Time for an old fashioned giveaway. I’ll be sending you Starbucks whole bean coffee, if you win. You’ll get one bag of Sun-Dried Sumatra and one bag of Pike Place Special Reserve. The Pike Place Special Reserve is a coffee blended just Seattle’s Pike Place Market, and can only be purchased at 1912 Pike Place or at the First and Pike Starbucks.
How do you enter? It’s super easy:
- 1. Like the blog’s Facebook page. Well, that’s more of a request than a requirement. I realize that many people reading this already have liked it. In addition, there are people who don’t use Facebook!
- 2. You must leave a comment below. Tell me what hooked you on Starbucks and why. Or tell me what was your first cup of Starbucks coffee, and why it was memorable.
- 3. I’ll ship anywhere.
- 4. All entries must be received before November 2, 2012, at 12:00 p.m., PST.
- 5. You must be over 18. Void where prohibited by law.
- 6. Have patience with me. Allow up to a couple of weeks for your prize to get out in the mail.
- 7. No links in your comments. You can place your blog’s url in the Comment Luv plug in.
As an aside, I want to encourage my readers to read about the Starbucks at 1912 Pike Place. It’s a great store. There’s an interview with the store manager here, and an older article about the store here.
Enjoy! Good luck winning! I look forward to reading your comments!
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Liked your page 🙂 I think that it was the fact you could make hundreds of different combinations out of one beverage that really took me ! I was used to like machine coffees so you couldn’t add extras just milk and sugar ! Also, the nearest Starbucks to me was like 40 miles away and so it was kind of a novelty to go there !
Melody I am not on Facebook, but have liked your blog and said so on Twitter if that counts. I started going to SB when our daughter worked there and got hooked. Great people, met some nice friends and relaxing atmoshpere. I actually started drinking Americanos and then switched to tea. I have been to the 1912 Pike Place store and it is really nice but then again there are so many neat SB stores in Seattle.
I began drinking coffee with my Grandfather. After the passing of my Grandmother my Grandpa was all alone. What made it even more difficult was the fact he was suffering from senial dymentia. My family could never have put him in an assisted living facility. So we took it upon ourselves to take care of him. I would spend my weekends living with him. Eating coffee cake and drinking old, stale instant coffee. Listening to stories of flying planes towing gliders on D-Day and other tales of his youth. I’m telling you this to convey the emotion I have for coffee. It is the thing I like most to do in my day. My approach to it is almost spiritual “Trying not to sound like a weirdo”. I have so many positive memories involving coffee that if I’m in a bad mood I’ll brew coffee to relax.What turned me from being your average coffee drinker in to a full blown coffee nerd, was Ethiopian Harrar. It was the first naturally processed coffee and was unbelievable that it could literally taste like dark chocolate and cherries. I have since then had an affinity for naturals so the Rasuna is a coffee I would love to try. Sorry for such a long post.
What hooked me on Starbucks? I’d say the realization that coffee could be more than that horrible black substance commonly found in gas stations or that my parents used to make each morning in a cheap machine. Made me go from someone who would only drink coffee if I was desperately tired to a coffee geek who talked about taste notes with baristas. Similarly, the great customer service from the partners and overall friendly environment made Starbucks the perfect “third place” for me…i.e. a friendly and conducive environment for working on stuff when not at work and without the distractions of home.
Prior to Starbucks, coffee for me was a milk and sugar sweetened way to consume caffeine. Growing up in a world of instants, weak, over-brewed or reheated coffee, it was something I avoided unless I needed caffeine (all night study sessions, etc.)
Then came Cappio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhkGhAe0rNg I know, it’s not Starbucks, but at the time it was an improvement to coffee, and its image that coffee was something people other than your parents drank was very appealing.
When I landed in Chicago in the early 1990s, I had my first Starbucks experience. The latte was fantastic, but what actually hooked me was Kenya. I couldn’t believe a coffee, by itself, could be so flavorful. No sugar. No milk. Just coffee. This was back in the day when Starbucks still scooped beans from drawers and before the “flavorlock” bags stocked the walls with uniform packages of pre-packed beans.
I had been buying lattes at the Starbucks near my school and one day the barista at the register suggested I try the coffee being brewed that day. It was Kenya. She described it and I had never heard coffee described in such a way. To me at that point, coffee was just coffee and not something that had “notes” and such. I have to admit, the fact it was priced less than a latte was what appealed most to me at the time so I gave it a try.
I still remember being struck by the flavor of black currant. It’s not a common flavor here in the U.S., but one I was treated to frequently as a child via gift parcels from grandparents and relatives overseas. And the cup of Kenya took me back to those days. Days of eating black currant “Jelly Babies” with my Nana, and saving the black currant flavored fruit pastilles for last. Wow – now I was really hooked.
Over the years Starbucks blends have come and gone. I liked the limited “Blue Note” edition they had in 1994 or 1995. And like @denise r and @Kienan, the Ethiopian Blends (Yirgacheffe and Harrar) have been amazing. I do prefer the bold/dark roasts at Starbucks. There are a few mediums I like but I still haven’t found a Blonde to my liking. Kenya is not my favorite coffee, but when I’m feeling nostalgic, I’ll order some Kenya and I’m immediately taken back to that time when I first tried Kenya, memories of my Nana, and the Starbucks of yesterday.
