Starbucks has launched the “petite treats” which are eight small-sized desserts, each one under 200 calories. These new food treats launched on March 8, 2011, and coming soon there is a chance to get a free petite treat with the purchase of any handcrafted beverage. From March 10, 2011 through March 12, 2011, come into any Starbucks between two and five p.m., and you can get a free “petite treat” with the purchase of any handcrafted beverage. My experience from past promotions is that “handcrafted” beverage is usually interpreted to mean a wide variety of things including tea-lemonades, Frappuccinos, Vivannos, lattes, and just about anything at all that you can imagine. I don’t know how broadly “handcrafted beverage” is being defined for this current promotion.
There are eight petite treats, as I previously mentioned. Some of you might remember, the launch of these new cute little desserts has its roots in a test that was recently conducted in Arizona, called the “mini treat test.” The test in Arizona involved more than eight little treats, but today (March 8, 2011) there were eight treats that launched. The eight treats are as follows:
- Red Velvet Whoopie Pie
- Lemon Square
- Rocky Road Cake Pop
- Birthday Cake Pop
- Salted Caramel Square
- Tiramisu Cake Pop
- Carrot Cake Mini Cupcake
- Chocolate Cupcake with Peanut Butter Frosting
I wanted to write a review of each of these little treats so I bought one of each today and attempted to eat all of them. This is not a good idea. Eating all eight at once is not advisable! It might be delightful to have one or two at a time but eight at once will put you into a sugar coma. I went to the Starbucks at 7th and Pike in downtown Seattle, and attempted to eat all eight while chatting with the store manager, Adam. It was interesting talking to him, and it reminded me how totally subjective this is. Taste is subjective.
I said to Adam, “I really like the lemon square – I like lemon.”
He replied, “Really? I don’t like lemon at all as a flavor. I really liked the birthday cake pop!”
I looked at him dumbfounded and said, “Really? Oh my gosh that was the one I liked the least. How about the salted caramel square? That was good.”
And then Adam said, “I don’t like caramel.”
When I was done talking to Adam I realized we had exact opposite views of which treats we liked the best. Just goes to show you, there is something for everyone! By the way, the carrot cake cupcake was delicious and the frosting on it was delectable! That might be my all-time favorite of all of them.
I mentioned a promotion for a free mini with the purchase of any handcrafted beverage. There is more information here on that:
Join Us For Tribute Days – From the Starbucks blogs
Please weigh in and tell me if you like these little treats!
(I feel like I have a million things to write about right now because I still need to do an entire post on Tribute Blend. I guess I’ll get to that eventually.)
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In Germany we got different minis…hmmm…also delicious, but these here look better. 😀
I just love Tiramisu…would love to taste that.
I made a pics of our German minis…
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?fbid=146762418719202&set=o.216331155420&theater
1,85€ each, 2 for 3,10€ and 6 for 8,95€ plus a nice box to store them.
I have yet to try the Red Velvet Whoopie Pie or Rocky Road Cake Pop, but I have indulged in the Lemon Square, Birthday Cake Pop, Salted Caramel Square, Tiramisu Cake Pop, Carrot Cake Mini Cupcake, and the Chocolate Cupcake with Peanut Butter Frosting over the past couple of weeks. And when I say indulged, I mean INDULGED! THEY ARE AMAZING!!! My favorite so far is the Chocolate Cupcake with Peanut Butter Frosting– the frosting is so thick and rich it’s like peanut butter cookie dough on top of a chocolate cupcake!
If you’re a Weight Watcher’s person like I am, please be advised that each of these little mini treats is 5 points! That’s a lot, but in my book, if you’re going to treat yourself, you’ll do good to spend 5 points on any one of these! Of course I can’t actually speak of the Red Velvet Whoopie Pie or Rocky Road Cake Pop– more testing is needed 🙂
BTW Melody, the Red Velvet Whoopie Pie is a product of my DM when he was in R&D!
