While watching TV yesterday and moaning about how lazy we are, we saw a review of commuter mugs (free registration required) on “America’s Test Kitchen”: “We ordered 11 mugs of different materials, shapes, and sipping structures and organized a battery of tests designed to define the ideal mug, which left us feeling a little like test drivers as we careened around corners trying to spill the coffee or dislodge the mugs.” (Yes, they like the royal “we” too!) See their testing criteria, as well as their top two picks, bottom rung losers, and oddball favorite after the jump.
coffee
Coffee Shop Offers Free Coffee In Celebration Of Starbucks "Retraining"
By 2.21.08
A small coffee chain (2 stores) in California is offering free coffee during the much ballyhooed “Starbucks retraining event,” on Tuesday, February 26th from 5:30 PM until 8:30 PM PST.
Starbucks Retraining Employees At 7,100 Stores Next Week
By 2.20.08
Next Tuesday, Starbucks will close 7,100 corporate-owned stores early to implement a company-wide retraining session on how to make drinks. “The barista re-education is a ‘renewed focus on espresso standards,’ say Starbucks honchos.” We thought that’s why they bought the robot espresso machines—so they didn’t have to have trained coffee pullers anymore.
Coffee Shop Installs Fake Security Camera In Bathroom
By 2.5.08
A coffee shop in Montreal has removed a “dud” security camera from its bathroom after news of it hit the local papers. Corporate headquarters asked the franchise owner to take it down, and apologized/avoided blame in a press release that said they were “not consulted in advance.” The franchise owner had installed it as a sort of junkie scarecrow, to frighten away heroin users who were leaving dirty needles in the bathroom stall.
Starbucks: Say Good-Bye To Breakfast Sandwiches, Hello To $1 Coffee
By 1.31.08
Starbucks recently announced that they would begin selling their “short” cups of brewed coffee for $1 a piece, and offering free refills of brewed coffee as a test in their home market of Seattle.
Organic Milk Is Off The Menu At Starbucks Starting Feb. 26
By 1.16.08
Starbucks made the switch to recombinant bovine growth hormone-free milk and are taking organic milk off the menu in all of their stores, effective Feb. 26.
By 1.8.08
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Embattled Starbucks fired CEO Jim Donald and brought back company founder Howard Shultz. Maybe they’ll be forced to close down some stores. Won’t that be the day. [Economist]
By 1.4.08
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Starbucks “Skinny” Drinks apparently taste about how you’d expect them to taste. We’ve never understood the appeal of paying the same amount of money for a large drink that doesn’t taste as good. Why not just buy a smaller size of the good tasting drink? We’ll never understand. [Chicago Tribune via Starbucks Gossip]
Want A Thriving Coffee Shop? Open Next To A Starbucks
By 12.29.07
The funny thing about Starbucks is it’s helped to create a coffee culture filled with a significant number of people who don’t actually like Starbucks—which means that, despite conventional wisdom, it’s actually a good thing to be a mom & pop coffee shop with a Starbucks nearby, writes Slate.
What Is The Most Expensive Drink At Starbucks?
By 12.23.07
Gee Whiz! The Starbucks "Cheer Chain Phenomenon" Might Be A Lame PR Stunt
By 12.19.07
Some cynical people, (not us, mind you) are starting to suspect that the news stories popping up all over the U.S. about Starbucks “cheer chains” might be planted by Starbuck’s PR team.
Coming Soon: Starbucks TV Commercials To Address Falling Traffic
By 11.16.07
For the first time ever—and spurred largely by two price increases in a year—customer traffic at Starbucks dropped last quarter. The coffee chain still reported earnings based largely on higher prices and new stores, but it’s worried enough about the falling traffic to launch a national television ad campaign this season, something it’s never done before.
Starbucks To Sue Small Michigan Coffee Shop For Trademark Infringement
By 11.12.07
Better not use a green circle for your coffee shop logo because Starbucks has lawyers and they’ll sue ya. Conga Coffee & Tea, a small two-store operation in Michigan, is being threatened with a lawsuit because their logo bears “striking resemblance” to Starbucks’ famous mermaid logo. At least that’s what Starbucks says.
Do Coffee Shops Discriminate Against Women?
By 11.12.07
We’ll make this brief so we can jump right into the heated comments: an economist and her research assistants studied eight different Boston coffee shops and found that, on average, women had to wait about 20 seconds longer to be served. She controlled for drink types and the discrepancy remained. What’s more, “The delays facing women were larger when the coffee shop staff was all-male and almost vanished when the servers were all-female.”
Walmart Fined $89,705 For Overcharging Wisconsin Customers
By 11.10.07
Walmart received an $89,705 fine after the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection found 280 weights and measures violations at nine Walmart stores. The gargantuan retailer failed to subtract the weight of packaging materials, or “tare weight,” when pricing bulk items like coffee, broccoli, and sweet potatoes.
Judy Cardin, section chief for weights and measures with the state, said that in the case of bulk coffee, the weight of the packaging materials was included when the price of the product was determined. The state had tested one-pound bags of Cameron brand coffee beans, which were found to be 3/100ths of a pound over the actual bagged content.
Starbucks Rolls Out Christmas Cups, Christmas Blends, And Christmas Music – Seven Weeks Before Christmas
By 11.10.07
Corporate America has a new ally in the war to spread unseasonable holiday cheer. Thanksgiving may be two weeks away, but according to one sharp-eyed reader, that isn’t stopping the coffee behemoth Starbucks from bludgeoning consumers with Christmas.
The Great Coffee Can Patent War, Starring Kraft and Procter & Gamble
By 11.3.07
If you drink Folgers or Maxwell House, the coffee can on your shelf is the subject of a patent war between Kraft and Procter & Gamble. Both are accusing the other of stealing the innovative technology used to contain your precious morning fuel in a resealable plastic can that can “withstand the pressure changes that occur between the factory and the consumer’s home.”
Site Of Most Infamous Mob Murder In NY History Is Now A Starbucks
By 10.29.07
The site of the most infamous mob murder in New York City history is now a Starbucks, but does anyone care? Nah. We certainly don’t care… but it’s a chance to learn about a mob murder:
