only in the same sense that most coffee shops are now starbucks where the coffee is made by temp baristas, not shop owners who care about the legacy of their coffee

Were you drinking coffee before Starbucks came on the scene? I was, and if you could find a cafe that served better than a brown crayon steeped in water, it was a rare treasure.

You're making the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. Posh coffee didn't become a "thing" because of starbucks. Starbucks became a "thing" because of emerging posh coffee trends, which created a market for starbucks in the first place.

The thing you're missing is that, you go to a starbucks, which promises to sell you posh coffee, but it may be good, or it may be crap, and it's all down to luck whether the barista gives a crap about your "posh" coffee. Whereas if you go to a small business owner whose business is posh coffee, you can probably expect a great coffee (or if they don't, then you expect the place to soon go out of business)

Great example. I don’t know anything about coffee, have no idea how to make it, and no desire to learn it. If I’m ever forced to make my own coffee it would probably suck. When I want to drink coffee I go to Starbucks. Their coffee tastes great to me.

I’ve seen those baristas pouring hot espresso directly into the plastic cup.

If you can boil water, you can make coffee at least as good as Starbucks. If boiling water is too difficult, there are automated push button machines (Nescafe, etc).

it's a skill that takes 15 minutes to learn. maybe 30 if you include roasting your own beans. it could be taught in highschool to everyone.

hardly requires a bustling industry to solve this 'problem' or provide this 'value'.

starbucks is a monument to the lazyness and exploitation of this lazyness in homo sapiens.

Making coffee takes like 3 steps.

The only 'skills' you need is the ability to transfer powders and liquids from one container to another.

I have no idea why people idealize coffee making so much. I have been doing pour over coffee my whole life and it feels as basic a skill as washing a dish.