I thought it would be fun to talk about some things that are coming soon (or perhaps or not coming at all!)

First off, I have heard lots of gossip that Starbucks will be bringing back Tribute Blend for 2012.  You may recall, Starbucks first launched this coffee March 8, 2011 in stores everywhere.  Part of the story behind this unique blend can be found on the official Starbucks blogs.  This coffee blend was wildly popular, and sold well.  I assume it was so popular that Starbucks felt like it had to come back again … And by popular demand, it’s back!

A regular reader of this blog emailed me with photos of Tribute Blend 2012.  He said that he saw bags of it hanging around his local Starbucks and so he grabbed his phone and took a few photos.  I am definitely excited about Tribute Blend coming back.  Can’t wait to try it on the Clover, and pair some foods with it.

And thank you to the many readers, both customers and partners, who send me emails.

Secondly, I’ve heard rumor that Starbucks will be introducing a cherry pie into their pastry case lineup.  I don’t have any confirmation of this or images, so this comes with the warning that this could be bad information.  My interest was first piqued by this MyStarbucksIdea.com thread where a customer stated that she’s been enjoying the cherry pie at Starbucks in California.  I am sure that Starbucks does quite a bit of testing of new beverages in Northern California, as I have written about the Pink Lime Frozt previously in Sacramento.  And I also know that San Diego, California also is a major area of testing too.  There was once a MyStarbucksIdea.com thread (about a year ago) about Vietnamese Iced Coffee being tested, and at that time I think I figured out (through twitter conversations) that this was probably tested in San Diego county.

Since reading that MyStarbucksIdea.com thread about cherry pie, I have heard loose gossip that cherry pie is coming soon too.  Does anyone know more?

And I thought it would be fabulous to write about these two things together because I think cherry pie and Tribute Blend would be a great pairing!  And I know that many readers are looking forward to Tribute Blend coming back.

This is an open thread.  Feel free to talk about anything Starbucks-related.

EDIT on February 5, 2012:

I just realized there is a Blonde roast promotion coming up for 3 days only. Buy a pound of Blonde roast whole bean and a get a free (any size!) beverage.  I definitely think that is worth mentioning in case there are fans of Blonde roast on this blog:

http://blogs.starbucks.com/blogs/customer/archive/2012/02/03/buy-starbucks-blonde-roast-get-a-free-beverage.aspx

Today (February 3, 2012)  marks the grand opening of a brand new Starbucks in downtown Seattle.   Interestingly, it has a fish tank !  It appears that the fish tank is actually part of a shared wall with the adjacent business, but it certainly is visible from the Starbucks, so you’ll be able to have your coffee and watch the fish if you want.

I walked by the store on January 29, 2012, and took a few photos of the store still under construction.  Please note, these photos were taken through windows which were mostly covered, and so the photos came out a bit blurry.

So here are the photos from January 29, 2012:

This store doesn’t have a Clover brewer yet, but there is definitely ample space for it, and I am hoping that it will add one.  I think the store manager, Tiana, is fighting for one!  This store is located in a LEED Gold Certified business building, and the building owners maintain the fishtank that can be seen in the photos below.  If you want to visit here is the address:

Starbucks store 13011
2001 – 8th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 467 5103

Tiana had been an Assistant Store Manager at the Pike Place Starbucks before this store and I met her there previously!  She has a lot of strength in understanding Starbucks’ history, and brings a great Starbucks culture for her partners and her customers.  I have always joked with Tiana that she is a famous partner!  Starbucks featured her in a You tube video about a year ago.

By the way, this store is located almost across the street from the Seattle Police Department’s West Precint, so don’t make any trouble in this store!

