Entries tagged with 'Starbucks'
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"Way to go people in lab coats who figured this one out!" Instant coffee never seems like it's trying that hard to taste like regular coffee. You can almost hear Nescafé saying, "yeah, whatever, I give up." But Starbucks may be changing that. Earlier this year, the chain introduced Starbucks VIA Ready Brew, a line of instant coffee packets (three single servings for $2.95) sold in two flavors, Colombia and Italian Roast. We tried the Colombian packets against a fresh-brewed batch of Starbucks dark roast from around the corner and the paradigmatic instant coffee itself, Nescafé. While the Nescafé couldn't hide—ah, yes, that zap of chemicaly ink juice—it was actually really hard to differentiate the instant from the real deal....
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Photograph taken by rudolf_schuba on Flickr Starbucks rose to dominate the coffee landscape by slapping its logo on thousands upon thousands of virtually identical cafés from Jakarta to Peoria. But now, trying to shed its image as a corporate monolith, Starbucks is actually removing its brand from a number of its stores, starting in its birthplace, Seattle. The Seattle Times reports that three un-Starbucksed cafés will open under other names, like the rechristened “15th Avenue Coffee and Tea,” debuting on Monday. It will serve beer and wine, and host music performances, poetry nights, and other community-oriented events. It's still Starbucks pulling the strings—but with no green logos in sight....
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"The cookies ranged from ehhh to scrumpdiddleumptious." starbucks.com Stopped by a Starbucks lately? You may have noticed, or tasted, something new. In an effort to take on a more wholesome image and win back customers, the company has introduced a new and improved selection of food items under the campaign "Real food. Simply delicious." This means a revamping of all their baked goods (no artificial flavors, artificial trans fats, artificial dyes, or high-fructose corn syrup), and the launch of several new items, like the Vivanno smoothie and Protein Plate (cheese, hard-boiled egg, whole-wheat bagel, grapes, apple slices, and peanut butter). At a recent media preview, I tasted some of the "improved" baked goods on offer at Starbucks nationwide....
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An iced coffee has precisely two ingredients: coffee, and ice. Right? Well, not at Starbucks. There, your tall iced coffee (unless ordered "unsweetened") contains a shot of simple syrup and around 90 calories. The website does note this, as Newsday reports; the iced coffee is described as a "Starbucks Terraza Blend, served chilled and slightly sweetened on ice." Still, since coffee in this country doesn't usually come pre-sugared, it's a little surprising....
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If you haven’t seen a McCafé commercial in the last few weeks, you haven’t turned on your television. McDonald’s $100 million marketing blitz was their biggest since the launch of the Egg McMuffin, back in the 1970s. And it seems to be paying off. According to the Boston Globe, McDonald’s is now the second-most preferred coffee brand in America—unseating Dunkin’ Donuts, and coming up behind Starbucks. But both Starbucks and Dunkin’ have cut prices and launched specials in response. What do you think? Have recent ads, product launches, and price cuts changed your morning coffee routine? Or are you set in your caffeinated ways?...
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At the Pike Place Market store I can sit around and jive talk about coffee for hours, but many others don't necessarily want to know more about it—instead, they're drawn to the experience of drinking it, socializing with friends, talking about the previous night, peeling off layers of a cranberry walnut muffin, until we reach that coffee buzz which makes surviving the upcoming day all that much more plausible. No wonder so many successful coffee shops around the country create living rooms for their customers with dark wooden floors, light colored walls, communal tables, and the endless aroma of freshly ground beans. We're drawn to comfort in the aroma of brewing, the barista's choice of music, and the milk-infused...
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Note: Serious Eats contributor Allison Hemler is a NYC-based barista who recently traveled to Seattle to check out the internal coffee college at Starbucks HQ. This week, she'll be educating us on tidbits she picked up in class, with today's focus on the espresso. A latte poured by a barista at Stumptown Coffee in Portland, Oregon. Any seasoned barista will tell you what the time before being cleared on an espresso machine is like. You're stuck at the cash register, acting as the interpreter between the customer and the artist behind the La Marzocco who pulls shots, steams milk, and applies a delicate touch to a porcelain cup as it makes its way to a caffeine-starved owner. The barista does...
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Note: Serious Eats contributor Allison Hemler is a NYC-based barista who recently traveled to Seattle to check out the internal coffee college at Starbucks HQ. This week, she'll be educating us on tidbits she picked up in class, today's focus being on the improving relationships between coffee bean farmers and roasters. Coffee farmers in Chiapas, Mexico. Photograph from tonx on Flickr As the second most traded commodity in the world after oil, coffee has acquired more frequent flier miles than any of your produce could hope for. In fact, more coffee enters the United States than any other food product. There's a clear reason why we don't have coffee trees in our backyards and why we rely on shipments from...
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Note: Serious Eats contributor Allison Hemler is an NYC-based barista who recently traveled to Seattle to check out the internal coffee college at Starbucks HQ. This week, she'll be educating us on tidbits she picked up in class, continuing today with the roasting of beans. When I want coffee made with love, I immediately think of Small World Coffee in Princeton, New Jersey—the location of my first-ever barista position. We had our own roasting plant five miles down the road in a huge warehouse. You'd walk in for a staff meeting after slaving away at the espresso machine all day and the intense aroma would conjure up images of swimming in coffee beans alongside toasting marshmallows for s'mores, stirring a...
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Note: Serious Eats contributor Allison Hemler is a NYC-based barista who recently traveled to Seattle to check out the internal coffee college at Starbucks HQ. This week, she'll be educating us on tidbits she picked up in class, starting with bean origins today. Clockwise from top left: Coffee cherries, washed green coffee, roasted coffee beans. A few weeks ago, I was at the local bar for trivia night when the ultimate question was asked: "Where is the majority of the world's coffee beans grown?" Simple, I thought. I work in coffee and look at names of Latin American and African countries every day. While hesitant, I chose Colombia from my brainstormed list—the popularity of Juan Valdez has got to count...
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