We'll start this weekend's OPEN THREAD with coffee taste-test results

Ouch! Starbucks failed to make the first-level of winners ("The BEST brews") in a test of 32 coffees. Chicago roasters Metropolis and Intelligentsia were the top winners, and I'll confirm -- as a customer of both roaster/retailers -- that they're excellent coffees. Starbucks showed up in the "These were SATISFYING, too" category. Discuss the results  -- or anything else Starbucks/coffee-related in the OPEN THREAD. (Chicago Tribune)

Comments

[DT]

not really "surprising" but interesting as Chicago has always been a "core" market for SBUX.

Confirms what we all already know though

I wonder when they do these taste tests, who chooses which Starbucks coffee to test against the other brands? I mean how many roasts, blends and beans of origin does the company carry now? And what is the guideline they use to decide which one to sample? I mean if they were to sample something like Breakfast Blend from Starbucks next to an aged indonesian coffee from another company there is going to be a noticeable difference. As far as brewed coffee goes, each week there is something different brewing in Starbucks, where as most places offer the same brewed coffee every day. I am a fan of most Starbucks coffees but I admit there are certain coffees I just don't like and would never order, like Ethiopia Sidamo, where as if Sumatra is on tap I would pass up my grande lattee anytime for a cup of Sumatra.

[Renaissance_Girl]

I forgot to put my name on that post, sorry.
~Renaissance_Girl

Let's see... BIg, mass production/inventory retailer that has to be able to buy "good" beans in volume to make large enough quantities of its premium coffees, or small independent/local coffee chain, which can buy small amounts of high quality beans since it only has to handle a smaller customer base.

YOU figure out who is going to have the better testing cup of coffee.

[JT]

Well, the "holidays" are here at Starbucks, although it is hard to tell which one. Almost ALL decorations have been sanitized, although some indicate a "tree" of some sort.

And the marketing literature let slip in a few places and actually printed the word "Christmas" - see advent calendar. I am sure someone at SBHQ is going to get fired for that.

I must say the "holiday" schwag this year is pretty boring. Other than the candy cane mugs, there is nothing I would even want to buy, and I am a SB schwag collector.

Plus the in-store "decorations" are boring this year.

ok enough of my merry "cheer" TM, (C) Starbucks 2008.

The gingerbread latte is so good, I can't believe I once doubted it...

http://henryevil.blogspot.com/2007/11/evil-food-item-starbucks-gingerbread.html

[customer]

This "test" is meaningless, as they just went in various coffee shops and ordered a cup of coffee. No side by side comparisons, no blind tests and no controlled atmosphere at all. Whose to say that they didn't choose the "best" coffee on the basis of the cute cashier or the store's decor or they just chose their usual brand?

But still common sense tells you that regardless of most roasts, SB will rarely be on the top of many best tasting lists.

SB has to be able to buy VAST quantities of the required beans for mass production of a given flavor/roast. Because of these quantities, they are not going to be able to buy the same quality of bean, otherwise prices would skyrocket. Smaller coffee chains/independent stores can "afford" to buy smaller quantities of premium beans for their blends, so their roasts will taste better.

[embean]

I would say considering the customer base and size of the company, Starbucks has the best coffee and does an excellent job of ensuring quality. Is it the best coffee ever? Definitely not. It does not even compare to some of the "best" coffees out there.

[Customer with a Voice]

I've filled out a few of the Starbucks surveys (starbuckscustomervoice.com) and always give the information so I'm part of the monthly $1,000 drawing. I have yet to win, but I want to know who did -- and confirm that they're actually giving out the $1,000.

Is there a website/hotline/person to contact to get the name of each month's winner? HOW DO I FIND OUT WHO WON? Thanks in advance.

[Pat Nerr]

Not a very scientific survey for sure. I still believe that Starbucks has some of the best coffees around... Hands down.

I just wish they get back to it as a core item... but that's a different topic.

[Stuckinthedrivethru]

My question is... We're being very P.C. when it comes to the Holiday/Christmas time... I was corrected by one of my supervisors while they were working on Siren's Eye because I said we were getting ready for Christmas. My question is, if we're being so careful not to offend anyone, how come we are brewing "Christmas Blend" and not "Holiday Blend." (And I am aware that they are the same thing) Another thing, I live in the Bible belt in Texas and in my time at Starbucks which includes two years of Holiday as a barista and several as a customer, I've never actually seen Holiday Blend bags. Are they more common in other places in the country?

[SantaClauseVomitedAllOverThePlace]

I haven't heard back about any winners of the Customer Voice money. But I did find it interesting when the results from our surveys did come in. I'm looking forward to see what our DM has to say about how we're doing. I know we always heard from the DMs whenever Snapshots came in.