I thought I’d point out some of the aspects of this store that I like.  I noticed that the espresso bar area has what is called a “live edge,” meaning that the finished wood working retains some of its natural contours and grooves, rather than having a perfectly level and flat edge to the wood.  I am a fan of the natural beauty of a “live edge” to wood, and this bar area has a lot of contour and shape to it.  You can kind of see what I mean here in these two photos:

In the back of the store there is a hallway which leads to the restroom area.  The hallway wall has large coffee stamp posters for some of the international series of Starbucks coffees, such as Muan Jai and Peru.  I definitely liked this touch.  Starbucks produces a few very rare coffee offerings just for specific international markets, and the coffee stamp designs in this store represent some of those coffees:

And of course, I want to point out that there are comfy seats near the fish tank:

I hope you get a chance to visit this store!  Here are a few more pics! Enjoy!

Tonight (1-30-2012), I got a chance to attend a coffee event for the launch of this year’s Casi Cielo, a Starbucks tradition since 2004.  This is truly a fantastic coffee, and I really feel that this year’s offering is even better than last year’s!  It tastes like it has been roasted a little richer, yet it still retains the classic medium notes typical for a  coffee from Guatemala.

Before I go any further talking about the coffee tasting event, I want to recommend to my readers that if you have a chance to visit this store, and attend one of these events, you should!  The Olive Way Starbucks schedules coffee tastings every other week, and they are generally on Monday nights.  You should call ahead to the store, and pencil yourself in for a coffee tasting.  It’s free of charge, and gives you a chance to explore a new coffee that you might want to take home with you.  Their phone number is 206 568 5185.

The store often tweets about their coffee events, so follow them on twitter too:  Olive Way Starbucks

As you can see, I gush a bit when writing about this store.  And my heart loves Casi Cielo.  In January 2008, it was the first cup of coffee that I ever had from the Clover, so this coffee holds a special spot in my love of coffee!

Starbucks partner Jess, (who is a Coffee Master in training) walked us through the four steps of a coffee tasting, and paired Casi Cielo with four different food options.  First we smelled the coffee.  Our little group included about 5 people in the coffee tasting, and most everyone got right away the notes of dark chocolate.  I feel like this year’s Casi Cielo is a little buttery-er than last year’s, and felt like some of that came through in the aroma.  This year’s Casi Cielo really pairs remarkable well with either chocolates or nice savory foods, too.

(For those who need a reminder about the 4 steps of a coffee tasting, as Starbucks describes it:  (1) Aroma – Smell the coffee (2) Slurp – aerate the coffee in the mouth and slurp the coffee.  It’s okay, and in fact encouraged, to slurp loudly!  (3) Locate the coffee in the mouth – Where do the flavors hit? and (4) Describe all that you’re tasting.)

We tried four foods with this coffee:  Almonds, Mediterranean Feta & Pepper Flat Bread, Chocolate Covered Cherries produced by Chukar, and lastly, Beecher’s Beehive Barely Buzzed Cheese.

The first pairing was almonds with Casi Cielo.  The almonds we tried are  available at all of the beer and wine Starbucks (or, at least they should be) and are described as Salted Marcona Almonds.  The beer and wine Starbucks stores have special additional foods described as, “elevated food offerings.”  One person in our group described the almonds as really creating the effect where you get a nutty start to the coffee at the tip of the tongue, but finishing with a smokey finish in the back of the mouth.

Here’s a picture of the cheese, almonds, and chocolate-covered cherries, and I also included a photo of the menu board listing the store’s unique food offerings.  The cheese and chocolate-covered cherries are not part of the store’s “elevated food offerings.”

I really loved the Mediterranean Flat Bread with the Casi Cielo.  For one thing, it’s such a delicious offering available at this store!  One more reason to get yourself to this store.  I thought this year’s Casi Cielo really comes to life with the savory pairings, with even the salt bringing out the body and the flavor of the coffee.  Here’s a picture of the store’s Flat Bread:

When we tried the Chukar Cherries, a number of people sitting around me commented that the cherries brought out some lemon notes in the coffee.  Now, I will have to admit that I was having some difficulty picking up enhanced lemon flavors, but I did wish I had the entire bag of chocolate covered cherries to myself.   (What I am trying to say it that Casi Cielo has some lemon notes to it, and I got that, but for me I didn’t get a huge enhancement of the lemon flavors.  However, it seemed like everyone else around me did, so I think my tastebuds were a little off!)

