I can’t help but notice that Starbucks has some interesting things going on right now with Blonde Roast coffee! In Chicago, for a limited time, if a customer buys whole bean Blonde Roast coffee on Fridays, he or she gets $5.00 off the pound of coffee! And, to add to that, under the “Green” level benefit of MyStarbucksRewards, a customer can still get a free tall beverage too. As a reminder, in order to receive MyStarbucksRewards perks, a customer needs to use a Starbucks card, register it at Starbucks.com/card, load money on the card, and use it to pay for purchases. After just five swipes of that card (or any card registered to a customer’s Starbucks.com/card profile), the customer moves up to the “Green” level of rewards, which includes a free tall beverage when buying a pound of beans. The registers will automatically deduct the tall beverage. This free tall beverage perk is available at both the “Green” level and the “Gold” level of benefits.
Here is what the Chicago $5.00 off coupon looks like:
In other Blonde Roast news, in some areas of New England, Starbucks has launched Iced Willow Coffee. Just as a reminder, there are a limited number of places (mostly in New England) that already offer decaf Iced Coffee. In other words, in some New England Starbucks stores, a customer can choose from Iced Coffee, Decaf Iced Coffee, or Iced Willow Coffee. That is a heck of a lot of iced coffee! New England-ers must really like their iced coffee! Here’s a promo image I was able to get:
I kind of like the idea of Starbucks offering Iced Willow. I’ve ordered that a number of times at Clover Starbucks locations, and it is a refreshing very light iced coffee. I wouldn’t want to replace the existing iced coffee, but I don’t mind the idea of adding another iced coffee option.
Feel free to talk about anything related to Starbucks Blonde Roast.
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Can you believe there are still regular Starbucks customers who still don’t have a registered card? I just realized a friend of mine did not have one and was not even aware of the benefits of having one. Needless to say, I picked that girl up a card, loaded it with some $$ and even registered it for her.
I was really surprised that when the Blonde roast first hit the market that I would even like it. Thought it would be just a little to mellow for me. But I have to say that is not the case. Iced might me nice.
I like the idea of having decaf iced coffee already prepared. Currently if someone orders decaf iced, we have to make a decaf iced Americano. The blonde also sounds nice. I really dont know why they dont test iced drinks in my area(Florida #9396)? We sell tons of iced coffee. Any corporate Starbucks readers Hint, Hint. 😉
Interesting promo. I’m not a fan of blonde roast but I have to admit it did fall by the wayside after it launched and really seemed to take a back seat to Casi Cielo, then Tribute and now Three Regions.
I would be interested in hearing from partners how the blonde whole bean and Via have been selling.
@denise r – thanks for spotting this. I’ll ask about it at my local SBUX.
Its quite weird. I prefer the blonde in a Cafe Misto, but when I get it in an iced coffee, I find it tastes metalic.
MaybeI’m just weird.I haven’t tried the blonde roast yet, but have been wanting to! I’ve been a fan of the Tribute blend and have been sticking with that, especially because I do like a bolder blend. The Iced Willow sounds amazing though.
I have friends who don’t like the strong taste of Starbucks coffee, so I think it’s smart of Starbucks to offer something a little less intense to get more people coming in. Great post, Melody!
@littleallygator
Iced Willow?!?! Really. I wouldn’t think that would hold up well to iced. May have to drive down and check it out.
On other news, our canned refreshers are doing well, but we can only order the RaspPom. Can’t wait for the made in store version in Summer2!
I’m glad also to have found about blonde roast! I’m typically a darker flavor fan, but this sounds like a nice variation. I seriously start every single morning with Starbucks house blend, so I might be mixing it up for summer. Cool post.
I wish they would do the $5 off per bag in all stores. I just bought two bags last night at Target. I prefer the Veranda blend and even bought a box of K-cups for the first time choosing that blend.
The Willow blend is too light and not flavorful enough but my Folgers drinking parents like it so I buy a bag for them when they are in town.
Veranda would do NICELY as an iced coffee and I can even drink it without sugar as I like the flavor that much.
That is a great incentive, especially if you still get the free tall beverage as well! I’m not a fan of the blonde blends, but I have not tried them iced yet….so that might make them more enjoyable. I haven’t seen any special promos around here….maybe they will will roll one out in the coming weeks. Also, I’ll be visiting Pittsburgh, so I’ll check the promos around there too.
Went to my local starbucks last night and saw the SM and he said that this reward is not being offered here and he was surprised to hear it being offered in Chicago and also only on Fridays. He said the blonde coffees are not popular here either.
@Allison: if you’re liking Tribute, I can’t imagine you’d like the very very “lightness” of the Blonde roasts but, I know there are a few people who consider both ok….but generally much more one way than the other. (the whole ‘iced-Blonde’ is another story)
Sbux did bring in another ‘less strong’ coffee back in 2008 when they made Pike Place Roast and then also made it their EVERYday coffee 🙁 which made many of us very unhappy..feeling we helped make Sbux what it had become and that certainly did not include any coffee that taste like PPR. So, you’re right…..they are ever after a larger market.
