Is this the 'super big announcement' that's coming from Starbucks? (UPDATE: Yes it is)

A Starbucks Gossip commenter writes: "The super big announcement that is going down is about whole bean coffee and how the categories are going to change. Starbucks is going to offer three different categories -- "blonde," mild and dark roasts. (Starbucks filed for the STARBUCKS BLONDE trademark in February.) There will now be two new coffees offered that are milder than Breakfast Blend. I believe the new category system and new coffee offerings are going to start late this year with an official launch in January 2012." (A commenter says the two new coffees are Veranda Blend and Willow Blend.) Is this report accurate? Let us know.

Comments

[Alex]

This is correct!

[Cute Bruiser]

Um, "blonde"? Ew.

[Reading Onward]

Anyone know the names of the new blends? And are they going to discontinue coffees to make shelve space for them?

[Confused as always]

Pike will now officially be a Medium Roast and Kenya, I guess, moved down to Medium as well.

[(.)]

The "new" coffee is from like 7yrs ago starts with a V.
They getting rid of:
Shade grown Mexico
Estima
Decaf Verona
Decaf house

[CoffeeBean330]

Blonde just sounds strange. And hasn't Pike always been a medium roast?

[(.)]

Blonde is like saying morning roasts, instead of light,medium, mild, bold, xbold
Local places use
Blonde(light)
City roast(mild/med)
Full city roast(bold)
French(bold)

[Americano Sumatra Mastrena]

New coffees are Veranda Blend and Willow Blend

[otterinthewater]

Aw... poor Shade Grown Mexico. You never got the credit you deserve.

[bayareabux]

All is true. LightNote Blend is returning under a new name and slow selling coffees are being axed. This is kind of like Pike Phase 2 in Starbucks attempt to go after the lowbrow Dunkin-drinking market and a sad distancing from the Starbucks Roast. I thought that being known for our roast profile was part of the heritage and culture of the company -- whatever that means anymore!! And blond does sound dumb, no pun intended.

This is not earth-shattering as some have mentioned since whole bean has been a shrinking business for quite a while and most of the core coffees aren't changing. Not what it was hyped up to be.

[Pike is here to stay]

And blonde is with an ''e'' at the end for female (A male blond has no ''e'' at the end)

[Pike is here to stay]

Does the new skinny peppermint mocha taste vile or is it acceptable?

[AMJ]

the skinny peppermint mocha is pretty good. the mocha sauce is way better than the syrup we introduced a few years ago!

[CoffeeBean330]

Skinny peppermint mocha?

[R1]

Crap. I've been getting Shade Grown Organic Mexico as my markout for nearly 4 years. I hate to see one of only 2 organic offerings bite the dust. And isn't Estima our only Fair Trade Certified blend? We're going to drop that too?

[RubyRod]

@R1
The Starbucks Reserve Rwanda is also Fair Trade Certified.

If the Blonds are repackaged Lightnote, I'm kinda meh, but I'll pass judgement in the cup I suppose.

[beachbarista]

Yes to all of this, plus they are bringing in peppermint brownie cake pops for the holidays, which could be fun. I'm personally just waiting for the horrible jokes to begin from customers, such as: " Can I have a tall blonde please?" Aaaagh.

[Starbucks Gossip webmaster]

Ha! I put a link to this topic on the Starbucks Facebook wall and now I've banned from posting there.

[Jeff Tom]

Jim,

It was beachbaristas fault- the "tall blonde" joke.... :-)

[baristamclane]

Well Hell. I started drinking Estima and Shade Grown Mexico after Colombia and Brazil Ipanema were discontinued as core whole bean offerings. I guess I will use this opportunity to try other brands of coffee beans...

'Blonde' is not a term I really associate with coffee. Beer? Absolutely.

[livin' la VIA loca]

anyone know will the discontinued coffees still be sold thru supermarkets, etc.? i'm gonna have some pretty upset decaf drinkers...

[Americano Sumatra Mastrena]

one of the coffees that is staying around will become fully fair trade certified, to "replace" cafe estima as fair trade...can't remember off the top of my head which one it was, though.

[Ian]

Well, aren't ALL the whole bean offerings fair trade certified?

