Do you enjoy Starbucks chilled beverages, but hate the waste that comes from so many disposable plastic cups? Do you also want to keep your friends and co-workers from knowing about your secret environmentalist tendencies? Maybe you should consider purchasing the reusable Starbucks cold cup, a sturdy plastic tumbler made to look just like its flimsier, single-use cousins.
coffee
Reach Keurig Executive Customer Service
By 11.17.09
If you have a problem with Keurig, makers of those coffee machines where the coffee comes in little pods that you just place inside, and regular customer service isn’t helping you, you can try nicely escalating to their Director of Customer Service or emailing their executive team.
If Yours Isn't Good Enough, He'll Get Some At The Office
By 11.16.09
Marketers had a message for the housewives of the 1950s: they weren’t doing a good enough job at home. Their husbands had to resort to going elsewhere for it. Why, even the girls at the office could do it much better.
Seattle Coffee Direct Decides You Need $40 Worth Of Coffee Per Day
By 11.7.09
If you’ve been tempted by Facebook ads promising cheap “introductory” offers from Seattle Coffee Direct or World Bean Cafe, located in the world coffee capital of Evanston, Illinois, readers Adam and Ivan say, “don’t do it!” The ads promise t-shirts or a free coffee grinder as an incentive to sign up, or tempting introductory offers. But you’re really signing up for a coffee delivery service for close to $80 per month. Or more, as reader Ivan learned. He says that the company accidentally billed him for, and sent, two bags of coffee per day.
Starbucks Decides It's Time For Christmas
By 11.5.09
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.
Adorable Japanese Mascot Invades U.S. Convenience Stores
By 10.22.09
Would you like your morning coffee with a side of Domo-kun? In one of those odd twists of globalization and marketing synergy, the mascot of Japanese public television network NHK has found his way onto 99 cent cups of coffee and special Slurpee cups at 7-Eleven stores in the United States.
Keurig: Sorry, Your Coffeemaker Can't Break Until Tomorrow
By 10.17.09
Kyle recently bought a small Keurig coffeemaker. Very recently. He’s fond of it, but when it started dispensing watered-down coffee, he knew something was wrong. So he called Keurig, who informed him that his machine wasn’t allowed to break until he had owned it for 30 days.
Starbucks Birthplace Coffee Tastes Just As Burnt As Everywhere Else
By 10.5.09
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.
Baristas Flash Their Hoohas At The Grab-n-Go, Get Charged With Prostitution
By 9.28.09
We’re not at the “full body latte” stage just yet, but Grab-n-Go Espresso in Everett, Washington has apparently taken us right up to that edge with their espresso stands where baristas show skin while serving coffee. Now five Grab-n-Go baristas have been charged “with multiple counts of prostitution and violating the city’s adult entertainment ordinance.”
Mickey D's Profits Rise 4.3% Thanks To "Fancier" Items
By 8.10.09
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)
Starbucks Barista Offers Advice To CEO Howard Schultz
By 8.7.09
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.
Southwest Jet Grounded Due To Horrific Burning Smell: Turns Out It Was Just The Coffee Maker
By 7.30.09
An early morning Southwest flight headed to Orlando from Connecticut only got as far as Long Island this weekend, after an inexplicable burning smell at the back of the plane forced an early landing. Turns out the unexplained smell was, well, something we’re only too familiar with: airline coffee. The plane was quickly cleaned up and put back into operation. But let’s call it a brewed awakening.
Mocha Mondays At McDonald's Until August 3
By 7.27.09
On Mondays through August 3, between 7am and 7pm get a free sample (7 oz. cold or 8 oz hot) of the McCafe Mocha — an espresso with steamed milk, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream with a chocolate drizzle.
The Only Thing Left For Starbucks? To Just Stop Being Starbucks
By 7.16.09
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.
Man On Scooter Denied Drive-Through Coffee Service
By 6.16.09
Here’s pretty much the same story about a customer on a motorized scooter not being allowed to use the drive through, this time at a Tim Hortons coffee establishment in Nova Scotia. He’s not going to sue, but plans to appeal to Nova Scotia‘s Human Rights Commission.
Economy Thwarts Man's Goal Of Visiting Every Starbucks On Planet
By 5.30.09
I was impressed when I heard that someone managed to visit every Starbucks store in Manhattan in one day. There were 171 at the time. Then I learned about Winter, who takes Starbucks-visiting to a whole new level, aiming to visit every Starbucks in the world (9,000 to date.) Not in a single day, or even in a single year, but still an ambitious goal that attracts some media attention.