As we talked about this coffee, Jess made the observation that Casi Cielo works as a great shot of espresso.  I have to totally agree with that.  The experimental Starbucks called 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea (or it was called that at least) briefly used Casi Cielo to pull their shots, and so having tried it as a shot, I totally agree that it makes a fantastic espresso.  I think this year’s especially would be a perfect change of pace if you’re looking for something new to use as your home espresso.

I know I haven’t talked much about the cheese pairing, but that was good too.  I felt that the cheese brought similar flavors to the coffee similar to the Mediterranean Flat Bread.  It was a moist cheese, and highlighted and strengthened the buttery components to Casi Cielo.  Still, somehow I liked the Flat Bread option a little better.

By the way, I took this photo shortly before the coffee event started, and while it doesn’t highlight any of tonight’s happenings, I like the casual atmosphere of the bar area (which is always the place for the coffee events) at this store:

So here are a few more pictures from tonight, many of which are to show off the beautiful store design.  Thank you Jess, Anton, Mikey, Gayle, and everyone at the Olive Way team!  This store really has thrown their weight behind making sure that coffee excellence is part of what they do. If you want to read about other events at this store, take a look at the Anniversary Blend Coffee Tasting (the “butter” tasting), the Aged Sumatra and Ethiopia Harrar coffee event, and the blonde roast launch media event.

The address is 1600 East Olive Way, Seattle, WA, 98102.  Once again, the phone number is 206 568 5185.

By request, I am starting a thread to talk about promotions which may (or may not!) be happening at Starbucks in February.  The two areas where I’ve heard murmurs of promotions relate to breakfast sandwiches and wraps, and whole bean coffee.

#1)

First off, I’ve seen a number of tweets which state that from January 30, 2012 through February 4, 2012, when you purchase any handcrafted beverage (or any brewed coffee) that a customer can buy a breakfast wrap or a breakfast sandwich for just $2.00.  Since I am a fan of the new Chicken Sausage Breakfast Wrap at Starbucks, this new promotion (sadly for just 5 days) sounds like a fabulous idea.

#2)

Secondly, in a previous thread, a partner suggested that there might be a “29 Star Dash” coming soon to promote whole bean coffee.  The idea, as I understood it, (and admittedly, I might not have gotten it right), would be that a customer must earn 29 stars on his or her card during the month of February.  After 29 stars have been earned, there will be a way to redeem them for a pound of whole bean coffee.  Since there are 29 days in February this year (leap year), I assume that the idea is to get people to go every single day to Starbucks.  Casi Cielo returns to Starbucks in February also, so the timing is perfect with the annual launch of that coffee.  READ THE EDIT BELOW PLEASE.

(Edit: In the comments there has been clarification regarding the 29 Star Dash.  This blog post has been through a number of edits in just the few hours that it has been up.  Thank you SO much to the many readers who responded, and the clarifying email.  The 29 Star Dash requires that the Starbucks customer receive an invitation email, and then upon earning 29 Stars, Starbucks will send the customer a $10 eGift Card.  There is a second 29 Star Dash that some people received which is a promotion for whole bean coffee.  I personally did not receive either promotional e-mail but hopefully some of my readers did, and/or will keep an eye out for it. )

This is another one of those threads that I might regret publishing, but it seems like an interesting conversation, and February isn’t that far away!  It would be easy to miss out on the first one because it lasts for only a few days!

And this is an open thread.  Feel free to talk about anything Starbucks-related. (Warning: I have not confirmed either of the two promotions with Starbucks.  There could be errors in the above information.)

Please don’t forget to “like” the blog’s Facebook page if you like this blog! Thank you! I think it would be so cool to get to 1000 followers on Facebook!

