Starbucks really is the best of a bad lot over there. Good luck trying to find a place that serves cappuccinos that isn't Starbucks in certain places, particularly restaurants. Their entire coffee culture is different over there, there is nowhere to really sit down and enjoy a coffee, it's all about take-away with limited, if any, seating. At the local shopping mall (quite large, had a Macys, JC Penny etc) there was literally one Starbucks with one table and a little Starbucks inside the Barnes and Noble. At my local shopping centre here (probably smaller than the one in the US I'm comparing it with) there are probably 15 places I could sit down for a latte.