| Boutique coffee is all about nuance- it&#x27;s like Scotch, or bourbon, or tobacco.<p>For the record, bourbon (and I assume Scotch, but Im much less familiar with it) is about as industrial as you get. The labels might have pictures of old men and occasional far fetched stories, but 99% of the bourbon on shelves is made in giant industrial plants.<p>In a lot of ways its a lot like Starbucks. They have beans from various places, sell a story about shade grown artisanally produced, etc. At the end of the day, both bourbon producers and Starbucks probably strike an economic sweet spot with regards to nuance and scale.