Starbucks' new "Pike Place Roast"
Okay, so I saw a news report last night...a press release, obviously...about the new "Pike Place Roast" being released by Starbucks at all their cafes tomorrow morning. To be available everyday and forever as the benchmark for quality coffee cuz they will now use only the best, most freshest beans that, if you check out their website, REQUIRE a dark roast. Their experts must taste this amazingly groundbreaking brew something like 800 times a day to make sure it's consistant.
To me this is just the icing on the cake proving what everyone already knows about the megalomaniacal company that they have become. Howard has completely outed himself and his company as the brutal coffee butchers they have been for as long as I can remember by attempting to market this "new" concept verses their tried and true dark roast, months old, superautomated push button derived heinousnous. They have admitted they blow and always did by making this change in response to all their stock price dropping woes and store closures. Forgive me for repeating, but, how perfect is it that their press release states that these freshest of the fresh beans REQUIRE a dark roast? Brutal. Do they not have a single true coffee person amongst them? Apparently not.
Rant over...thanks for indulging my poorly written diatribe. All that being said it is a testament to those in the specialty coffee industry, this website completely included, who continue to develop their skills and interests in fostering quality at all levels and allow coffee to taste the way it should rather than the homogenized dark roast licorice know as Starbucks.
Cheers to you all!!! Please feel free to add to this with whatever info you deem worthy (including shots at me if you so desire). Apologies for being negative, but I can't take seeing this stuff in the news any longer and not attempting to start some sort of groundswell of education to counter their misleading propaganda. People already have, I know this, but it feels like more people are paying attention and learning about coffee, otherwise they wouldn't have to make such a move.
To me this is just the icing on the cake proving what everyone already knows about the megalomaniacal company that they have become. Howard has completely outed himself and his company as the brutal coffee butchers they have been for as long as I can remember by attempting to market this "new" concept verses their tried and true dark roast, months old, superautomated push button derived heinousnous. They have admitted they blow and always did by making this change in response to all their stock price dropping woes and store closures. Forgive me for repeating, but, how perfect is it that their press release states that these freshest of the fresh beans REQUIRE a dark roast? Brutal. Do they not have a single true coffee person amongst them? Apparently not.
Rant over...thanks for indulging my poorly written diatribe. All that being said it is a testament to those in the specialty coffee industry, this website completely included, who continue to develop their skills and interests in fostering quality at all levels and allow coffee to taste the way it should rather than the homogenized dark roast licorice know as Starbucks.
Cheers to you all!!! Please feel free to add to this with whatever info you deem worthy (including shots at me if you so desire). Apologies for being negative, but I can't take seeing this stuff in the news any longer and not attempting to start some sort of groundswell of education to counter their misleading propaganda. People already have, I know this, but it feels like more people are paying attention and learning about coffee, otherwise they wouldn't have to make such a move.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Spencer on
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Anybody stop by and sample a free cup?
Is the coffee good or was this just marketing hype?
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Permalink Reply by Mark on
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I did stop in 2 Starbucks locations recently to see what the changes overall are and they are definitely going after the neighborhood coffee shops feel.......
1)signs posted on doors now say: "neighborhoods best espresso"
2)Pike's Peak Blend is "fresh scooped" into paper bags (from their larger valve bags it looked like) for the customer. No, I didn't try any, just got a green tea!
3) cups now say "fresh roasted coffee" on them
4) pics of friendly baristas adorn the shop with more info about how drinks are made and correctly
5) staffs in general are happier and more personable; definitely re energized from the past few years and they have more staff per shift now too it seems.
of course we all know appearances can be deceiving; just means we all have to step up to further exceed each customers expectations in service, quality and knowldege.
Mark
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Permalink Reply by Jason Dominy on
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O.K. I did something I have not done in over 6 years. Went into a Charbucks. I received a free card in the USA Today yesterday for a 12 oz. Pikes Place blend every Wednesday. Everyone at the Roastery was wondering about what it would taste like, so I did the unthinkable when I ventured into the Charbucks a block away from our original Dilworth Coffee. I will say this.