At my local SB the sign says for this promotion your favorite drink and does not say handcrafted drink so I assume I can just get my regular iced green tea. Anyway, I really enjoyed the carrot mini cupcake and the peanut butter mini cupcake first and then the tiramisu pop. I indugled and ate all three at once. Will go back and try some of the others. I want to try the lemon square next.
I haven’t tried all of them, but the Tiramisu cake pop was pretty incredible.
Yay! So excited to try these 🙂 I usually get to Starbucks early on weekdays on my way to work and they told me they don’t put these out until 11, so I didn’t get to try them yesterday as I had anticipated. I think the Tiramisu cake pop and the carrot cake will be my favorite.
The MSI thread comments from one of the moderators said that brewed coffee would count as a beverage, but I don’t think all the stores will know that!
Sadly i have not yet seen the minis around here 🙁
I can’t wait to try them
I tried the r.v. whoopie pie , the tiramisu cake pop, the rocky road cake pop (one bite of each on the cake pops) and the lemon cake. I would definitely buy the r.v. whoopies again…very good and just right with the filling, hint of cream cheese. I would NOT buy the cake pops again unless I was longing for a piece of candy, and even then….probably not. The ‘frosting’ was more like a candy (necessary for the stick aspect, I assume) but the inside of the two I tried was too much like unbaked dough. and very very sweet. too sweet for me…..and too confusing, not being either a candy or a cke ( = ‘cake pop’, I guess) I wouldn’t have tired the bday cake flavor as I know I’m not fond of that flavor.
The lemon (and I love lemon) was ok….but a bit mediocre. a little disappointed. I will try the others for sure but right now, a little disappointed. A good sz, I think, tho. I have to try the others. Mostly disappointed with the cake pops, whcih I thought would be so cool.
I must say, I saw a difference in the APPEARANCE of their quality from store to store. Some looked much better preserved (fresher) than others. and, store to store, some presentations made a diference. Some seemed to fit nicely into the mix in the case of other more gigantic items and in other stores, due to arrangement…reminded me of Gulliver’s Travels….. a bit. too small next to too big.
Need to try the rest. re: the ‘handcrafted drink’ for 3/10-3-12 promo, as it is written in Ideas in Action on msi…..would be good if that were clarified. That could be a big difference and as Hayley said: I’m douting the stores will “know” brewed coffee counts…. if it does. ???
I LOVE that you tested all 8! I wish I had thought of that! 😉
So far I’ve only tried the Red Velvet Whoopie Pie, and it was fantastic! The cake was very moist, and the lovely cream filling was so smooth and delicious! When I was finished with it, I was sad I’d only ordered one!
Loved reading your review of the treats. Going to have to try the cupcakes! It’s so true that taste is subjective. It was really funny reading how different yours and Adam’s opinions were on these mini treats.
Yay! So excited to try these 🙂 I usually get to Starbucks early on weekdays on my way to work and they told me they don’t put these out until 11, so I didn’t get to try them yesterday as I had anticipated. I think the Tiramisu cake pop and the carrot cake will be my favorite.
You can still buy them before they are displayed! Just ask and they should!
Need to try the rest. re: the ‘handcrafted drink’ for 3/10-3-12 promo, as it is written in Ideas in Action on msi…..would be good if that were clarified. That could be a big difference and as Hayley said: I’m douting the stores will “know” brewed coffee counts…. if it does. ???
The register will automatically do the discount so just have them ring it in. The computer will do the discount so no room for argument.
These were introduced to increase our afternoon and evening sales. I think they would be great for having coffee and a small treat after lunch or dinner.
Melody – thanks for this awesome blog!
To answer some of the other commenters questions, the free petite during Tribute Days applies with the purchase of any beverage (“Handcrafted Beverage” is just marketing hype) and the computer applies the discount automatically. Also, keep in mind that the promotion is per beverage as well, so if you buy two drinks you get two free petites.
Hayley, I’m surprised that you weren’t able to purchase a petite before 11 a.m. That is when the petites are displayed, but customers should be able to purchase them earlier in the day.
