How much are you willing to pay for a great cup of coffee? George Howell’s concept is to sell coffee like wine, showcasing the most rare and expensive beans on planet. These specialty coffee shops are “really indebted to Starbucks for teaching [us] to overpay for coffee,” says Bryant Simon, a history professor at Temple, and the author of Everything but the Coffee: Learning About America from Starbucks. Now, in a post-Starbucks era, these cafes are the new way for us to convey that we’re “sophisticated and knowledgeable,” he adds.