Starbucks Gossip

Starbucks customer is warned about his eight-shot espresso drink

Pittsburgh Starbucks customer Marshall Adams says he went through the drive-thru last month to get a caramel macchiato with eight shots of espresso.

"The barista then told me she was required to warn customers who order drinks with more than six shots, and she wasn't kidding," Adams tells Post-Gazette reporter Mackenzie Carpenter.

She called the executive director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America to find out what eight shots can do to you. That he says, "is nearly 1,000 milligrams of caffeine, and you're starting to get into a range where if you bolted that down you could end up feeling pretty sick."

DO YOU WARN CUSTOMERS ABOUT THEIR ESPRESSO INTAKE? CUSTOMERS: HAVE YOU EVER GOT THAT WARNING?

* Will Starbucks java now come with a jolt warning?

Columnist boycotts Starbucks over its handling of hidden-camera case

Nearly two years ago, a 5-year-old girl named K.C. Yockey spotted a digital camera in a Washington, D.C. Starbucks store bathroom.

No arrests were made and the Yockey family -- suspecting a SBUX employee hid the camera -- sued the coffee giant. The case was tossed out by one judge, who said the Yockey family "suffered no physical injury" because of the hidden camera. The family appealed and the case drags on.

The family's lawyer says the D.C. Starbucks store had at least four surveillance cameras going at the time the camera was found, but the company refuses to give him the footage.

Instead, he says, Starbucks produced "irrelevant footage" taken on a different date.

Washington Post columnist Colbert King writes:

"The Yockeys, now living in Texas, are waiting to hear from the D.C. Court of Appeals. Meanwhile, I’ll make my own coffee."

* A too-candid camera at Starbucks

* From 2011: Starbucks sued over hidden camera in bathroom
* You can read the civil complaint against Starbucks hereoom

No animals allowed! (Except for a cute monkey, maybe.)

-- Photo via imgur.com (store location unknown)

Marriage equality foe says she's no longer a Starbucks customer (Boo, f-ing, hoo!)

Boo-hoo, Chelsen Vicari!

You're so upset about Howard Schultz believing that all couples in love should have the right to marry that you're saying "Goodbye pumpkin spice latte. Forever."

Oh, you'll be back. Trust me. The haters always return.

You say Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has become more "extreme and intolerant." Actually, that's sounds like you, Chelsen. (That's her on the right.)

You write: "What’s next, Starbucks? Two separate drinking fountains for liberals and conservatives or 'now hiring' signs reading, 'Heterosexuals Need Not Apply'?"

Um..... tell me how favoring marriage equality is discriminating against straight people. I'm not getting your point, Chelsen.

And finally, you say that after the company voiced its support for same-sex marriage in Washington state, the company saw a drop in profits. Now you're just making shit up.

Really.

NEW: Why Starbucks' pro-gay marriage stance won't hurt its bottom line
* American Family Association president needs to learn how to spell the CEO's last name

* Starbucks CEO doesn't want your business, claims marriage equality foe
* Earlier: Schultz tells shareholder to sell his shares if he doesn't agree with SBUX's marriage equality stance

'Picasso of Starbucks' draws faces on coffee lids

Gisberto "Bert" Bertucci, 70, takes the same Starbucks table every morning and sketches away at the Newport Beach store. It takes him about five minutes to turn a coffee cup lid into a work of art with a regular blue pen.

"I get nervous if people watch me," he says. "It's overwhelming when they like it, and ask me to sign it. Sometimes they ask, 'Do I really look like that?' and I tell them, 'Yes, but that's not my fault.'"

Here's how he got started:

"One morning, I came into Starbucks and saw a Christmas tree in here, but it was bare and had no ornaments. It looked sad. So I decided to draw sketches on the coffee lids and used them to decorate the tree."

* Homeless artist turns Starbucks coffee lids into portraits

Starbucks needs to do something to boost food sales; will La Boulange do the job?

Starbucks bought La Boulange for $100 million last year, and it's starting to roll out their offerings in SBUX stores. CEO Howard Schultz says the food from La Boulange is "significantly better than what we have right now, candidly" and sales at test stores are strong.

Obviously, Schultz and Co. are hoping La Boulange will help food offerings climb to a higher percentage of Starbucks' sales.

* One thing Starbucks absolutely has to fix: its food

The man named Winter makes news with his visits to Starbucks stores in Kansas

Starbucks customer "Winter" (at right), whose goal is to stop by every SBUX store in the world, recently visited stories in Lawrence and Overland Park, Kansas.

His "adventure" made the local newspaper and resulted in some comments-section mocking. ("Big day for news in Lawrence Ks. In other news, the sun came up this morning." Also: "Strike #1 - he likes Starbucks, Strike #2 - he's from Texas.")

Care to tell us more about your trip, Winter?

* Traveler's Starbucks quest leads him to Lawrence, Kansas
* Check out Winter's Starbucks Everywhere website

Howard Schultz to shareholder: Sell your shares if you don't agree with our marriage equality stance

Good for Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz for setting a shareholder straight about the so-called "boycott" of Starbucks over its pro-gay marriage stance.

The shareholder claimed that Starbucks' first-quarter performance was disappointing -- in part because "traditional marriage" proponents stopped buying their coffee at the SBUX.

"We want to embrace diversity,” Schultz said, advising the shareholder that "you can sell your shares" if he didn't like Starbucks' 38% return for investors. (Sure, that "boycott" is really hurting the company!)

You can listen to the exchange here.

* Starbucks CEO fields shareholder's question about "boycott" over SBUX's gay marriage stance