You Had Me At Venti

Starbucks Experiments with New Name, Adding Alcohol to its Menu

Don't expect grande wines or venti beers anytime soon at your local Starbucks. (SBUX) But in a move to attract hard-to-find evening business, the struggling coffeehouse chain is about to test the addition of wine and beer to the menu at one of its Seattle stores, which it has even given a new name. The store, opening next week, is called "15th Ave. Coffee and Tea inspired by Starbucks" — a reflection of the neighborhood in which it's located. Starbucks plans to create two more similar stores in the Seattle area at locations that aren't currently Starbucks stores. And if the concept works, it could be tested in other cities, says Major Cohen, senior project manager at Starbucks. For Starbucks, which has suffered a humbling mix of closed stores, employee layoffs and same-store sales declines during the recession, the move is an attempt to extend the brand into the evening, when business is typically at its slowest. The first store, which will look very different from a typical Starbucks, will serve a half-dozen kinds of beers and wines — most with connections to the Northwest. A bottle of beer or a glass of wine will sell for $4 to $7, Cohen says. Beer and wine will not be sold to go because of state law, he says. "We'll be equally as proud of our beer and wine as we are of our coffee," Cohen says. He says he didn't yet know if this concept would be incorporated into all Starbucks stores if it's successful. "If you stop innovating, you're dead," says Scott Bedbury, CEO of consulting firm Brandstream and former marketing chief at Starbucks. While Bedbury likes the move — which he says is common for European coffeehouses — it also could twist the chain's hard-earned image, he warns. "The reason Starbucks became the number one place to go for a blind date is because women are comfortable there — and the men aren't drunk." The test move to sell alcohol is clearly an attempt to fight off growing competition from McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts, says Ron Paul, president of Technomic, a restaurant consulting firm. "But if I were sitting in Seattle, I'd go after the evening snack and dessert business, not alcoholic beverages."

Ultimate Buzz Kill

Comment of the day:
(from a former roomie no less)

Megan: i'll never figure out how you make it to work on time at 5am even if you are a coffee whore

Will someone explain decaf to me? No seriously...it's hard for an addict to understand why you would waste a perfectly good bevie....so what's the point?

Apparently you no-caffers are going to throw a temper tantrum with this new development from the Coffee Kings and I can't imagine what level of rioting to expect, but I can't imagine it to be a very energetic one.

Starbucks Ditches Decaf
Metrosource, 1/28/09

(Seattle, WA) -- Starbucks is ditching decaf in an effort to save money. The cash-strapped company brews fresh pots of coffee every 30 minutes and was apparently pouring a lot of decaf down the drain. As of noon today, customers who want to have "coffee without coffee" will have to special order their custom cup of java and it'll be fresh brewed just for them. Bloomberg news says Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is trying to save 400-million-dollars by September in labor and product expenses. Part of that plan includes brewing smaller pots of coffee so there's less waste.

About a month ago, Linds and I bought the Costco size bag of Dunkin' Donuts coffee grounds and I have to say I have been completely spoiled. The coffee is amazing and as a caffeine addict I know my beans.

In an effort to save money, I bought over the weekend the Costco size Maxwell House and let me tell you, it was anything but 'good to the last drop.'

Regardless, I downed it so I could function at 5 this morning at the station to help with the weather closings, but that baby is headed right back to be exchanged for the yummie stuff.

So I have to ask, why would anyone drink decaf? It's not for the taste or connoisseurship. Decaffeinated beans are regular coffee beans that have been processed and stripped of their caffeine, but with it go some of the chemicals that contribute to aroma and flavor.

Wikipedia: The process is usually performed on unroasted (green) beans, and starts with steaming of the beans. They are then rinsed in solvent that contains as much of the chemical composition of coffee as possible without also containing the caffeine in a soluble form. The process is repeated anywhere from 8 to 12 times until it meets either the international standard of having removed 97% of the caffeine in the beans or the EU standard of having the beans 99.9% caffeine free by mass. Coffee contains over 400 chemicals important to the taste and aroma of the final drink; this effectively means that no physical process or chemical reaction will remove only caffeine while leaving the other chemicals at their original concentrations.

And, you obviously aren't drinking it for the side effect of a nice energy jolt.

Is it for it's temperature or texture? If so why wouldn't you opt for a tasty bev like cocoa?

Not like this affects me personally, but since you're reading this, you are going to get my opinion anyway:

I think it may time to grow up and grab a real cup o' joe folks.

How Appropriate!

Which Starbucks Drink are you?

I am the "Quad Venti Americano"!

You are a bold, brassy individual who can be slightly intimidating to others. You don't mess around in any area of your life, and your coffee is no exception. When Starbucks introduces the Dark Roast I.V. drip, you'll be first in line. You have no time to mess around with milk, sugar or saccharine flavor syrups - you need your fix and lots of it, NOW!