Starbucks says it's "doing something big" at noon next Tuesday. What is it?

"We can't tell you what's going to happen because that'll ruin the surprise," says Starbucks' website. To heck with surprises; we want to know now. Anyone?

Comments

[Marcus]

Venti is the new small
Mount Vesuvius is the new medium
Mauna Loa is the new Venti

jk--anyone know?

[J]

Anything related to Pike Place Roast rollout? Or will that have happened already?

Pike place is set to roll out on Tuesday and I think it is just a tall free coffee/sampling. Though I could be wrong, I'll check the portal.

[new cups?]

new cups? old siren logo updated? saw something like that at greenapronbook.com

wouldn't we have the cups in the stores by now then?
And for free stuff we would need to stock up accordingly. So we would know by now.
This will be something very small blown up huge to catch media coverage. Again. It's getting old, doesn't it?

Maybe a price update?

Or is this the way to introduce the new features of the starbucks card? They'll start Tuesday as well. Oh, and 30 minutes coffee holding time, and pike place roast (only us stores :-( )
We Canadians will be stuck with house blend 365 days from now on (sigh), and colorful touch-screens, did I forget to mention something? Oh, yeah, new beverage: focus on caramel macchiato (with whip anyone? Just had a customer ordering this last night...)

[Ken]

Maybe they are shutting down again!

I think we're reading into this a little too much. I think the message is meant for people who are unaware of the Pike Place roast coming to town and the new practices associated with it.

[catherine]

I wish that it was the return of the hand pulled espresso machines to all of the stores. It is something like smaple our new breakfast pastries.

[Starbucksrants.com]

It's the rollout of Pike Place Blend. They're going to be a having a nation wide "cupping" Howard and Co. will be in NY at the time for the initial rollout. For those of us in Seattle they will have a HUGE celebration at Pike Place Market. Howard will be jumping back into the Gulfstream and making it back to Seattle by 6 (that's got to be cutting it close). They will be closing down the market street for the celebration and Howard will be on hand. I'd hope they have some live music as well.

[Deusx]

If it makes ya feel any better, four Starbucks manager I spoke to had no clue what the website was saying either. So whatever it is, Corp is waiting till the last minute to inform them.

[starbucksrants.com]

@ Melody- You should wait until 6pm to go to the Pike Place Store, that's when the fun will be happening and Howard will be on hand at the original store.

I'm sure it is just something to do with the new Pike Place Roast. I agree you all are reading into it too much. But I could be wrong, who knows what Howard could throw at us.

I think they are altering the siren logo.

It's bizarre that they're inviting everyone to OUR stores at a very specific time...without telling us to staff accordingly...

[Catherine]

$100 to everyone who shows up ;)

"doing something big" in corp terms, when its a good thing, could mean something as little as changing store hours. I don't expect much from this at all. A new blend, a new drink, new logo, something that isn't really going to effect customers at all, with the exception of a possiabilty of a new flavor, or roast.

[Jared]

Starbucks is making their coffee taste good at a better price.

Starbucks coffee is overpriced, and not very good. They should work on that.

Dunkin Donuts is 3 dollars less and tastes better.

[Matthew]

It's a new reality show where you get to go out on a date with your favorite Barista...

[Nancy Luna]

It better NOT be about the new roast, because that's not a surprise. Shame on Starbucks , if this turns out to be a re-hash of old news.

[karizma23]

Has anyone noticed that the price of brewed coffee has gone up 1 cent per cup size? I noticed this early this week while at work (I am a barista) and found it interesting. Obviously Starbucks didn't do any advertising or press releases related to this ;)

[lo]

"Has anyone noticed that the price of brewed coffee has gone up 1 cent per cup size?"

yeah wtf was that!!!

karizma, sometimes state laws change and the tax rises. that happened in my state when there was a .25 percent change in state tax. it affected some of the drinks by a penny. that is one possibility.

[STARBUCKS GOSSIP WEBMASTER]

Don't blame Starbucks for your penny increase.

Taxes went up April 1 in many areas -- including Illinois, where I am -- and my drip coffee went up a cent or two with the next state/city taxes.

(Now let's get back on topic, please.)

