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i want egg nog year round
POLL: When Is Too Early For Christmas Creep?
After we proposed tracking Starbucks's roll out of Christmas products as a metric to gauge yearly Christmas Creep, we got a fair amount of comments saying they saw no problem with Christmas stuff coming out once Halloween was over. So, inside, a poll: at what point does Christmas Creep become acceptable holiday display? More » -
jesus, you're early
Starbucks Decides It's Time For Christmas
A reader wrote in on November 3rd to let us know that Starbucks has busted out the holiday-themed coffee paraphernalia. This gives us an idea. More » -
amusing
Starbucks Birthplace Coffee Tastes Just As Burnt As Everywhere Else
I visited the epicenter of Starbucks this weekend. It's a nice little store that adheres to the Pike Place Market historic district guidelines. The logo on the exterior is the original brown, nippled mermaid. Inside, it's not that large and theres a converted tackle supply shop feel to the place. The ceilings are made of painted white wood slats with lots of low white lights hanging. Otherwise, the coffee tasted exactly the same. Yes, no matter which corner in America you visit, whether the first store or the last, you can be assured of enjoying a consistent, smooth, burnt flavor. More » -
kara thrace
Starbucks Going National With Via Instant Coffee
After 20 years of development work, and six months of test-marketing in Chicago and Seattle, Starbucks is taking its Via instant coffee national today. Will coffee snobs be willing to pay $1 a serving for a drink that Consumer Reports recently called "good, not great?" More » -
smartphones
AT&T To Offer Free Wi-Fi Hotspot Access To Windows Mobile Users
If you have a WinMo smartphone, you're in luck. (Wow, I never thought I'd be typing that.) Starting September 14th, AT&T will open up its approximately 20,000 Wi-Fi hotspots to Windows Mobile customers with "qualifying plans." According to AT&T, that should mean most WinMo customers as "most [already] have a qualifying data plan." More » -
Tastes Burnt
Please Obey The Waldorf Astoria Hotel Starbucks Dress Code
Personally, I trend more towards "stupid casual." More » -
Tastes Burnt
Starbucks Lowers Some Drink Prices, Raises Others
Starbucks has raised the prices of some of their drinks and lowered others, in an effort to differentiate their mixed coffee drinks from those currently offered at McDonald's. By making them more expensive, apparently. More » -
fast food
Mickey D's Profits Rise 4.3% Thanks To "Fancier" Items
McDonald's sales rose 4.3% on the tongues of customers clamoring for a taste of the good life for cheap. McCafe coffees, which offer a proxy of brews found in places like Starbucks, and Angus burgers drove sales. [Bloomberg] (Photo: andinarvaez) -
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suggestion box
Starbucks Barista Offers Advice To CEO Howard Schultz
Sun Min Kimes, a behind-the-counter barista at a Starbucks in Ashburn, Virginia has written a guest post on the Fortune magazine blog "Postcards" that offers advice for the CEO of her company, Howard Schultz. Starbucks has been going through some lean times lately, and are trying everything from removing their branding from their coffee shops to... well... making their employees put a Mr. Potato Head toy together over and over again. More » -
still tastes burnt
Meet The First Stealth Starbucks: Seattle's 5th Avenue E Coffee and Tea
A few weeks ago, we shared a story about Starbucks opening new stores that are not branded "Starbucks." The idea is to recreate the flavor and feel of the independent coffeehouses your neighborhood used to have before Starbucks came along. Shortly after that, the first non-Starbucks Starbucks, 15th Avenue E Coffee and Tea in Seattle, opened for business. What's it like? More » -
coffee showdown
Slate Taste Tests Chain-Restaurant Coffee
A few coffee snobs at Slate have done a blind taste test of regular drip and cappuccino coffees at Starbucks, McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts. Results? Dunkin' Donuts had the best regular drip; McDonald's, the best cappuccino. More » -
Tastes Burnt
Starbucks Manager Forced To Put Mr Potato Head Together For Two Hours
Starbucks is rolling out a company-wide speediness initiative, which can only mean one thing: forcing managers to take apart and put together a Mr. Potato Head for two hours straight.
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Today until 10 am10:30 am, Starbucks is giving away free pastries with the purchase of any beverage. You have to present this "invitation" to receive the food. Sorry Moneycat, oatmeal isn't included. (Thanks to o-line!) MORE » -
Tastes Burnt
Seattle Coffee Shop Owner Says Starbucks Ripped Off Her Look
Starbucks, after finally coming to terms with the fact that it is soul-crushingly bland, has been trying to reinvent itself as... well, not Starbucks. They're stripping the branding from a few of their stores and renaming them after the communities that they're in -- but one local coffee shop owner says they've gone too far to try to blend in. More » -
Tastes Burnt
The Only Thing Left For Starbucks? To Just Stop Being Starbucks
Starbucks just keeps trying to reinvent itself — and it seems that they've tried everything. The only thing left to do is just to stop being Starbucks. So that's what they're doing. More » -
recalls
Recall Roundup - Strollers, Hair Dryers, And Zombie Coffee Grinders
Hazardous hair dryers, unstoppable strollers, zombie coffee grinders, and breakable cribs are this week's stars of the Recall Roundup. Watch out! More » -
Tastes Burnt
Starbucks Continues To Try To Sell Food That Doesn't Suck
Calling their food the "Achilles' heel of the company" Starbucks has announced that they are reworking 90% of their baked goods to remove high fructose corn syrup and/or artificial flavors and dyes, says Reuters. More » -
The Fourth District Court of Appeal in California reversed the $100 million award in a class action suit filed on behalf of current and former Starbucks baristas. The accusation? Starbucks illegally had shift supervisors share in tip jar proceeds instead of paying them a higher hourly wage. The appeals court ruled that shift supervisors are also hourly employees and not management, and are as entitled to tips as baristas. [Reuters]
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