coffee shop.

But, it looks like Starbucks is not still not coming to Hungary just quite yet... Turns out that famous sign in the Westend mall was changed a few weeks later - and no longer says that Starbucks is coming, but that just a coffee shop will open there soon.

I think that Starbucks would do really well in Hungary, especially in Budapest, with so many foreigners living there. On the other hand, I can totally live without it. I've survived until now, and I will continue to survive without Starbucks' over-roasted and over-priced coffee beans.
There are other companies in Hungary that fill Starbucks' role in the gourmet coffee market: Austrian Coffee Shop Company, British Costa Coffee and Hungarian Café Frei. All of these companies are relatively new in Hungary, which makes me think that if Starbucks had come to Hungary a few years ago, they would have had a real corner on the market - whereas now they will just be another expensive gourmet coffee chain among multiple others.
If a Starbucks does eventually open in Budapest, I'm not sure I would go out of my way to go there when I can get nearly the same thing at the same high price right here in Eger at Coffee Shop Co. and Café Frei.
But if they opened a Taco Bell... well, then I would be interested. It's funny the things you crave, when you can't have them :)