One wrote: "THAT DAY WAS THE F*CKING COFFEE APOCALYPSE! I'm mentally and physically scarred working that day."
What was your experience? Let us know!
WE HAVEN'T HAD AN OPEN THREAD IN A WHILE, SO DISCUSS ANYTHING ELSE STARBUCKS-RELATED TOO.
* Canadians get 25 cent brewed coffee to celebrate Starbucks' 25th anniversary
I never thought I would see the day I have a line up of 20+ cups waiting to be filled with brewed coffee and not being able to keep up with brewing it as fast as it was selling. It was insane, and I got a little tired of every customer getting defensive thinking I was wrong because I was only charging them a few cents, until I reminded them what it was and made their day.
Just crazy. We had people coming in days afterwards asking if it was still on.
Posted by: MS | June 17, 2012 at 08:34 PM
low-volume store here, super easy, brewed on full batches (I know you're not supposed to...), made customers happy, gave away a couple americanos for some folks who couldn't wait, and/or didn't want the French Roast (blegh). Much better than Canada's "free frappuccino day" five years ago...
Posted by: SPORK | June 18, 2012 at 12:46 AM
Why aren't you allowed to brew full batches?
(UK Barista here. We brew full batch until noon or so, then switch to half.)
Posted by: SJB | June 19, 2012 at 03:35 PM
@SJB: I think since we switched to the new brew routine, it has something to do with quality control; the full batches don't come out tasting as good as the half batches.
Posted by: BaristaBot ver. K | June 20, 2012 at 10:00 AM
We did full batches that morning and every morning for the morning rush and a lot of people didn't know about the quarter pricing. Some were regulars that got emails about it and still preferred a Grande instead of tall so it wasn't as bad. I was expecting to see a line up of people but it wasn't bad.
Posted by: MC | June 20, 2012 at 05:04 PM
Whoa, hold up.
What is this about full batches? Can anyone confirm this?
Posted by: tea-rex | June 22, 2012 at 11:35 AM
Just to clarify, with the new brewing routine it is incorrect that you're "not allowed" to brew full batches. In reality, due to the efficiency and frequency you're brewing with a cadence, many stores don't need to brew full batches- a half batch is plenty.
Posted by: StevenK | June 23, 2012 at 01:07 AM
When it's morning rush, if we brewed half batches, we'd run out of the coffee before the 30 minutes is up (10 minutes for 3 different coffee as per the cadence instructions) which is why we brewed full batches. Before and after the morning rushes, we get back to brewing half batch.
Posted by: MC | June 24, 2012 at 09:13 PM
Coffee cadence is store specific... all that is the same is that a batch of coffee is brewing every X # of minutes so that no batch is ever older than 30.
My store would brew 4 urns during peak time, which was every 7 minutes the cadence reset. Decaf 1/4 batch, 2 pike at full batch, 1 bold at full batch, but we did the bold in between Pike's so if there was a run out, there was something to still offer.
Some stores that are super high volume brew two urns at once, and have shuttles for urns. It just depends on your store's volume. Some stores can man the morning rush with just 3 urns.
And yes, you can adjust the batch size. Your manager might make you do half batches because its easier than getting idiots to remember to change batch sizes at a specific time, or to use judgement if business slows. Because your DM will kill someone for waste.
Posted by: ExStarbucks Manager | July 01, 2012 at 11:18 PM