February 2012

Starbucks Colombia Coffee and Colombia Via: Taste and Compare

by Melody on February 26, 2012

{ 33 comments }

Today (2-26-2012) I dropped by the Starbucks at Fourth and Union in downtown Seattle and hoped to be able to do a quick coffee tasting.  This was spontaneous.  I didn’t know who would be working and I didn’t know if they’d be too busy.

A little over one week ago, a partner in Canada (who had just been on a vacation to Mexico) mailed me a bag of Starbucks Colombia whole bean coffee.  I drooled when I got it.  Colombia is still a core coffee in a number of the international Starbucks markets.  Since I had never had the opportunity to taste and compare Colombia Via side by side with Colombia whole bean core coffee, I thought that might work as a quick and fun coffee tasting.

Three partners were there working on this Sunday morning Starbucks visit:  Helen, Aaron, and Jenny were all very interested in trying a quick coffee tasting.  It was a Sunday morning, and luckily, I seemed to time this with a slower moment in the store.  Aaron told me that he wants to start his coffee master training, and that he is really interested in getting more coffee tasting experience.  He made a French press of the Colombia and prepared everything.

I have to say we loved the Colombia whole bean coffee.  Aaron and I were totally impressed with the beautiful nutty flavor, and the smooth texture, and light cocoa notes too.  This is a near perfect cup of coffee.  Aaron commented that he liked it just slightly better than the Guatamela Antigua which had been a favorite core coffee of his.

The Colombia Via Ready Brew was also quite good, and held its own quite well.  I could detect some nuttiness to it, though it lacked the beautiful aroma found in the whole bean version.  Suddenly I did appreciate the Colombia Via more than I had before, and bought a pack of it to take home.  Although I like darker coffees, I really do enjoy a nice ‘medium’ roast too, and the Colombia is definitely that.

Aaron and I chatted about tastings a bit, and I decided that I would do a roundup of numerous previous coffee tasting articles on this blog to make them a little easier to find.  Here you go:

  • The Roast You Love the Most media event – (Food pairing) This was a coffee tasting that I went to at Olive Way Starbucks, and it was produced by Olive Way and the Starbucks PR department.  I was there with a number of other local bloggers.  This was a superbly well thought out coffee tasting of Veranda, Pike Place Roast, and Italian.  Anton at Olive Way is really good at putting on highly professional coffee events!
  • Ethiopia Hararr, Aged Sumatra, and more – (Food pairing) This was one of the regularly scheduled Olive Way coffee tasting events.  This again was an extremely professional, well thought out coffee tasting.  The Hararr was paired with the raisins from the Perfect Oatmeal, and that turned out to be a superb choice.  I hope you’ll read this one too!
  • The “butter” coffee tasting: Anniversary Blend - (Food pairing) This was a unique opportunity to try Anniversary Blend with some butter.  It really demonstrates some unusual things you can do to learn about, and try coffee. Mikey (also known as “Mr. Opportunity” – Just look at the window cling) put on a world-class tasting.
  • Sumatra Tapanuli and Rwanda Gakenke - (Taste and Compare – No food) At this Olive Way Starbucks event, coffee masters from the corporate headquarters hosted a special coffee tasting of new Reserve coffee offerings.  (Actually, all the food at this event was provided after we tried the coffees, as to not interfere with the comparison of the coffees.)
  • A barista earns her black apron – Christmas Blend, Pike Place Roast, and two Reserve coffees – (Food pairing) This was a coffee tasting event at the 6th and Union Starbucks (in downtown Seattle) produced by a barista earning her black apron.  It was a really fun event featuring four coffees, and especially great to see a partner given her black apron!
  • Casi Cielo coffee tasting at Olive Way – (Food pairing) This was one of the regularly scheduled Olive Way coffee tasting events.  Absolutely wonderful food pairings with Casi Cielo.  This store really has a knack for professional coffee events.
  • Bali Blend and core Starbucks Sumatra coffee – (Taste and compare) This was another one of my spontaneous moments where I dropped by my neighborhood Starbucks (7th and Pike), and wondered if the partners wanted to try one of the rare international coffees – Bali Blend.  This was a very classic, “taste and compare” style event, and we compared Bali Blend with the core Sumatra coffee at Starbucks.  Really a fantastic fun quick tasting.
  • Coffee tasting: Cupping Mexico blend – (Cupping) Mexico Blend is one of the international Starbucks coffee, and at this event we did a traditional “cupping” which is the coffee tasting method used by roasters to check for coffee quality.  It’s actually difficult to find a cupping at a Starbucks because most stores are not set up to do them.  Although this is a very old blog article, I thought I’d shine a spotlight on it too.
  • Galapogas Island Roasting event – This was not a coffee tasting really, but I wanted to mention this too.  There are regular roasting events at the Starbucks headquarters, and this was one of the very few times that I had the chance to go to one.  It was just a heck of a lot of fun, and something that I still look back very fondly on, and thankful that I had this opportunity.
  • Three Region Blend and plums – (Food pairing)  I asked two coffee masters at the First and Pike Starbucks to help me out in figuring out a way to feature Three Region Blend in a coffee tasting.  This is a really old blog post, and those partners aren’t even at that store anymore (I think they’re both still partners, just at different stores) but what they came up with was an incredibly superb selection of foods that highlight the best flavors of Three Region Blend.  Those two partners (Heidi and Jeremy) are true lovers of the bean, and have a natural knack for coffee tastings.
  • Sumatra Lake Toba – (Cupping) – A quick cupping event at 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea Starbucks featuring Sumatra Lake Toba coffee.
  • Organic Blue Java and a donut – (Food pairing) – This was an incredibly fast coffee tasting of Blue Java with a donut.  I just dropped by the First and Pike Starbucks, and caught up with Emily who radiates tons of passion for Starbucks.  She’s still a partner, just a different store now.  This is a really old blog post, but it shows how you can do a coffee tasting on the fly!
  • Breakfast Blend Via compared with Breakfast Blend whole bean – (Cupping) – I dropped by 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea Starbucks, which in the past has had regularly scheduled coffee events.  I suggested the idea of comparing a Via with its whole bean counterpart, and Amanda (who is an incredibly knowledgeable barista, and since then has been promoted in the headquarters) ran with the idea, and she set up this cupping.