The Coffee Gear Store is the merchandise store located at the Starbucks headquarters at 2401 Utah Avenue South in Seattle.  I’ve written about this store in the past, but it’s been a while, so I thought it would be nice to have an updated article of what’s new.  As a reminder, the Coffee Gear Store is open to the public, and is open Monday through Friday, generally normal business hours.  It’s closed weekends and holidays.

I dropped by this store today (January 26, 2012) because I was curious to see what was new since the last time I visited.  John, who works at the store, told me to keep an eye out for St. Patrick’s Day Starbucks shirts coming soon!  Apparently there will be a few holiday-themed t-shirts this year at the store, with production being less than 200 shirts for each of the holidays.  There will be a July 4th and a Christmas themed limited production shirt too.

I didn’t take photos of everything offered.  You can look back at the past article on this store and see a number of staple items which appear to be always offered, such as pens, highlighters, magnets, and key chains.  You can also purchase the simple black Starbucks polo shirt which is the coffee gear shirt designed for partners to wear in the stores.  I didn’t take a photo of that polo, but for partner information, those shirts are also available and are priced at about $23 each.  (There is a short sleeve and a long-sleeve basic black polo, and the long-sleeve is slightly more in cost, at about $25, as I recall.)

I thoroughly liked the new brightly colored lunch totes:

I noticed that you can now buy an iPad cover and/or a laptop case that says Starbucks on it.  It’s offered in black, and there is a bright green color too:

I have to point out the new white t-shirt and the Starbucks grocery tote.  I have two of the Starbucks grocery totes and use them often.  They’re a nice sturdy canvas material, and hold up well when piled full of groceries:

I am including a few more photos below of the store, and merchandise found inside.  What would you want to buy or wish they would carry? The funny thing was that today I tried to control my spending at the store, and walked away with one small bag, largely full of gifts for others.  I ended up wishing I’d bought more!

Enjoy!

Edit on January 27, 2012:

I had originally written this article pretty quickly, and so now I’ve gone back and fixed a few typos.  I know there are definitely partners reading this site, and I wanted to mention that much of the merchandise above is available on the partner coffee gear website.  I have NOT been to that site, but I’ve been told (by several people) that U.S. partners can purchase merchandise from http://www.starbuckscoffeegear.com.  I don’t think there is shipping to international destinations.  I had intended to mention that website, but completely forgot to! ~Melody

This is the oldest Starbucks partner card I’ve ever seen.  It belongs to a friend of mine who was a partner in the 1994 to 1995 era, hired by the University Village Starbucks.  She hasn’t been a partner for many years, but was recently cleaning out some old boxes and she stumbled upon these old cards.  I find it curious that in that era, the cards had an expiration date on them, and they were apparently re-issued to partners periodically.

I have a long and detailed blog post about the University Village Starbucks (store #302 – The second ever store), and I still highly recommend it:

• The iconic University Village Starbucks

By the way, it might not be obvious but my friend Cherilyn’s partner number was six digits.  I just thought it was interesting to see a vintage partner card, and thought you might like seeing it too.

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This is an open thread and feel free to talk about anything Starbucks-related in the comments.  One of the funny things about this blog is that I get random emails through the “contact me” form, and also direct messages through twitter, and people just sort of pass on to me what they’ve heard is coming to Starbucks.  Of course, this doesn’t mean that they’ve gotten it right, or know what they’re talking about.  I enjoy getting those kinds of emails.  I assume that some of what I hear is early information about what might be coming soon.  About another one-third of the emails I get really should be routed to Customer Service.  I am sorry but if you’ve picked up a dry pastry at an airport Starbucks, there is nothing I can do about it.  I don’t mean to sound rude, but I am not customer service.  In the side column of this blog, near the bottom, I’ve added a link to customer service too.  And with the delayed launch of Casi Cielo, I’ve had at least three separate e-mails inquiring when Casi Cielo will be back in the stores.  It is coming soon!  It will be back next month.