To be fair, they probably would have let me purchase one if I would have asked. I just asked where they were and they told me they don’t display them until 11.
This morning they were sampling them. I tried the Red Velvet one, it was good, but the one I had the cake was a little dry. I think I will try that one again though, I’m sure it will be better and it still had a good flavor.
We have completely different ones in Germany! 🙁 Its so sad, was looking forward to all of these! Was so disappointing when i seen none of them were what i had seen online. 🙁 I’ll tell you what they have in Ireland when im there in a few days! Can’t wait to try the ‘proper’ ones that everyone else gets! I feel sorry for Starbucks Germany, it’s really years behind everyone else, such a shame.
I love them all, but here’s my review:
1. Red Velvet Whoopie Pie: Not my favorite. I just don’t like the texture, but still delicious. We’ve sold out of these both days so far. We’ll have to start ordering more.
2. Lemon Squares: I love! I had with Tribute Blend one morning and it totally changed the taste of Tribute for me.
3. Rocky Road Cake Pop: My favorite of the cake pops. I love chocolate. I love marshmellows. I love this.
4. Birthday Cake Pop: NO! My least favorite of them all. Too sweet. (still delicious)
5. Salted Caramel Square: MY FAVORITE! Its like a fudge snickers bar. I cannot eat enough of these.
6. Tiramisu Cake Pop: I love the coffee chocolate on top. This is good. Not too sweet, but indulgent.
7. Carrot Mini Cupcake: I’m the only one at my store who likes this one! Everyone else thinks it has a chemical taste. But I love it!
8. Peanut Butter Mini Cupcake: Delicious! I love it! I love chocolate and peanutbutter. #Win
Customers LOVE these new pastries! Why have we never sold these mini sweets before?!?!
The boxes for them are too cute.
I didn’t get to try all of them, but the rocky road cake pop is out of this world! It has a semi-molten chocolate core and the not-so-sweet marshmallows balance the sugariness of the cake pop. It’s awesome!
I can’t wait to try all of the other ones tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday!
Lol.
For some reason my favorite Starbucks has yet to receive any of the new petite treats and in fact were shorted most food items on their first delivery this week–a very empty food case.
Word is that Starbucks that did received treats received a whopping 4 of each treat on Monday and none since.
Due to pass conditions today (I presume) the truck had not delivered as of noon today. All the signage is up and customers are asking, but no goodies.
They are awesome. Even you don’t like a certain one, you’ll find a favorite. Guaranteed.
Our store was close to selling out and I told my team to TRIPLE orders on IMS for Thursday through Sat. I’ll be allowing coffee or a tea as the beverage because it’s about surprise and delightful. And these items are oh so delightful 🙂
@camspi. Great descriptive but I have to say the rv whoopie pies are 100x better than our cupcakes have been in the last two years, making them my fav.
And our boxes are on backorder 🙁
@Chen – I thought the Rocky Road Cakepop tasted a bit like a brownie on a stick. It wasn’t my favorite, but I liked it! @CamSpi – What are the boxes? Have I just missed them? I had a lemon square this afternoon with Kenya, and it was just put into an ordinary little pastry bag.
@TheRobotMommy – I thought the promotion was for any beverage to get a free petite. The petites will be gone fast! I think people will get hooked when they get a free one and see how great they are. Welcome to the blog by the way!! @Diele – It is a perfect little afternoon treat with coffee. It’s nice to have new food that isn’t totally centered around breakfast (i.e. oatmeal, new artisan veggie sandwhich … I miss the huevos ranchero wrap, though I hear it didn’t sell well).
My plan is to go tomorrow and try at least a couple of these… But now I have no idea which to try! Maybe I can convince a couple friends to go and we can compare (and share)
I’m very excited! Everyone has such different opinions!
I’ll toss my 2 cents in tomorrow!
I just wish all were vegetarian friendly. *sigh*
I wonder if there will be seasonal petites?