There are more coffee tastings on this blog, but I think I’ll stop right there.  By the way, I mentally categorize coffee events into three categories: Cuppings, Food Pairings, and Taste and Compare.  This is NOT an official Starbucks categorization, but it seems to work for me to describe the most common ways to learn about coffee.  And, I am of the opinion that to learn the most about coffee, one should experience all three of these.

I am having some computer problems at the moment, and so I’m just using whatever computer I can right now.  I took these photos (from today’s Colombia tasting) on my phone on a low resolution setting so that I wouldn’t have to use a photo editor to re-size them.  Sorry that they’re not great quality.

Thank you again Aaron and everyone at the Fourth and Union Starbucks for a great quick tasting!

~Melody

(Edit:  After I wrote this article, I realized that some U.S. grocery stores sell Starbucks Colombia coffee!  That is a great find in the grocery store!)

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What’s new at the Starbucks Coffee Gear Store: Mini Update February 2012

by Melody on February 24, 2012

{ 18 comments }

Just a  quick update on new merchandise at the Starbucks Coffee Gear store:

Today (February 20, 2012) I dropped by the Starbucks Coffee Gear store at the headquarters to see what was new.  It’s only been about one month since I was last there, but as my readers know, I genuinely enjoy logo merchandise, and so I visit whenever I get the chance.  I blogged about my last visit to this store here:

What’s New At The Coffee Gear Store – January 2012

It wasn’t until I got to the coffee gear store that I realized that I had completely forgotten my camera.  I did have my phone with me, and so I took a few pictures, but my apologies that the quality of the pics aren’t as good as usual.

These logo coasters were one of the first things to catch my eye:

Those are a very cute idea!  I think they would sell well in the stores too.  In fact, I definitely remember that coasters were a regular item for sale in the stores in years past.

Another thing that caught my eye is the new insulated grocery tote.  It’s something you could take to the grocery store to place your cold goods in or use for a picnic. Here’s a picture of it:

There are always a variety of t-shirts at the coffee gear store, including the standard black polos that baristas wear in the stores.  I noticed that the store is now offering a seasonal St. Patrick’s Day shirt!  Sorry the photo isn’t so great.   I know I mentioned this earlier, but I had only my phone with me:

I only took a couple other photos.  I bought a passport holder for myself while I was there today.  I thought I might put my real passport (not my coffee passport) inside it -  it’s not a new item, but I definitely like it.  So here are the rest of the photos:

 

Just as a reminder, the coffee gear is located inside the Starbucks headquarters.  It operates normal business hours, Monday through Friday.  It is not open on the weekends, and it’s closed on holidays.  Here’s the address:

Starbucks Coffee Gear Store
Starbucks Headquarters
2401 Utah Avenue South – 8th Floor
Seattle, WA 98134

Recently, I received an email where a reader asked me if the a person could pay with a Starbucks card at the Coffee Gear store.  I double checked on that today, and the answer is that a Starbucks card is not an acceptable form of payment at this time.  John, the store manager, said that it’s a functionality that they are looking to add to their registers at some point, but at least right now, you can’t pay with a Starbucks card.  If you are a partner, you can get your partner discount on the merchandise in this store.

If you are a customer and you want this unusual merchandise, you need a trip to Seattle!  If you are a partner, you can also find this merchandise online at the online Coffee Gear store.

The FTC requires disclosure of any product or consideration in conjunction with any blog article.  Today, when I walked into the store, John immediately recognized me.  As I was looking around, he (and a co-worker of his) quickly put together a small gift bag for me!  I was quite flattered.  He had a few Starbucks t-shirts (not featured in this article) that were mislabeled when it comes to size (and thus could not be sold), and so he gave a me a t-shirt, and a couple of keychains (not featured) that had the old logo on them, and a few pens (not featured).  So in other words, “Starbucks has provided some promotional consideration.”   I don’t think John really intended that I would write a blog post because he gave me a t-shirt, but I want to make extra certain that I comply with full disclosure.  Each time I receive product in conjunction with a blog post, you’ll see this disclosure.

On a separate topic, as I mentioned above, I received an email about whether the Starbucks Card was a valid form of payment at this store.  This blog definitely generates some email, and I don’t answer all the emails that I receive.  I tried to clean up the blog to make it extra clear that I do not work for Starbucks, and so I added a statement that I am not Customer Service in the side column.  I think that has helped some, and slowed down customer service related emails being sent to me.   A number of the emails have repeat topics in them.  So just as a reminder, if you want to work for Starbucks, please follow @StarbucksJobs on twitter and/or check out their career center online.  If you want to buy  any kind of Starbucks merchandise, including city mugs or any kind of mugs, tumblers, or merchandise items, eBay is still probably your best bet.  And if for some reason you have had an experience in the store that was not to your satisfaction, your best bet is to contact Starbucks Customer Service.

For those who are reading my Seattle’s Best blog, I wrote a very short article about Seattle’s Best merchandise at the Coffee Gear store:  Seattle’s Best merchandise at the Starbucks coffee gear store.

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed this quick update!

 

 

 

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My Starbucks Rewards coupon: $1 off Perfect Oatmeal

by Melody on February 22, 2012

{ 46 comments }

The latest My Starbucks Rewards coupon is $1 off Perfect Oatmeal (or some people got a coupon for a free oatmeal).

It feels like it has been eons since I have written about coupons that are a part of being enrolled My Starbucks Rewards.  I just got one in the mail yesterday (2/18/12), and it prompted this blog article.  As a reminder, being enrolled in My Starbucks Rewards as a “Gold” level member makes a person eligible for special coupon offers.  As I have written many times before, a customer must get a  Starbucks card, load money on it, and then register it at Starbucks.com/card.  After 3o uses of the card (must be within a year) the card is elevated to the “Gold” level of perks: This means that customers then receive free drink coupons in the mail, and a shiny gold card with his or her name on it.  You do NOT have to switch to the shiny gold card.  A customer’s perk level is registered with the profile at Starbucks.com/card, not any specific card.  And when setting up your profile (or editing it), a customer must opt into the postal mailings from Starbucks otherwise he or she will not receive any of these special coupons.