Over the years, there have been tons of these emails. (Keep them coming!).  Some of them are quite entertaining.  Two years ago, a partner wrote me insisting that his store was testing face recognition technology at his Starbucks store.  I was left scratching my head, and I really was never sure if it was a serious email or if someone was pulling my leg.  From that email, I had the idea to write this April Fool’s Day blog entry.  That April Fool’s Day joke blog post was set in Pennsylvania because the partner who wrote me indicated that the testing was in that state somewhere.

More recently, I have received an email stating that orange syrup is coming back to Starbucks as a promo syrup this upcoming summer.  I really don’t know if that is true, but at least it makes some sense.  It’s been a long while since Starbucks offered orange syrup, and I think it was recently an international offering in Indonesia.  Once in a while, the syrup promotions seem to rotate from one country to another!  And then very recently, I heard that Starbucks was planning on changing their logo yet again.  I am disbelief at that one too, but maybe there is an April Fool’s Day joke in the making with the idea of a new logo: Starbucks to re-design her signature siren logo: Michelle Gass and Annie Young Scrivner vie for the opportunity to model for new Siren.  Oh god, I think Starbucks would hate me for that one.  In any case,  I think that many of the ‘tips’ I get turn out to be incorrect, so I would not hold my breath that the logo is changing again.

Anyway, I have rambled enough.  It’s your turn now…

Remember that giveaway that I blogged about two weeks ago?  Well my good friend LatteRose went on vacation, and so she wasn’t around to pull a name out of a hat.  I waited until she got back, and then a snowstorm hit Seattle, and I couldn’t easily get to her.  Today, I was catching up with my friend Molly, and I brought the hat (which had many little white cards in it – one for every entry) and asked her to pull out a card.  I snapped a photo, and you can see the winner is DadCooks.

DadCooks please send me an email so that I know that I have a correct address to mail the $75 Starbucks card.  The card is already purchased, and now I just need to throw it in an envelope.  It will go out in Monday’s mail.  If you need my email address, it is Melody at StarbucksMelody dot com.

Thank you everyone for playing in the giveaway, and your patience in the process too!

Congratulations again DadCooks!

It’s been a long while since I’ve talked about MyStarbucksIdea.com in any way whatsoever.  I noticed a few idea-threads that struck me as interesting, and decided to highlight them here.

Here we go:

1)

Daly City Starbucks Closing – Please Save Our Store – This idea thread is about a store in Daly City, California, which apparently is closing on January 26, 2012.  When I saw this thread, my interest was immediately piqued, as I wondered which Daly City Starbucks, and wondered if there was a story behind this.   I didn’t realize that Starbucks is still closing stores, though I suppose if a store is not profitable, that could always happen.  Still, I wonder if any of my readers have more information about why this Starbucks is closing?  Does anyone here have more information on this?

Here’s the full “idea” from MyStarbucksIdea.com:

2)

Bring Back Organic Shade Grown Mexico – Here’s someone who wants the whole bean coffee Organic Shade Grown Mexico to come back.  I have to admit, I really liked that coffee too, and so I want to highlight this thread.  I don’t think it’s coming back, but I can still wish… Now is a good time to mention an old blog post about Shared Planet, which talks about the early history of Organic Shade Grown Mexico coffee.  Still, as a fan of this coffee, I want to put a spotlight on this thread.

3)

Why buck the buck at the bux?  – You can’t really tell what this thread is about by looking at the title.  It appears to be that a customer wanted to use a coupon for a $1.00 off of whole bean or Via and was told that they could not do so at the company-operated Starbucks.  Given the mix of answers in the thread, I find it a bit confusing.  As far as I know, the $1.00 off whole bean (or Via Ready Brew) coupons may be used at all “participating Starbucks,” which generally does include all company-operated stores.