I have only the carrot cake one left to try. (I think)
My choice is #1: choc.peanut butter cupcake. and #1: R.V. whoopie pie… I think those 2 are very good and the choch p.b. was excellent,
My least favorite was the caramel snickers bar. (don’t like snickers, and very hard!!) I likely will do w/out the cake pops forever…just too sweet.
re: the “boxes”. I have only seen (in 3 different locations) only the plain pastry box. or, paper bag. ???
too bad for you DadCooks! (maybe you should’ve stayed in Morton Grove! 😉 Apparently the ‘only 4 of each’ was quite widespread.
It seems pretty cleared up in the stores around here re the promo….any beverage. (which is good, no way would I want a latte of any kind with these, it’d have to be straight black BOLD.)
@Diele – Wait – Which treats do you consider not to be vegetarian friendly? And seasonal petites is a great idea!!
So far my favorite is the peanut butter cupcake – moist rich dark chocolate, peanut butter topping not too sweet – yum!
@Melody – they offered a little siren pastry box with the tiramisu pop (Phinney Ridge).
Had Tribute today again for the second day today…it’s official it’s awesome! 🙂 Will definitely be back tomorrow for a Petite
I’m with Adam! I am IN LOVE with the Birthday Cake pops!
@ClarkKent – I want to hear what Superman thinks of the rest of them when you’ve tried them all. Which is most like Kryptonite? @Rachel (on 3-9 @8:03 pm) – Welcome to the blog! It looks like I now have more than one Rachel on this site! More proof that there’s ‘a little something for everyone’ with the petite treats. I told Adam it was great that we had opposite tastes. I said to him, “more for me then Adam!” Rachel, if you haven’t already, I hope you’ll like the blog’s facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/StarbucksMelody/180068562003180
I already do, and follow ya on Twitter! 🙂 I’ll have to start posting with my full name!
The lemon bar has gelatin in it and the marshmallows on the rocky road presumably also have gelatin. So they’re not veg friendly.
@Rachel – Sorry for my airheadedness. LOL. I do think I’ve had more than one Rachel here – You could be Rachel with an initial like “Denise R” does … @Jess – I didn’t think of that at all, but now that you mention it, that makes sense! Thanks1
@Melody I’ll twitpic the cute little boxes tomorrow when I get my petite for Tribute Day.
The red velvet also has carmine which is not vegetarian. I wish they kept the chocolate whoopee pie they tested.
Diele thanks for discussing the ones that are not vegetarian. I saw the marshmellows so knew not to eat that one and have not tried the lemon mini nor the red velvet so now will not. Do you know if the ingredients for each treat are listed on the website? Also, what is carmine? Never heard of it and I read labels all the time. SB needs to post which treats are vegetarian friendly or not.
I knew I liked you for many reasons but I’m thinking the carrot cake is my choice for FAV. Lemon comes in a tight second (I did have one last night before meeting friends at a brew house) and it’s a perfect portioned treat. I think the many choices will help sell them to people who are growing tired of the same afternoon pastry selection. Anyway, they are free today if you buy something to drink so everyone go check out what is new in the SBUX world. Cheers sweety.
P.S. I did speak with a Seattle help desk person named Jan the other day that follows your blog and seemed a bit taken aback that I knew you personally. I felt “celebrity” by association. LOL
Thank you for the tip everyone, i went down after 11 and tried the salted caramel square, i figure i’ll try one a day thanks to Melody’s warning!
@Purple1 – Carmine is a bug (beetle?) that they use for the red color. It’s a more expensive alternative to the petroleum-based Red#40 that’s found in so many things, but not a vegetarian alternative.
Thank you CD for the info. I went to the SB website and looked at the nutrition details for all the mini treats. I am disappointed that some of them are not vegetarian. I was looking forward to trying them all. Certainly, there is vegetarian gelatin that could have been used. I wish SB was a bit more attentive to this issue. I have had lemon squares without gelatin and they have been terrific so I know they can be made without gelatin.