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

As you all may guess, I am one of the least PC customers out there. I do wish my customers a "Merry Christmas" before they all head out. Its the right thing to do because I'm sure they all enjoy it. However, it would be funny if they had a Festivus Blend!

I do not really care one way or the other re: holiday/Christmas. I just find it hypocritical to celebrate what is OBVIOUSLY the Christmas holiday, with the token Hannakah nod (Menora kit in store), with obvious Xmas decorations (though sanitized) and to also try to take advantage of the gift giving that occurs this time of year.

If you are not going to acknowledge Christmas, as Christmas, don't acknowledge the holiday period at all. Just my opinion.

[Renaissance_Girl]

I already bought the candy cane mug. I liked the shape of it. But yes some years the decorations are much better then others. I did like last years with the white cut outs of city winter scenes. At least they have learned to stay with red as the primary holiday colour rather then that one year they did blues and purples (how was that even wintery? other then being cold depressed colours?)

I think the "best coffee" title is subjective. They need to include origin of the bean, roasting technique, brewing style etc to all be comparible to eachother. If they just randomly walk into different stores and order a cup of coffee with no specifications there is no consistancy in the "testing". It would be like ordering a house wine in restaurants ranging from neighbour hood pub to five star, you could be drinking anything from vinegar brewed in a country you've never heard of to the most expensive pinot noir there is. How do you compare that?

And are we talking black drip? Brewed in a pot sitting on an element? Brewed in a sealed thermal urn? Was there milk, cream, half and half, or milk substitute? All these things are influencial factors not taken into consideration I'm sure.

Ok yes I am being overly anal here but you get the point....I'll shut up now :)

[Lindsay]

I'm generally for being PC but I have to admit that I think it just mainly confuses our customers to be selling the SAME blend under two different names. Admittedly, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out.

And I love working for Starbucks but when I lived in Chicago I was always happy to pop into Intellegentsia downtown! Although their baristas tend to be pretty snobby to the uneducated coffee drinker.

[No Name]

Month Winner Name City/State

April Winner Kelly A. Milwaukee, WI
May Winner Michael M. Rockford, IL
June Winner Glenn D. Cedarfalls, IA
July Winner (blank)
August Winner Jessica L. Chilliwack, BC
September Winner (blank)

This is off the sweepstakes rules page.

[Chantal Marie Hernandez]

Why are there only five listings for five months? There should be fifty listings, as the survey says there are ten winners per month. I filled out the survey and also noticed that only ONE submission per person per month is allowed.

That means, Customer With A Voice, that even if you did win, it would be invalid because you (by your own admission, and plus they cross-reference other submissions) submitted the survey multiple times.

It pays off to read.

[Darleen]

The webmaster needs to find this fake pat and ban his ass from here. This is ridiculous that someone can not post as their own name. Reminds me of that whole "darleen's _____ crap that went on for weeks. Can't you find a way to stop the identity theives?

[Chantal Marie Hernandez]

Darleen's what?

No one better be messin' with my Darleen...

I'm writing this as I just wanted to say that I have been really upset with working for Starbucks lately. It really does seem that they're heading in the wrong direction and Starbucks corporate doesn't seem to be the brightest of the bunch.
Firstly, the company is ridiculously unprofitable for someone charging such a huge markup on the product. Perhaps it would make sense to keep sandwiches longer than one day especially if they're safe to eat the next day? And selling pastries that actually sell? This manifests itself in the stock price which is the lowest in two years.
Also, I'm surprised by the range of employees, ranging from the absolutely amazing and overly polite to those that bark at you god forbid you say your order wrong.
The homeless people continuously mess with the store and the customers, we're their bathroom. They steal from us, mess up the bathroom, and scream at customers, some of whom are already used to it. We are told to ignore it as we're afraid of lawsuits. Hence,I conclude that the legal team sucks as they've met their match in the homeless.
Finally, a shift at my store has managed to infuriate everyone, tell other employees to go f**k themselves in front of customers,get countless complaints from customers, get complaints from other stores simply trying to borrow things. The guy flirts with every woman in the store (they're not happy),manages to get everything wrong, you will get screamed at for the smallest things. Everyone, including the DM is aware of the problem. He has been here for six months now, apparently you need loads of writeups before you get fired, otherwise SBUX is afraid of getting sued(or employees are just fed bs).
What bothers me most about this is that Starbucks is a great company with great people and huge potential. I hope that this goes as positive constructive criticism, so that even if I'm not working there a few months from now, I can later come back as a customer and enjoy it.