[Hugging a Tree]

No, all whole bean is NOT Fair Trade certified. Starbucks boasts that they treat all their growers with Fair Trade practices, meaning they don't try to give non-certified growers a lower price than Fair Trade Certified farmers. Everyone gets the same treatment, but when you are dealing with hundreds of different small farms to produce enough coffee for all the Starbucks in the world, it is very hard to put together a coffee that is 100% grown on farms with the piece of paper that says they are all Fair Trade Certified. Apparently it costs a lot of $$ to get this piece of paper.

[usorthem3]

Columbia, Sanani, Sidamo, Shade grown Mexican....the coffees I like disappear forever into the wind. Onward

[ncsm]

Leave it to Starbucks to overhaul it's whole bean lineup YET AGAIN! When is this company going to learn that you don't change just for the sake of changing? Not that it really matters to me--I stopped buying their whole beans a long time ago. Over roasted and over priced!

[Sheik]

really really miss Colombia and Yukon...

Pretty soon they will narrow down the lineup to House, LiteNote, Deaf litenote and Pike... PUKE

[Noah]

ncsm posted "When is this company going to learn that you don't change just for the sake of changing?"

What drove the change? Customers or Starbucks marketing bored with the current line-up or quantity or quality issues in the supply chain?

[Siberiabux]

@hugging- large farms and estates are often too big to get the fair trade certification. Fair trade usually represents communal farms or small independents that wouldn't otherwise get a fair shake

[Person]

The new fair trade is Italian Roast

[TCoffee]

@usorthem3 I try never to speak too loudly about a coffee that I love. Sanani, Sidamo, Serena. Now I try the opposite.

I absolutely "HATE" Anniversary Blend, and "HATE" Thanksgiving Blend.

[Barista Ben]

Sheik, we brought back Yukon about a year ago. It's still available.

[...]

yukon is organic, and italian will be fair trade. a large percentage of the us population doesnt drink starbucks coffee because we roast it too dark (think the dunkin donuts drinkers). this isnt light note repackaged, that was actually roasted much darker, not a blonde roast. this coffee is not for the customers that love our big bold flavorful coffees, it will just reach the other customers who drink coffee at home (maxwell house or d&d or whatever they brew at home in the early morning) before they get their other regular drink at starbucks later in the morning or day. i know i definitely drink coffee before i leave the house in the morning... this is an alternative to all of our coffees and will reach that other market, not try to win over the regular starbucks coffee drinkers. :)

[Bayareabux]

"Geography is a flavor" is out the window. Too confusing for customers, Starbucks says. Now Roast is a flavor -- and ur either a Blonde, Medium or Dark.

All that you need to know is that whole bean menu boards were taken down when Pike launched. Carry on.

[Waltie]

"Leave it to Starbucks to overhaul it's whole bean lineup YET AGAIN! When is this company going to learn that you don't change just for the sake of changing? Not that it really matters to me--I stopped buying their whole beans a long time ago. Over roasted and over priced!"

We're not changing for the sake of change, but the adjust and meet customer demands. You just said our beans are "over roasted," which is a common complaint, so Starbucks is offering something for people who feel the way you do. Instead of being annoyed, you should be glad. Instead of leaping to illogical conclusions, you should look at what's actually happening and understand that it was a logical business decision.

Here's the deal: Starbucks has been around for decades, and they have always modified and adjusted their menu items. This is nothing major or worth arguing about. They are offering additional varieties of coffee to match popular requests, and they are doing away with other coffees that aren't profitable. End of story.

Oh, and this is one more reason why you should pretty much ignore most of what you read on this website. No, we aren't being bought by Pepsi, we are simple adjusting our whole bean lineup. Why does the Pepsi buyout rumor keep getting dusted off and brought back every time somebody says an announcement is forthcoming?

[ncsm]

@ Waltie: Starbucks has revamped it's whole bean lineup numerous times in recent years, and may very well have done so in response to it's customers' concerns/complaints. My point is that if the company would take the time and effort to REALLY listen to what it's customers want, as opposed to relying on the perceived consumer insights of the insular, self congratulatory toadies up in Seattle, they might not have to change their whole scheme so damn often. Who in the hell came up with the "geography is flavor" idea? I guarantee you that it wasn't the customers! Customers wouldn't be so damn stupid. Companies that constantly change the basics of their business instill a lack of confidence in their customers. And I hope I'm correct in assuming that whole beans is still a basic part of Starbucks' business, although sometimes I wonder.