Here’s the idea thread:

4) Graham Cracker Topping and Cheesecake Syrup – Here’s a partner who wants a cheesecake syrup and graham cracker topping for beverages.  It doesn’t really appeal to me, but someone would like it.  It’s interesting enough to point out here – That’s an original idea!

It’s been eons since I’ve talked about MyStabucksIdea.com, so here is a chance to chat about the idea site.  Talk about anything MSI-related!

I thought this was interesting: Starbucks is now ranked 73rd on the Fortune Magazine list of the best 100 companies to work for.  Here’s the article: Top 100 Companies to Work For 2012.  It seems as though Starbucks has bounced around quite a bit on the list, and was ranked in the 90s in very recent years past, such as 2011 and 2010.  I found the Top 100 Companies to Work For list from 2000, and Starbucks was #88 back then.

Just thought I would pass along this little piece of news for those who are interested!  I’m glad to see the number improving for Starbucks.  The success of Starbucks depends on the partner experience just as much as anything else. I wonder what’s causing the improving trend?  (Or is that a significant jump from about 93 to 73?)

Happy Sweet 16 Birthday Green Lake Starbucks!  This store first opened January 17, 1996, and so today is its 16th birthday!

The Starbucks along Green Lake Way in Seattle just recently had a major remodel, so I thought it would be fun to drop by and visit this store.  The store manager is “Yumi” and she welcomed me into the store and pointed out some of the fun aspects of the remodel.  This store is always busy.  It took me several visits to get some good photos.

The Green Lake area has grown and changed tremendously over the past 20 years, and in some ways Starbucks has always been a part of that.  When I first moved to Seattle, there was an active Vitamilk Diary within a couple blocks of the Green Lake Starbucks.  Every year, Green Lake has a tradition of a milk carton derby on the lake.  Contestants build objects that float – made solely out of milk cartons!  I assume that the tradition began because of the active diary within a few blocks of the lake.  In the past, Starbucks would contribute used milk cartons to participants, and set up a booth at the lake on the Milk Carton Derby day.

One unchanging aspect of the Green Lake neighborhood is that Gregg’s Cycle has been neighbors with this Starbucks for like 20 years.  (I think that the Gregg’s Cycle long pre-dates the Starbucks.)  I like how this Starbucks incorporates lots of cycle-related design features into the store.  There is a wall made out of bicycle tires, all donated by Gregg’s.  There is a lighting fixture designed from bicycle rims.  And the front of the store has stroller, and bicycle parking areas.

Some of the cool things to point out about this store include that it is a two story building, and has a great upstairs patio too.  The upstairs mural was designed with the neighborhood in mind, and is a typical scene from Green Lake.  One odd thing is that the wall adjacent to the stairs has the word “Chat” on it in metal lettering.  My understanding is that it was retained (and unchanged) from before the major remodel.  I don’t know the story behind the oddly large “chat” along the staircase wall.

The store’s remodel is definitely beautiful.  I tried to include a very large number of photos below to give you a sense of it.  Notice the custom chalk art on this Starbucks’ community board:  it’s very rich and beautiful looking.  This store looks very welcoming, and I like lots of the design aspects, including the light fixture produced from bicycle tire rims, but I have to admit that I had the passing thought that the store could’ve been more striking.  For example, the tire wall is solid black.  I would have liked to see Starbucks add some kind of design to that space.  And I enjoyed the tire rim lighting fixture, but I think I would have liked to see more than just one of them.  Having said all that, I still think this is a beautiful remodel, with beautiful wood tones in the espresso bar, and I like the velvety curtains too. 

Absolutely, I will easily recommend this store.  It is gorgeous.  And you will get a perfect drink from a friendly crew of partners.  Happy 16th birthday Green Lake Starbucks!  Drop by and tell me what you think of your experience!

All of the photos below were taken sometime between December 24, 2011, and January 2, 2012.

If you want to visit, the address is as follows:

Green Lake Starbucks
7100 East Green Lake Drive North
Seattle, WA 98115
(206) 523 9594

Enjoy the photos!