New from Starbucks- Pike’s Place Daily Blend
12:36 pm April 8th, 2008 by Sal Cangeloso
So for a few days now Starbucks has been saying that they would have some very big news at noon (EST) today. Before anyone even had a chance to get interested news broke that is was an “everyday blend” of drop coffee.
I’m not a Starbucks fan, but I live in Manhattan, so there is one about two blocks from my apartment. I made the trek down there an arrived at 12:01pm, looking forward to the crowds of people and screaming fans who were eagerly awaiting the Pike’s Place roast. As it turns out my local Starbucks, which is normally packed was almost empty (I think due to some maintenance this morning) and rather than some sort of event it was just the same old. The person behind the counter did inform me about the new blend, which I ordered (medium, for $2.11) and promptly left with. Apparently there are a few NYC tasting events, but this was clearly not one of them.
So far, lot of hype, very little delivery.
As for the Pike’s Place roast it’s OK. Actually I like it better than typical Starbucks coffee but it still falls far short of the overpriced boutique coffees that we New Yorkers spend our weekends tracking down (Cafe Grumpy, Think, Abraco, etc). The flavor is still very Starbucks, that is to say over-roasted and on the bitter side, but it is slightly more mellow than the typical Starbucks cup and you can almost get hints of flavors aside from “roast”.
The good news is that the people at Starbucks (I hesitate to call them baristas) will be making the coffee fresh every thirty minutes (including grinding it) so you can expect it to be the fresh coffee in the store. This should make some difference (the grinding more than the thirty minutes part), but don’t expect anything dramatic.
Verdict: If you have to go to Starbucks, this is probably the thing to get. If you live in any city or reasonably sized town, there are probably better options available to you. That said, this is a big step for Starbucks in the freshness wars. The next big move is when they get those Clover machines in stock.
Starbucks must wake up and realize their problems are NOT about the coffee. The market for coffee shops and gourmet prepared coffee is nearly saturated, and being overrun with mass competitors. Starbucks has to find new places to compete. Its forays into sandwiches, other merchandise, music production, movie production and star agency were the kinds of things that could save the company - and now Mr. Schulz is tearing those down to invest in a slugfest which will only drive down margins. Investors beware. Read more at http://www.ThePhoenixPrinciple.com
I have to applaud Starbucks for really trying. They’ve turned out something marginally better than before and something that gives a truly coffee obsessed person such as myself at least a glimmer of hope next time I find myself away from actually good coffee. But I can’t see this coffee bringing back the masses, or winning over folks big on coffee. I guess Starbucks is hoping to woo the swing voter? That person who might otherwise be tempted to travel a bit farther to a better coffee source or maybe the person who’s fed up with bad office coffee but isn’t quite committed to bringing in their own.