[ohbee]

I can't believe nobody knows...
WE ARE GOING BACK TO SCOOPING!

Plus the new rollout for Pike's Place (new cups, pikes place blend brewed all day every day, 30 minute timers, old logo, Starbx Benefit Cards, NO NEW DRINK!)

Oh and Jared, my ASM just interviewed a man today that had just quit dunkin donuts a week ago. He said their manager picks donuts out of the garbage and puts them back on the shelf. Good luck going there.

[Dolce]

We got the new cups in my store and aren't allowed to use them until Tuesday. I'm confused - Did nobody else have a store meeting already to discuss the new coffee brewing standards and Pike Place Roast? I figured it was a nation-wide US thing.

Yeah, the new cups have the old scandalous siren logo (but without the nipples) and it says "starbucks fresh roasted coffee" on the circle. There is a brown band going around the cup too.

The new coffee standards are pretty cool. Supposedly we're going to be brewing coffee that was roasted only 2 weeks prior and ground that day. Any grounds that go unused each day will be tossed. There's a lot more to the change than that, though. I don't think all of it is a big secret. We've been telling our customers about it in order to get them excited.

[daniel]

My roomate works for Starbucks and just left the 2hr meting at corporate. She won't tell me. Anyone have a bribe we could use to get it out of her. Or a torture techinque that doesn't leave any visable scars?

[D]

Maybe I should have made my last comment more specific since it got deleted.

I meant, MAYBE, it's free coffee for our new Pike Place Roast...for a certain period of time? 5 minutes, 15 minutes, an hour....sounds legit to me.

[Organic Dopio]

Webmaster this will be my final post. You didn't have to be a jerk about deleting light hearted fun. You never have before. You allow so much trash talk about my bux the past year I've been following your blog, and don't allow a bit of humor? This is the last straw. I will be deleting this link from my favorites for good. No looking back!

[l.j.]

I think the altering of the Siren logo is meant for use on the packaging for the Pike Place blend only - at least that's what I got from the annual meeting.

[Melody]

The thing that I'm confused about is that Starbucks is going back to scooping PPR (so it seems) but what about scooping other beans? Maybe Starbucks will announcing more dramatic changes.

Btw, the new cups sound EXACTLY like the "to go" ceramic cups you can buy at the Pike Place Store. You know how Starbucks sells these grande ceramic mugs that are designed to look like a paper cup? Well, store 301 sells the same thing but with the original logo (with nipples) with a brown band, and it says "Starbucks Fresh Roasted Coffee", and then with a blurb about the siren on the back of the cup.

I'm looking forward to the new paper cups: I think that kind of change of pace is long overdue. Imho, "the way I see it" was beginning to get pretty stale.

Thanks for the tip starbucksrant. I will be at store 301 at 6 pm next Tuesday! Can't wait. Maybe it will be the second go-around of me trying to shake Howard's hands, only this time without me staring at him with big saucer eyes, drooling, because he's created something that I have a serious addiction to.

Starbucks is my crack!

Here's my guess: Starbucks will use the Hear Music system to broadcast Howard speaking to customers nationwide, live, to introduce Pike Place Roast. Why else would the website want everyone to be at the store at noon "sharp"?

[AmericanoMan]

Dolce, "tossing" the "old" grounds (unused ground coffee?)? I distincly remember from the original bin days that there was a sign that the "old" coffee was donated to local charities. Actually throwing out old ground coffee is a senseless waste and will lead to unwelcome "dumpster diving".

Also, all the stores in my area package the used grounds in the empty bullet bags and put them out for folks to use in their gardens.

I am looking forward to going in to my favorite/daily Starbucks on Tuesday--just hope the crowds are manageable.

[Michael Halbrook]

The new cups will include to-go splash guard inserts.

[Aengus]

Maybe McDonald's will buy Starbucks.

[Torontodude]

For us Canadians, which of the following applies to us and on what timetable:

* free refills on drip coffee
* Pikes Place Roast
* free extras on espresso drinks

[Legendary or Bust]

We are already using the new brown cups because we have run out of the green ones and we have truckloads of the brown ones in the store.