1. I did not smell the coffee smell I am used to smelling in coffeehouses everywhere. Whatever Howie was talking about ain't happening with that one.
2. The stores seemed as generic as I pictured they would be.
3. Now to the coffee, the Pikes Place Blend. It still tastes burnt. It reminds me of Latins roasted too dark. A hint of some sweetness, but is masked on the backend with the taste of burnt marshmallows. Yep, still bad. But now daily. Ah, job security.
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Permalink Reply by Mark Inman on
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I went with a few members of my staff yesterday. I was actually a bit excited to get up and attend this "Event." that has been well hyped in the media.
I started the morning watching Howard on quite a few financial shows add spin to this monumental day, saying how this will be the turn-around of his ( as pointed out by the various show hosts) fledgling stock.
Here are the claims by Howard Schultz that I used as my measuring stick this morning:
1. "Today, Starbucks will REVOLUTIONIZE coffee brewing in America."
2. "Pikes Place Roast is the highest quality coffee we have EVER put out."
I expected to see lines of people in front of the store waving Sbux flags, celebrating the Revolution (A vision similar go Fidel and Che' in the Streets of Havana after the fall of Batista). I was surprised to see very little promotion or fanfare.
The staff seemed to know very little about the coffee. They did say it was a blend of Central American coffees. There was a little display with the bags and some promo material off to the side. Very few customers seemed to notice or show any interest.
The coffee was surprisingly flat, albeit smooth, with a flavor of cigar tobacco and light ash. It tasted past-croppy to me lacking the sweet, juicy, bright and vibrant tones that many Central American coffees are known for. On the other hand- very few Centrals are actually in, so this is not a huge surprise. The coffee did taste like it was freshly brewed on relatively clean equipment. Overall, I was very under-whelmed.
Howard did not accomplish any of the 2 goals he claimed. I still claim that his big announcements will get less and less play unless he is able to REALLY deliver on future PR schemes. I know I am not alone in this belief as enough share holders were equally un-impressed to send the stock tumbling 33 cents or 1.8% yesterday, 50 cents or 2.81% today.
Mark Inman
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Couldn't agree with you more, and if you read my assessment, I said much the same thing. A swing and a miss.
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Permalink Reply by Brady on
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Ok, went too. Also underwhelmed, and ended up with that same old "cigar mouth" aftertaste. Honestly, how was this news? I just don't get it.
Too bad some organization with the same sort of marketing clout doesn't do a little press release broadcasting how all of this just (poorly) parrots what the collective indie community has been doing for years... but I guess that's not really news.
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Interesting; I haven't heard any of Schultz's' hoopla regarding Pike's Peak or anything else for that matter after the stores had their shutdown that one day to corporately learn how to pull a shot and make drinks properly. I have a friend who works for Starbucks who continues to be miserable; yet, like I said in my previous post, I was amazed at how friendly the two stores I hit were. I always have friends who want to meet at one location since it's central and close to the highway so even though I don't drink their coffee, I knew how ambivalent the staff had been and clueless. I may be alone on this one here, but the friendly attitudes and almost helpful way the employees are acting here in CT go quite a way for the service aspect even when the coffee tastes like crap to use who are also in the industry. If it raises the bar solely in that aspect it will benefit us who produce something better and can also speak to it with our customers.
Mark
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Yeah... I did notice that the cashier was uber-friendly this time. She pretty much flagged me down through a loose cluster of oblivious cell-phone-talking, menu-reading indecisives to take my order. I was kind of shocked at the time, and chalked it up to her maybe thinking I was hot - but in retrospect it was probably the new attitude.
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Yeah. Definitely the new attitude. ;-)
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Permalink Reply by Christian on
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I tried it the other day - wrote about it on my blog so I won't repeat myself too much, but it seemed to me slightly, just slightly better than what you otherwise get. Perhaps - and this just may be my optimism - a little ray of hope. Actually what I'd like to do it get some beans and brew them at home. I think that might almost be a better test. Even Starbucks "fresh roasting" is likely to create a less good brew than what I could create in press pot or even a pour over drip. Anyone tried this.
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