[Chantal Marie Hernandez]

On that note, I help run a law enforcement blog/forum with my sister (a BART Police Officer in San Francisco) and my brother (a Broward county Sheriff's Deputy) and we used to have public forums, where users could post anonymously (kinda like here) but that got out of hand with users slandering Officers and spam, so we made it registered users only. Now anyone can read it but must be a member to post content.

There really isn't a way to ban individual users based on their IP since this website is hosted by a third-party company and the webmaster, while he does have some control, doesn't have the capability to ban specific IP addresses from posting..but he can remove offending posts.

Webmaster, our blog is hosted by Blogspot as well...

[Pat Nerr]

Darleen... That last Pat Nerr was the fake. It should subside as the webmaster now has my IP... he may start deleting the fakes

It is another insider posting though...

[JT]

If you are referring to me, as John T...

1. It is JEFF T
2. Trust me, I have many things better to do than impersonate you. But it is interesting you select me? As you (both of you) and I have never had any sort of discussion/argument.

[Des]

The heck with the "Christmas" politically correct issue. Someone at corporate has lost their minds. Either that, or they're just dame bramaged.

So I'm breaking out the last of the Siren's Eye Thursday morning and cleaning up the back room where the elves were at work until three in the morning (and we're a teensy store, too!). Come across the box with the leftover mittens and the plastic green pic things that go into the holiday drinks. I take them over to the bar to find an empty cube to put them in, and lo and behold I notice something so incorrect I can't believe it got past the most addled corporate execs around.

Anyone here grow up in the 80's? Many moons ago Mickey D's used to have different coffee stirrers. Instead of the paddle version they have now, it used to be a incredibly small spoon on the end. The druggies of years past will giggle remembering this. Someone finally heard of the memo from the underground. . . these things made GREAT coke spoons. Someone there pulled the plug on em and that's why they have the paddle stirrers today.

So I'm standing there by the bar, looking at the cube of these little pic things. We've reverted twenty-something years back in time. We are now putting little coke spoons into everyone's holiday drink.

Now THAT'S what I call CHEER!

[Pat Nerr]

JT... do you think the real Pat Nerr would accuse you?

Is that Pat Nerr v1 or Pat Nerr v2?

just kidding.

[JT]

the above comment was from me.

As an addition, I LOVE the eggnog scones this season! Cranberry bliss, not so much.

[valenciabarista]

Just curious if anyone has tasted the new Shortbread Latte this year? Its a test drink so not many places do have it. My store in Valencia happens to have it, A lot of people like it, but quite a few have said it tastes like medicine. Any feedback from people who have had it yet?

[POQ]

DES-
I have no idea what you are referring to...coke spoons? We aren't putting any particular stirrers or spoons into our customer's holiday drinks. Did I miss something?

[valenciabarista]

Thanks Pat. I am not an espresso drinker myself so I didn't care for the latte, but I tried to make a Shortbread Creme Frappuccino and I would never suggest it to anybody! the Shortbread cookie cumbs we put on top are the best thing about the drink, in my opinion.

[Yellowsnow Frappuccino]

Pat... what say ye of the new Yellowsnow Frappuccino?

[decafdrinker]

I tried the shortbread latte the other day, they were sampling them in the 'bux I was visiting. I thought it was very sweet, and it sat with me all afternoon. Then again I don't normally drink the sweet drinks, so I'm probably not the target market. I wouldn't pay money for one, although I'd pay for a jar of those sprinkles!

decaf drinker, who is DESPERATELY awaiting the completion of her 'home store' remodel so she can go back to drinking her coffee among friends and the world can resume normalcy.

[decafdrinker]

On the other hand, I would sell a kidney for the sticky toffee coffee cake, particularly warmed up. What gods created that divine concoction?

[Darleen]

Darleen's what?

No one better be messin' with my Darleen...

Awhile back we had someone on here who resented me for some reason and would post under the name Darleen's liitle hamster or Darleen's dirty pigieon and so on. It was annoying and would piss me off to no end, he finally got bored and went away. Now I see Patt Nerr is targeted, people have nothing better to do with their time than to try to piss other people off, its sickening. Just ignore him and he will slither away Patt.

[Darleen]

Isn't that an old Frank Zappa song? "watch out where those huskies go, don't you eat that yellow snow" God, I used to love zappa, I just downloaded Joe's garage on my ipod. Gonna go play it now....

[embean]

To whoever said coffee tasting was subjective, if it is done properly, there are standards for this stuff (much like you do a coffee tasting at Starbucks).
And I have never heard of these coke spoons, but I am indeed intrigued!