There’s no public answer right now about why this HUGE discount (on Fridays only) and why only in Chicago. ??? When I asked the barista yesterday about it, or, I should say, asked her whether the sales of Blonde beans was going very well and she said no, not at all. So, I don’t know. Like Sandra T. said: I wish they’d have a promo like this on some of the few BOLD coffees that remain.
@Melody: I mailed you a couple of those ‘coupon’ things they had all over the POS area, yesterday, sitting there with lbs of Blonde.
It’s all very weird to me. In my many many yrs of Sbux, I have never seen such a huge discount on anything “current”. (as in, not marked down)
ps (sorry) I think our store is sitting on alot of 3-Region, as they did Tribute. I do hear people coming in and wanting something other than the brewing 3-Region as a ‘bold”. Sometimes it’s a very good thing to leave well enough alone.
I’ve seen the button for blonde ice coffee on the test items screen in our POS and was wondering where it was being tested. Have made blonde ice coffee for people before, just pouring the brewed over ice, and they really like it.
@Nathan – That is interesting that the button is under the “test” item screen. As I understand it, iced Willow is considered a little more of a regional product launch. Just one of those odd things that sells in one area of the country but not another. When you make it iced, do you use the pour over with twice as much grounds (or alternatively half as much water), or do you do a French press? Apparently there is an “iced” button on the Clover which makes it super easy to do this kind of thing.
fyi: apparently ‘sign-in’ issues on MSI this morning.
I don’t think I’ve seen any blonde roasts over here in the UK? I’d be interested to try one! Although it was only a month or two ago that our papers were saying how Starbucks was increasing the strength of their UK coffee to meet the growing demand for a stronger flavour – so maybe blonde roast is off the cards for us!
Hi James! I had assumed that blonde coffee was an international offering, but I guess I could be wrong about that! It’s a whole bean coffee. True, in the UK the espresso beverages are now made with more espresso in proportion to the milk (well, at least the “tall” size is). Makes you wonder if maybe the british palate won’t like a super light roast coffee like blonde. Traditionally, the british palate is geared to bold African coffees, and the American palate is geared towards light Latin American coffee. Very interesting!
I’d love it if someone else from the UK would weigh in on whether this coffee is available over there.
I am almost positive that UK has the blonde coffees. The UK website shows they do, but I guess I can’t say for sure since I’m not actually there!
That is really interesting to hear about British palate being geared to bold African coffees and American palate to lighter Latin American coffees. I never would have thought that!
@Melody when I made it iced i brewed a half batch on a quarter batch setting and filled a cold cup with ice and they filled to the top with coffee. I would love to have a Clover in our store, I had an iced Kenya at a Clover store the other day and it was great without cream or sugar!
I’ve still not had the blonde coffees…I’ll have to give that Iced Willow a try! I’ve seen them as K-Cups, but I didn’t want to commit to a whole box.
The Iced Willow Coffee looks interesting, I would love to try it!
Right now in Baltimore, Starbucks is offering $1 off any whole bean coffee, VIA 5-pack or larger, or K-Cup 12 pack on Fridays, May 18-July 6. The voucher looks very similar to the Chicago one picture above, but shows three bags of coffee (one blone, one medium, one bold) in the image on the side.
@MCW: that’s good news, even if it’s only Baltimore. I would definitely like ANY reduction in price, on any day, of the few BOLDs that remain. The $5.00/off BLONDE is a HUGE reduction (test). Really interesting to see how and where they’re doing these Friday tests……and even better, why.
For me, they’ve very quietly made some large price increases in, especially, the coffee..so quickly. Maybe this is proving to be NOT the right thing to have done.
I still see Tribute in several stores around me. When I see a store that still has it, I ask why they think this is so. I am always given the same answer: customers are telling them it’s not quite as good as last yrs (and I agree..altho have been thru 5lbs at home) and the significant price increase.
I saw an email memo at my local Starbucks discussing this promotion. I didn’t read the entire thing but did see that the store was only going to receive 200 coupons and strict instructions not to allow any customers to leave the store with a coupon.
@CD: here’s another example of..? ..inconsistency within the stores. The 1st day of this promo, they had these ‘coupons’ all over the store. was also told you don’t need a coupon since it’s just an ‘instore’ thing.
I typically get Willow for my weekly markout and then I make cold brew iced coffee at home with it. I love it as an iced coffee because of its light body, and high acidity/low bitterness. It makes a very refreshing iced coffee. On top of that, in my opinion Willow doesn’t need to be doctored up with breve/milk or even a lot of sweetener which will make for a lighter drink that is better suited to the hot summer months ahead in my part of the country. I hope iced Willow goes nationwide!