Has anyone seen Sbux commercial on tv the past fewd days? It generally starts with another commercial and says “brought to you by Starbucks” and then followed with a very cool, innovative Sbux commercial ‘celebrating YOU you you you’ etc. in all different wording….ending with the promo deal. Until this, I had yet to see a Sbux commercial for anything that I thought was worth its salt. This one is excellent, a very uplifting, energized-looking commercial for Sbux!!!
I can’t decide between the carrot cake and the lemon square as my favourite. Can’t eat the Rocky Road Cake Pop, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake or the Salted Caramel Square (even though I’d LOOOOOVE to) due to a nut allergy – I also feel like we should be indicating that the Salted Caramel Square contains nuts, as that is not initially obvious when you look at it in the case like it is for the R.R.C.P. and the C.P.B.C.
Yesterday we had Whoopie Pie Wednesday…every time one was purchased my ASM went “WHOOPIE!” – which was hilarious inside but even funnier when he’d turn on his D/T headset and do it for the people outside. There was a bit of a stunned silence, and then the DTO started to explain 🙂
We don’t have our boxes yet either. For those that do, did they come with your paper order or your roasting plant order? (just curious)
@Skooter – That’s a funny story! Hahaha! When I visit the SSC (or even in the stores now & then) I get a bit of “Oh! I know who you are” just now and then and I’m at a loss as to whom I’m talking to at all. And as it is, I’m terrible with names and faces. Is your help desk like for when you have register problems or equipment problems??
@GAStarbucksGirl – My favorites are definitely the lemon square and the mini carrot cake cupcake, but tell your DM congrats on inventing the red velvet whoopie pie! Lots of people love that one1
Why is it only between 2 and 5 Pm when most people are working. If it was a true promotion it should be all day for those three days I would think.
@campsci I’m with you on the Carrot Cake.. ftw!
@Steve 2-5 is prime time for Starbucks promotions as I think we want to try and get people in the habit of an occasional 2nd visit. Do notice that the promo runs through Saturday, so you can hit almost everyone with that.
As for the boxes, I didn’t figure out the lid until one of my partners showed me 🙂
Any tall drink will get you a free petite pastry (except for maybe a tall ice water, which may be why they threw the “hand-crafted” bit in there).
I haven’t tried the pops yet, but so far I really dig the lemon squares the best out of all of them, followed closely by the carrot cake cupcakes. Of course, the real question is: which one will pair best with the Tribute Blend?
I got my free Tiramisu Cake Pop with purchase of a tall Tribute Blend, so at least around here handcrafted is very broadly defined.
I just tried the birthday pop with the tribute blend, so moist and delicious, i love it but not as much as the salted caramel square! the boxes are so cute!
Just tried the Whoopie pie and the Peanut Butter Cupcake and I have to say that both of them were very good. They had already run out of some of the new items, so I am looking forward to trying others on Friday and Saturday.
P.S. – After seeing the new logo up close for the first time, it is actually pretty nice looking. There is a new logo mug that I am going to have to add to my collection.
I know 2 to 5 in prime promotion time but that is also the time a lot of people are at work and if someone was to get off work at say 5:30 or 6 the promotion would be over so I would make it all day long to catch people going to work. Also retired people like me may be near a Starbucks in the morning but not in the afternoon. I did notice the promotins is also on a Saturday which would do no good if people have other activities on the week end. I’m sure Starbucks could afford it to extend the promotion to morning hours. After all it’s only for three days.
They already have free pastry day once a year from open to around 10am.
I will be heading out in a few minutes to get my lunch latte, I will see what is up with the treats… If you are a FourSquare member, be sure to check into a Starbucks today to receive the special 40th Anniversary Tribute badge…. You have to add Starbucks as a FourSquare friend *first*.
@steve b/c that is when the kids let out of school and it is easier to get them hooked… Frappy Hour was similarly timed, and there were LINES of kids in the store and in the drive thru