[Herman]

ncsm said "Companies that constantly change the basics of their business instill a lack of confidence in their customers"

By that logic, we should all be driving 1908 Ford Model Ts.

[sally sulawesi]

PLAYBOOK IS COMING...forget the coffee playbook will bury us all....

[sw6blues]

The Blond offerings will open up our customer base to so many more people who think that the typical Starbucks Roast is too much. Veranda is quite watery and reminds me of coffee you'd get at IHOP or something. Folks who want very light coffee, and Breakfast Blend is even too much for them, this is the coffee they're looking for. We could stand to make a load of money from customers who like the Starbucks brand, but haven't found a coffee that is right for them.
For those who say that the company is straying away from it's roots; maybe it is, but companies must evolve with the changes in the business world or else be relegated to the scrap heap. We're still in it to roast the best coffee in the world and give that legendary service to our customers. Blond does not change that. It still gets the two pops while roasting, but it's simply much lighter. Evolve or die. Get behind your company or go elsewhere.

[ncsm]

@sw6blues: the sad fact of the matter is that Starbucks neither roasts the best coffee in the world nor gives "legendary" service--some of the worst fast food service (and we all need to accept the fact that Starbucks IS fast food)that I get is from my local Starbucks!

[james thompson]

this is why howard and sbux are so special

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/do-you-want-a-stimulus-plan-with-that-latte/2011/10/05/gIQAFh1hkL_story_1.html

[NY Roast]

Funny about how many Starbucks partners have commented on this. In the District Manager to Store Manager communication surrounding Blonde Roast and Coffee Description revamping (effective January 2012) - we were all under strict agreement NOT to discuss one bit of this information with a single person, not even our own partners, until after 10/18/2011 (the date Starbucks is going to officially release this information publically AND internally to ALL partners). I guess there are a lot of partners that visit this site whom have no respect for their jobs.

After reading all of the comments, at least ALL of the new information wasnt spoiled. So there is more to come still.

[Alejandro]

NY Roast, for what it's worth, all the information has been on the portal for at least two weeks: it's in Holiday '12. Any barista or shift who cares a little bit has known about this for some time.

'course, we didn't get the memo to keep quiet...! ;)

[I <3 music]

@ny roast

"I guess there are a lot of partners that visit this site whom have no respect for their job."

Yup. I have no respect left. I like many who come here get info not available but important to our jobs. I was tired of hearing about policy changes from customers days before it was communicated to the stores.(don't tell me to check the portal)

[courtney]

italian roast is becoming Fair Trade Certified!

[Waltie]

"(don't tell me to check the portal)"

Don't tell you to do the thing that would correct the "problem" you're complaining about?

"'course, we didn't get the memo to keep quiet...! ;)"

Everything you read at work, be it a print out or something on the portal, is confidential and not to be share with people outside the company.

[ddsbx]

I tried veranda at my store today and compared to breakfast blend its much better even though its light and watery I liked it

[I <3 music]

Everything regarding policy promo or whatever has always been posted in a timely manner on the portal? Really? You believe that?

[Kaylie]

I'm most upset by the discontinuing of Decaf Verona and Decaf House. These are popular at my location. I hope that they provide a Decaf version of one of the new Blonde blends so that my Decaf Medium drinkers will have an alternative!

[yourmothersfortune]

this constant change up from starbucks corporate is what has been driving the partner staff in stores into the ground. starbucks changes they way they do things so much, every store you walk into does something different, and drinks taste different. to make things worse, starbucks will then go back on an new implementation 2 weeks to a few months later, but the information won't be passed down properly, which then causes confusion from store to store and region to region. part of starbucks larger and maybe largest problem is that they cannot be or stay consistent in anything they do. if you want to hear from people who work for the company, their number one complaint, it's inconsistency from corporate, the way drinks are made, and the lack of time to properly communicate to its staff. as of yet this issue has still not been properly tackled. labor continues to disappear, responsibilities continue to mount up. working for starbucks is really easy, one of the easiest jobs ever. starbucks corporate has seemingly made it its mission to make each roll as difficult, time consuming and frustrating as they can, and they don't even realize it.