Vacation caffeination

I’m on vacation the next couple weeks, which really means that I went home to work harvest. If you missed it last year, I wrote a few stories about harvest. Here’s one of my favorites that I wrote while I was in Beijing (link). I’ll try to post a few times while I’m here, spending all day in the field doesn’t leave a lot of time for writing.

Here are a couple links from around the coffee world:

Headed to LA and need some coffee recommendations? Oliver Strand, who writes The New York Times’ Ristretto column, just visited and has some thoughts to share with you. link

Could coffee drinkers finally getting some good news about coffee prices? It appears so, at least if you drink Maxwell House. link All of those recent price hikes? They’re working, at least for shareholders (according to the video embedded in the article).

Starbucks’ Howard Schultz is urging CEOs of American corporations to stop all political campaign donations until Congress starts compromising and coming up with forward-thinking, long-term solutions to our nation’s economic problems.  link [Note how the content of the article was molded to fit the WSJ’s political viewpoint. The CEO quoted in the article was not even a part of Schultz’ group and he was only quoted as concerned with cutting spending.]

I know it’s bad form to answer a question with a question, but the answer to this headline should be, “Will anyone care?” link According to the author, DD’s “pastries and coffee are craved by a large portion of the western United States.”  Really? How many DDs are there in Portland?

And with that, I’m out…

Starbucks' new concept

The other evening, after stopping for sushi with fellow MIM alumnus Cory Klatik, we were looking for some coffee down in the Pearl District. It was about 7pm, which meant that our choices for finding coffee close by were limited. We walked over to Caffè Umbria thinking it would be open until eight, but they now close at seven Monday through Wednesday.

Stymied in that effort, we decided to try the new Starbucks across from Powell’s Books. Cory knew it was open until 11pm, and since I hadn’t been there to check it out yet, I agreed.

If you haven’t heard, in an effort to increase late afternoon and evening sales, Starbucks has opened a few new concept stores where they sell beer and wine. The new Starbucks in the Pearl is the first of this type of store outside the Seattle area. The store’s interior design is quite a bit different than a typical Starbucks, with more wood paneling and lounge-style furniture. It has a nice ambience. Nonetheless, it is not so different that you forget you’re in a Starbucks.

More elegant, but still very familiar

For the first time ever, I tried a single-origin espresso at Starbucks—in addition to the regular espresso, they were also serving the Kenya. It was the first time I had ever seen a single-origin espresso available there, so I couldn’t help but try it. My first impression: if you are really craving a single-origin in the evening and Starbucks is your only option, pony up and spend the $9.00 for the single-origin Pinot Noir instead of espresso. Your money will be better spent. Trust me.

Another option would be to cross the street and go to the World Cup Coffee in Powell’s, also open until 11pm. You won’t find any single-origin espresso or comfortable chairs, but you will get better coffee. 

Caffeinated Links July 16, 2011

The next time you drink a cup of hot coffee, be sure to take a couple nice long whiffs and enjoy the coffee’s aroma. New research shows that people who drink hot coffee and tea may be less likely to carry strains of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a “superbug” that hangs out in some people’s noses. One theory for why this would be is that when people drink hot coffee, some of the volatile compounds coming off the surface of the coffee act as antimicrobial agents. link

Andrew Cohen of The Atlantic gives an in-depth review of the HBO documentary “Hot Coffee,” which covers the famous McDonald’s case where a woman from New Mexico was awarded $2.7 million in punitive damages after she spilled her McDonald’s coffee, causing serious leg burns. The review includes a more in-depth discussion of tort reform that does not always make it to the media. link

I didn’t know what a “serial coffee offender” or a “smoko” was until I read the following article. Guess I need to spend more time in Australia. link

Unionized Starbucks employees in Chile are on strike, the first strike in the company’s history. link

A Taiwanese company is incorporating recycled coffee grounds into a new fabric. The coffee reportedly helps control odors and makes the fabric dry more quickly. link

Mashable has a great article about coffee shop etiquette. It’s especially appropriate for those who spend very much time working or studying in cafés. link

Dunkin’ Donuts is going to IPO soon, but (thankfully) it doesn’t sound like the company is going to use the money to expand the number of stores across the country. The money will instead be used to pay down debt. link

As usual, the big green apron is in the news a lot this week. Starbucks released some new ‘bistro’ food options (at least in Chicago), split its international division into two regions and announced that it has signed an agreement with a Chinese coffee company to create a joint venture to process and export coffee grown in the Yunnan region.

Links (and laughs?) for June 24

A few links to help you waste time this Friday...

Entrepreneur has a long article on Stumptown founder Duane Sorenson in its latest issue. link

If you are interested in coffee, social media, website design and driving traffic, you might read the following story from the New York Times. The Times “You’re the Boss” blog explores why a company in Colorado isn’t getting much traffic. I bet it gets a lot this week…link

Kitsap County, Washington, has become a popular place for topless espresso stands, but that might change soon thanks to proposed regulation. One of the proposals is to limit all patrons of the kiosks to people over 18. link

In other news, every sophomore and junior boy in the Kitsap high schools just threatened to never drink coffee again…

The latest hotbed for quality coffee is. . . . Detroit? Apparently. link

The Seattle Times’ Melissa Allison details the resurgence of Starbucks in a recent post. link

This next link is only a press release, but if I were opening a coffee shop, I would have to look into selling “Weasel Premium Coffee” (if only for the name). I mean, who doesn’t “love their weasel?” link

If you are worried about a caffeine addiction (or even if you aren’t worried), you might watch this video about the history and benefits of coffee consumption. link

The best quote from an article in the Christian Science Monitor about coffee prices comes from a coffee roaster, who hopes that “somebody is going to lose their shirt” by speculating on coffee futures. link

Speaking of coffee prices, coffee consumption in China is expected to increase 15-20% each year. The average Chinese consumer drinks three cups of coffee per year, which means that the country has along way to go before it reaches the average of 240 cups per year. As consumption increases, so will the competition for beans. link

And finally, from Southeast Portland, some woodshop humor:

Everybody could use a free hole...

Selling Frappuccinos in the UK

Below, I have embedded an ad from a campaign that Unruly Media is running in the UK for Starbucks. I would like to hear your opinion. Beneath the video, I have given mine.

One of the challenges for any company is to decide if it wants to go for fast growth and large profits, sacrificing a few of its values along the way, or if it wants to remain true to its roots, even if it has to sacrifice some economic gains. For most businesses, profits come first. This is especially true for public companies, where there is tremendous pressure put on management by the shareholders to go for growth and profits. I think you can guess which path Starbucks chose.

Starbucks began as a place that wanted to be true to the coffee and the café experience. Now it boldly sells milkshakes, with whipped cream and caramel sauce.

To be honest, I like the graphics, the bright colors and the crisp audio of the spot. It has a sharp feel to it. The business school-trained part of me thinks it’s a fine ad, and I know that Frappuccinos have some of the best profit margins at Starbucks, so I understand the reasons for the campaign. At the end, however, watching this ad reminds me why Starbucks took the “Coffee” out of its new logo. How about you?

[Disclosure: Unruly Media, an advertising company, asked me to write an editorial about the ad. Feel free to pass it on to anyone you know in the UK]