New Starbucks Brew Gets Mixed Reception

I was catching up on my pile of this week’s Wall Street Journal today, and saw an article about customer reception to Starbuck’s new Pike Place Blend. I’d include a link to the online version, but it’s subscriber-only. Suffice it to say that many regular SBUX customers are unhappy with the new brew, claiming it’s not “bold” enough.

Yes, hell has frozen over, and I find myself defending Starbucks. Having sampled the brew myself recently in Seattle (I blogged about it HERE), I have to say I think this criticism is unfair for several reasons. First, it’s actually pretty good coffee. Very good, perhaps. While I didn’t formally cup it, I’d guess it would have made the mid 80′s on my cupping table.  Second, it’s not like Stabucks has completely abandoned their signature, burnt-to-a-crisp roast (the one where people mistake “burnt” for “bold”) – you can still get it.  Third, they are a huge, public company – they must serve their shareholders.  And the Pike Place Blend will do that.  Last but not least, this flavor profile is more in tune with the future direction of specialty coffee.  It has that prized acidity, enough complexity, and if my taste buds were right, some varietal nuance (I picked up Costa Rica).

SBUX, don’t listen to the critics.  Enough with the big, heavy, burnt blends.  Help us value origins, right down to the farmer level.

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Giving credit where credit is due

This week I spent a couple days in Seattle, a place where there are probably more coffee shops per capita than anywhere else in the world, including Finland. And some of them are, in fact, very VERY good.

Starbucks is not usually one I would include in that category. But after reading about their “historic” new Pike Place brew, I wanted to try it. I tried to get one on the way to Seattle, at the RDU airport. But alas, the “historic” brew that is to be the salvation of the chain is somehow, inexplicably, not available in airport locations. How insane is that? So I determined that I would sample it in the original Starbucks location at the Pike Place Market, where I could judge whether I thought the blend was worthy of the hype. While, like a teenage boy, ogling the original logo of mermaid with exposed… upper torso.

So after waiting ten minutes in line, which momentarily raised the thought that maybe I should purchase some SBUX, I finally had my very on “historic” Pike Place Blend in hand. I tasted it. And it didn’t suck. In fact, I would go so far as to say it was good, maybe even very good. Not great, certainly, but good or very good.

The first impression that struck me is that coffee was well brewed. Somebody was paying attention to grind and proportion. And it came out of a good brewer. It took a couple minutes for me to begin teasing additional impressions out of it. I think the blend is a significant portion Costa Rica. Not a Rock Star Costa Rica like our very own Helsar, but a solid, decent CR with a bit of a fruity nose. Beyond that I found it difficult to pin down specifics, but my money is on some good, solid Central and South Americans. Probably not Panama, nor do I think there is any Brazil. But some good Colombian, maybe. And perhaps a high quality Guatemala, or maybe even a Nicaragua. Or some of each!

So to Starbucks, I say congratulations. You deserve it. This is good coffee. You may very well compete with McDonalds at this point, certainly your coffee is better. If not cheaper and more convenient. Good luck with that, in any event.

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Starbucks Pins Its Hopes on a new blend

So the big news really was just a new blend. Being a blender myself, I don’t want to minimize the difficulty or importance of a good blend; our Old North State has become pretty popular in these parts. But I thought they got a little carried away in the press release calling the Pike Place Blend “historic”. Please. Does it seem reasonable to you that the turnaround of the stock price can be achieved by one new “everyday” blend? I think short positions in SBUX are in order, personally.

I remember being inspired by Howard Shultz’ 1997 book, Pour Your Heart Into It. The entire premise of the company, it seemed, was based on bringing the Italian coffee culture to the US. And for a long time, despite burnt roasts, they did it. They educated America.

But the Italian coffee culture is based on espresso. How is the Pike Place Blend going to rekindle the magic? Seems unlikely that some Dunkin Donuts like coffee is going to do it.

No, I think it’s more likely that they just outgrew their mission, which was a worthy mission. But not all of America is going to embrace the Italian coffee culture, so by default there was an upper limit to the growth. Now they need to turn into something new. Something less special, to match the American coffee culture. Which, on the whole, is just less special.

Although I must say that I like the return to the old logo.

http://www.muddydogcoffee.com

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