Munchies:

[…] the biggest stumbling block in Starbucks’ attempt for Down Under domination is that Australia’s cafe culture is just too damn good. Thanks to waves of Italian and Greek immigrants in the early 1950s, Australia adopted the art of espresso-drinking-as-a-social-lubricant much earlier than the United States. While Starbucks introduced Americans to a European Lite version of coffee shop culture, in Australia it was a latecomer to a party no one invited it to.

Sounds true to me, from what I’ve experienced.