[daniel]

One word - "Sapdel"

Think - "Spork"

[Torontodude]

re: Coffee Standards

Yesterday, I talked to the owner of a great indy coffee place in the Beaches, here in Toronto. They roast grind their own coffee on the premises, in full view of the customers. And they grind it just before serving.

He said he did not view Starbucks as competition...though there are two Starbucks stores within a few blocks. He dismissed as "marketing hype" all of Starbucks talk about coffee bean quality. His point was that coffee should be consumed within a week of roasting and a few hours of grinding.

If that's not done, he said, there will be a marked deterioration in quality -- no matter how good the coffee bean was originally.

Does he have a point? And is Starbucks addressing it with the new standards?

BTW, the owner also said he and Starbucks are no longer in the same business. He said Starbucks had been in the McDonald's/Dunkin Donuts space for several years in terms of quality. But he did sound a little concerned when I told him about the free refills.

[Torontodude]

(correction to last post)

first para should read:

"Yesterday, I talked to the owner of a great indy coffee place in the Beaches, here in Toronto. They roast their own coffee on the premises, in full view of the customers. And they grind it just before serving."

Indeed those concerns are being addressed.

At least pikes place roast will be roasted within a couple weeks of being brewed. It will be ground within a few hours and scooped within a few seconds of brewing...

Maybe it's a limited edition free spoodel for every customer???

[Mark]

all it is is Pike Place roll/brewing coffee and don't be fooled by Howard and his advisors because this is just another way the company is cutting back and watching the pennies one by one. Most of our customers and partners are so blind and brainwashed to what this company is really doing. Here is a good question: Did all that coffee that customers purchased and was shipped to our hardworking U.S. Troops in Iraq? Does anyone have any comments?
Folks, you will be suprized!

[Dan]

Full body lattes!

top pot donuts
pike place roast (followed by price increase)
registered card benefits

oh the possibilities.

[Amy]

It's something about Spring Phase Two, which starts on Tuesday. More than likely the rollout of Pikes Place Roast. I heard a rumour that we are getting T-shirts again too. The new Top Pot vanilla caramel doughnuts are the bomb, I hope they stick around for a while. Maybe every store will get a Clover at 12noon sharp on Tuesday, that would be cool!

[roorah]

spring phase 2.
pike place roast.
getting rid of COW.
temporary change of logos on cups and stuff (going back to the old ones)
registered cardholders get all these benefits and stuff

[Yes]

Mabee they are FINALLY killing of the frappuccinos, I dont care, cause I dont work that day. Ps, Pikes Place SUCKS! Instead of grinding coffee 1 hour a time, we now double our workload. How about a f***ing raise across the board?

Hej Torontodude, you might be one of my regulars. Give me a hint, please. Like your regular drink for example.

Yeah, I was wondering about that, too.

There were some stores here that were doing the Coffee for Troops during the Whole Bean Sale, but did that actually go to the troops?

Who was responsible for making sure that happened?

Just curious. I, sadly, wouldn't be surprised if all that coffee somehow ended up in the back of some barista's car or even back on the shelves ready to be sold again.

Sad that I would even think those things about Starbucks.

This company has gone downhill so fast, nothing really surprises me anymore. With the tips lawsuits and the bad PR over the layoffs, it sure seems like Starbucks is a bad company to be affiliated with.

[canadian]

Since Starbucks will only be brewing a handful of their blends, I feel really bad for the farmers of blends we won't be featuring anymore. What happens to those farmers who provide Colombia Narino Supremo, Guatamela Antigua, Breakfast Blend ETC. They are counting on sales from 1LB flavorlocks only from now on- good luck to them.

And those PESKY warming ovens are arriving in our canadian stores afterall. I think this is the WORST move I've seen- offering a product we don't stand behind. All for the sake of getting our moneys worth for buying these expensive ovens. I think if they truly stood behind their mission statement and everything they've said recently about why the sandwiches are a mistake than they wouldnt want to tarnish a single store more with that nasty smell.

I hate to say it but so far all Im seeing is A LOT of contradictions! Espresso Excellence was 2 steps forward and this Daily Brew is 3 steps back. A scoop doesnt make our coffee fresh- stop calling it fresh. Fresh is grinding within 4 hours of brewing- who knows WHEN this was ground. BIG THUMBS DOWN.