I don’t think this is the most recent coupon by MyStarbucks Rewards.  Last fall, when Starbucks launched the “Everything Bagel,” I am sure there were coupons for a free bagel.  I saw a few people using them as I stood in line, but I didn’t receive one myself.  It seems as though that every one of these coupons goes out to a pre-selected subset of the many gold card holders out there.  It’s totally mysterious to me how Starbucks picks who will get what.  I only know that I haven’t received all of them.  As to the oatmeal coupon, through twitter I know that some customers received a free oatmeal coupon, and some received the one dollar off coupon.

Just as a reminder, all of the above information pertains to the U.S. version of the Starbucks card rewards.  The perks aren’t the same from country to country (for those countries that have launched a card loyalty program).

I remember the first generation of card perks being launched in April 2008, shortly after being announced at the March 2008 shareholders meeting.  The program has been through changes and tweaks since then.  There is a part of me that wonders if Starbucks was totally caught off guard at the explosion of people registering their cards in the four years that have flown by.  On the Investor Relations page at Starbucks.com, you can stream investor quarterly conference calls, and at the most recent quarterly call, I recall hearing that something like almost one in four transactions is with a Starbucks card.  That is a lot.  That is an astonishing number.  I suspect that there are well over a million gold card holders.  I don’t know the current number, but I think I’ve heard that  number somewhere before.  And according to the most recent annual report, at the end of fiscal 2011, Starbucks cards had 46 million dollars loaded on them.  (“For the fiscal years ended October 2, 2011, October 3, 2010, and September 27, 2009, income recognized on unredeemed stored value card  balances was $46.9 million, $31.2 million, and $26.0 million, respectively.”)   Also, in the recent 2011 annual report, it indicates that there are about 3.6 million active members of this loyalty program.  What this means is that it is a HUGE program.  And there is a huge benefit to Starbucks.  The card does create loyalty, brand awareness, drives increased store visits, and probably gives Starbucks a database to analyze too!

None of the above paragraph has anything to do with Perfect Oatmeal, but I think it is stunning how huge a program the MyStarbucksRewards program really is, and it reinforces the importance that partners know the card rewards backwards and forwards – millions of people have them.

So did you get the $1 off Oatmeal coupon?  I know I will use it.  I like the oatmeal anyways!

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Contest: Find chalkboard art drawn by Starbucks baristas (you don’t have to be an artist to enter)

by Melody on February 19, 2012

{ 24 comments }

Welcome to the second Starbucks barista art contest at StarbucksMelody.com.  It has been two full years since I’ve done this, and since I really do enjoy barista chalk art, I’m trying this contest a again.  It’s almost the identical contest from two years ago.  Here was the 2010 blog post announcing the chalk art contest:

http://www.starbucksmelody.com/2010/02/11/a-barista-art-contest/

And here were the 2010 winners and entries:

http://www.starbucksmelody.com/2010/03/07/the-starbucks-chalk-art-contest-entries-and-winners/

I so enjoyed finding chalkboard art that I created a whole category about it here (Chalkboard art and partner creativity).

I’m really convinced that there has to be a lot more of this hidden wonderful talent in the Starbucks stores.  I’m on a mission to find it.  That’s the goal of this contest. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE AN ARTIST OR A BARISTA TO PARTICIPATE:  All you have to do is go snap a photograph of barista-created art and follow the rules listed below!  By the way, if you are a barista in a licensed store, or find great chalk art in a licensed store, that works too.

In order to make the contest worthwhile and entice people to join in, the prizes will be THREE grand prize winners, each winning a $50.00 Starbucks gift card.  But there are a lot of rules!! Please read carefully!

All the rules are numbered 1 through 20 below:

  1. All entrants must be in the United States, Canada, Australia, or the UK.
  2. No barista artwork featured can be produced with stencils.
  3. All art work must have been on display inside a Starbucks store within the past 90 days of this blog entry.
  4. The art work must be on a standard Starbucks chalkboard. This is not an oil-painting, or watercolor or some other kind of art contest.
  5. All entry photographs become property of StarbucksMelody.com, and you agree that they may be featured in a future blog post at StarbucksMelody.com.  You agree any watermarking of the photo by StarbucksMelody.com.
  6. All entries must be received no later than 6:00 p.m. (Pacific Standard Time) on Friday March 30, 2012.
  7. All entrants must be over 18.
  8. In the event that the same art gets photographed twice by two different people, the person who submits it to me first in time is credited with the entry, and the later in time entry is void ab initio.
  9. Enter by emailing me a photograph of the artwork at Melody@StarbucksMelody.com.
  10. All email entries must include a first and last name, and a mailing address for a prize in case you’re a winner.
  11. IF, you have a twitter profile, please include that in the email too.
  12. No entry can be a photograph smaller than 300 x 300.
  13. All entries must be a “jpg” file format type.
  14. All entries must include the store information (store address, and store number too if possible) where the art work is on display currently.
  15. If the person submitting the entry is the barista who did the artwork, please speak up and say so!
  16. You may submit more than one entry.
  17. Winners will be picked entirely subjectively by “Starbucks Melody” deciding what she likes best.
  18. Again, no stencil art!
  19. No person may win more than one $50 gift certificate.
  20. Void where prohibited by law.

One of the very frustrating things that happened last time is that I had people tweeting me links to random art, and completely disregarding the above rules.  I apologize for having rules, but to keep this organized and fair, if you want your entry to be considered, you really do need to follow the above list of rules.

Just as a reminder, you can take photos in a Starbucks.  Generally speaking, professionals who are using photos in such a way to earn a living from them (such as journalists from news sources, or major bloggers who make a living from their blogging) need to contact press@starbucks.com or other media contacts before taking photos, but customers may take pictures in a store for their personal use.  My understanding (so I hear) is that when Starbucks released an app for the Valentine’s Day cup, there was an email with a reminder at the bottom that customers may take photos in the store. I haven’t actually seen the email, but I’ve heard that there was this recent reminder.

The only way this will work will be to get lots of people involved, so I am counting on my readers to share this via Facebook, or tweet this, or retweet this too.  For those following me on twitter, please know that you might see this same article tweeted numerous times between now and March 30, 2012.  Please be patient!

I am really looking forward to what you come up with. I know for sure there is lots of talent in stores.

(Photo of chalks courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.)

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The LCD screen at Starbucks: A tribute to the disappearing “Now Playing” screen.

February 18, 2012
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This is my tribute to the “Now Playing” digital screens found in some Starbucks stores: There was a time when Starbucks was actively pursuing expansion into the music and movie industry.  As the number of CDs sold at stores swelled, Starbucks began to install LCD screens at hundreds of stores, mostly in California, Washington, New [...]

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Starbucks launching the Trenta nationwide on March 6, 2012. (Open Thread)

February 16, 2012

Starbucks will be launching the Trenta cup nationwide on March 6, 2012.  Granted, I have not verified this but I’ve heard this several times over.  Interestingly, I hear that Canada is not getting the Trenta yet. The last time I wrote about the Trenta was back in January of last year.  I recommend going back [...]

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The Starbucks Community Service Page – Major updates and improvements

February 13, 2012
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The Starbucks Community Service page has gone through a major overhaul – and it appears to be all major improvements! Here’s the link that I want to highlight, and encourage you to join: http://community.starbucks.com/index.jspa To be honest, I don’t know exactly when this change happened.  It’s significant enough that I thought I should point it [...]

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Milk steaming pitchers at Starbucks

February 11, 2012
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I almost feel like I should apologize for this blog post right off the bat because it probably won’t be interesting to many readers.  Nonetheless, one day this past week I was in one of my regular Starbucks, and the bar barista exclaimed to me how much he liked using the new milk steaming pitchers.  [...]

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What would be your pick for a summer syrup at Starbucks this year? (Open thread)

February 10, 2012

Just for fun, if you could pick out a seasonal syrup for Starbucks to offer as a summer promotional beverage, what would it be? A long-time reader of this blog went on vacation to Mexico in January this year, visiting Starbucks while he was there.  The reader (Nathan, a partner in Canada) discovered that in [...]

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Starbucks to close Smith Tower store February 17, 2012: Farewell to a great store!

February 7, 2012
Thumbnail image for Starbucks to close Smith Tower store February 17, 2012: Farewell to a great store!

I’m saddened to hear that Starbucks will be permanently closing their Smith Tower location, at the corner of Yesler and Second.  Its final day of business is Friday, February 17, 2012.  Farewell to a wonderful store!  I know lots of colleagues and friends that are fervent fans of this location.   For myself, when Starbucks launched [...]

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