[McLurkypants]

Starbucks is still the best cup of coffee to be found in my smallish town. We just got our first freestanding location this week. WOOHOO! Welcome, Starbucks!

[burnt bean]

has anyone sold the create your own starbucks cards? is there much interest in your markets for such a thing?

[Viper73]

We are not sticking little stir sticks in anyones drinks here in Hawaii. We still have the wooden core ones that go with the condo-bar. Other than that, nothing else has change.

The mint bar is awesome, as well as the low fat blueberry coffee cake. It rocks!!!

[Steffan]

Just curious about the coffee survey... What does "CHEWY" mean in the coffee description????

To me, the last thing I'd want a cup of coffee to be is "chewy" (sometimes the milk gets chewy if it's a few weeks old!), but they seem to speak of it as a good thing.

Just wondering.

[Joe O.]

Anonymous: Firstly, the company is ridiculously unprofitable for someone charging such a huge markup on the product. Perhaps it would make sense to keep sandwiches longer than one day especially if they're safe to eat the next day? And selling pastries that actually sell? This manifests itself in the stock price which is the lowest in two years.

That is a miniscule part of the problem. A much larger part of the problem is the massive overhead "needed" to run this company. I have NEVER seen so much bureaucracy in my life and I thought I'd seen huge levels of bureaucracy at other companies. I don't think it's a coincidence that Starbucks doen't break out corporate expenses line by line on the financial portion of their annual reports like most companies - if the shareholders saw the G&A expense, they'd likely have a cow.

[JT]

I "bought" one of the custom SB cards via the online store. Can't wit for it. I love the idea.

[smalltownSM]

I just had to share about the great experience that my family had at a Hawaii store yesterday. I'm I store manager here in the midwest and my parents are in Hawaii for vacation. Like any coffee lover, I asked them to bring me some back. They stopped by a store and were talking with the partners about our coffees that are specific to the islands. My mom asked if she could use my discount at the store to purchase the coffee since it was for me and my store since I had given her my partner numbers just in case they would let her. The store manager not only let her use my numbers, but the two partners used my numbers and gave me one package as my markout and they were so excited that they each used their own markout and gave those to her as well. I must say I am so impressed with this store. SHe grabbed the SM's business card and I will be sending a card. These two partners showed my family what Starbucks is all about and this is why I still LOVE working here after 3 years. Thanks for going beyond legendary

[Herman M.]

Where was Mc "It's ever so much better than Starbucks" Donald's again? Oh yeah, in the bottom tier. Guess that invalidates the Consumer Reports on finally. ;-)

As for the emergent subjectivity debate, it's not at all possible here as the roast chosen seems to be whatever was on hand when she got there. No consistance in roast, beans, hold time. And as she mentions her "favorite" by name but none of the others, it's possible she went in with a bias. Put a fresh ground sample of each, no label, in a cupping and go for it with no fewer than five cuppers. Then, once and for all, there would be a subjective comparison.

As for Intelligensia, it's great. I would easily put it above ours without hesitation. Same with Whole Foods. Los Gatos Coffee company, too. At least the last time I was there more than a few years ago. But then I've always said to anyone who will listen that an outfit that roasts in house will beat a national brand hands down. Our packaging prolongs the life, but it ain't magic. Three weeks is three weeks regardless of the one way valve on the bag.

[Pat Nerr]

"That is a miniscule part of the problem. A much larger part of the problem is the massive overhead "needed" to run this company. I have NEVER seen so much bureaucracy in my life and I thought I'd seen huge levels of bureaucracy at other companies. I don't think it's a coincidence that Starbucks doen't break out corporate expenses line by line on the financial portion of their annual reports like most companies - if the shareholders saw the G&A expense, they'd likely have a cow."

Joe O: I thought you were a company man dude?? Wha happen?

Talk about waste though... 100K+ for a 60 person conference to report the findings of the very expensive "Enthography Study"...

[Sbux Liquor]

Anyone try the Sbux coffee and cream liquors? ($22 for 750mL)

there's a $10 rebate if you buy 3 (mix and match).

1) How does the sbux coffee liquor taste in coffee?

2) Does the cream liquor in coffee taste like a white mocha?

[Short frap]

Customized sbux gift card:

in the brochure, there's an example of a short no whip vanilla bean frap.

WTF?

just pour into a tall cup up to the 2nd green line, and put on a iced flat lid?

[JT]

SB liquers - yep tried them both. Both are good, IMO. great in mixed drinks, and with a scoop of ice cream/milkshakes.

1. OK, I guess. I prefer the cream iquer with coffee, though. The straight is better in mixed drinks.

2. No. The cream does not have chocolate in it, so does not taste like mocha.

The web site has several recipes if you are interested.