I’ve hot your page LIKED on my FB already (that’s a given) 🙂
My first Starbucks experience was a tiny store in Fremont CA and it was a combonation of things. Before starbucksI only knew about drip coffee and never really understood the difference between a latte or a cappuccino. As I enteted the store I was greeted warmly and asked if I knew what I wanted. When I hesitated looking at the vast menue the barista behind the counter asked me if I had any questions. Did I ever. Luckily she knew her stuff and quickly broke down the drinks for me. YAY! That’s when I feel in love with their iced lattes. *love*
What hooked me on Starbucks? I think it was the passion of Howard Schultz. It’s so inspiring to see a person with a dream, especially when they pursue that dream like he did and make the dream a reality. What an awesome story!
@GAStarbucksGirl – your post is great and I agree. You’re part of something that’s bigger than coffee.
I’ve liked your FB many times.
I clearly remember, as does my mom, our first cup of Sbux, which we shared. It was the late ’80’s and we were shopping in Oak Park (CD and chgo know this area well). There was a small store on Lake St and I’d had Sbux espresso beans from Seattle that my sister brought me. I went in and got a tall cup of a whatever was being served at the time and took it back to the car to share with my mom with our traditional one piece of chocolate . We sat in the car and shared the dark Sbux coffee. We were amazed, and thought we would NEVER sleep that nite! We still laugh over this. From then on, I somehow became totally addicted to the bold, dark drink. (I will never know HOW, from that first cup…but it happened, quite quickly) I’ve since never had another brand, that I can remember.
You know well my love for BOLD (especially Ethiopia Yergacheffe).
So, that’s my story…….which obviously goes way back. Thanx for your blog. You will never need a contest for me to comment, for better or worse!
interesting stories so far….
Hi,
My first cup of Starbucks coffee was Sumatra. It has a distinctive, bold taste with rich aroma. It’s now my first choice of Starbucks coffee blend.
I started drinking coffee in college because it was the only beverage with free refills! I like Starbucks’ medium brew coffee and have Starbucks in #1 coffee stop because of their registered gold card with free refills among other perks.
Starbucks is apart of my childhood… growing up in Seattle my Dad would tell me the story of Moby Dick and how Starbucks was named after the book. Going down to Pike Place Market is like stepping into another world, an era of raw romance. Starbucks has continued to honor the core values that have laid a foundation for where they are today. It truly is a story of inspiring one person at a time, one cup at a time. Thank you for sharing all of your stories, discoveries, and wonders with us each day… I have really enjoyed your blogs and look forward to more! Take care!
Enjoying the good taste of a hot cup of Starbucks on a chilly Northwest morning and reading Melody’s blog! It’s a good life!
I had my first Starbucks coffee at a shop in Manhattan during a whirlwind visit there. The line went all the way out the door but it was worth the wait!
no facebook, still.
i don’t remember how i first became a starbucks fan, but i remember the trainer i had when i first started as a starbucks barista. her name was kari, and we trained in a hotel meeting room, since our kiosk wasn’t built yet. she was super enthusiastic, even though some of us were not at 8 in the morning. she guided us through tastings, the little guidebooks, and every scenario she could, without the normal run of actual equipment.
and, i was absolutely stunned when no one else in the room knew where the name starbucks came from. i knew where it came from, oddly enough, because of the x-files (in which scully is nicknamed starbuck by her dad, who is known as ahab). i didn’t actually read moby dick until many years later, at the uw.
I was first introduced to Starbucks on a day after Thanksgiving early morning shopping trip with one of my sisters and a niece. They said we must stop first thing for coffee at Starbucks. I’d always been intrigued about the store but was way to intimidated about how and what to order to even try it. So I decided to just listen to my sister and get whatever she ordered. That was a mocha latte and I was hooked. It was so very different from my instant at home with cream and sugar. I’d been drinking coffee since I was a very young child when I went to visit my grandparents. My gramma loved her coffee and I wish I’d had the chance to share a cup of Starbucks with her. But now I love to make the shopping trip coffee stops with my sisters or go with my grown kids whenever possible. I’m also a huge fan of Yirgacheffe, Harrar, & Ky Kebero!
I began my love affair and addiction to Starbucks since my first high school boyfriend introduced me to their cappuccinos and lattes. I drank Gevalia at home & loved it but found I loved Starbucks even more! I started getting home delivery back when they had the program and I fell in love with Komodo Dragon blend. I love their dark roasts and other coffees never satisfy my taste buds the way Starbucks does! I have introduced many many people to their coffees and am one of their biggest addicts…er, fans. Pumpkin spice lattes are my FAVORITE seasonal drink and I will drink a regular cappuccino during the rest of the year. I drink hot coffee year around. Even in 100 Texas temps!
I was actually first hooked on Starbucks after being lactose intolerant in college and at that time, Starbucks was the only coffee shop that I knew of that had dairy free milk. That was a time when I didn’t know what a latte or cappucino was. I just knew that I enjoyed the taste of their coffee. I recall my first drink was a toffee nut latte and I thought it was essentially the most amazing thing I ever tasted…and now 10 years later, I am hooked!
Melody!! Been following your blog FOREVER! As a barista, I am always looking to you for the inside scoop! :). I have been a partner for 8 years, but as a customer, my Starbuck hook was the caramel macchiato. Funny, I haven’t had one in ages….but what I do want is that bag of sundried Sumatra. We don’t have any reserve stores near me, so sad!
What hooked me in Starbucks was the great service and the amazing experience of going in to one of the stores. The great drinks and the pretty paper cup.
When I first noticed Starbucks coming into Winnipeg, I was offended! How dare corporate America impose another careless monopoly on our city! I was a strong advocate for Second Cup and even drank Tim Horton’s! (The horror of that though now!) My boyfriend’s family were very excited as they were, and still are, avid Starbucks lovers and took me there. My first drink ever was a Mocha. I enjoyed it, but it was the chai latte that I really liked. I decided to do some research on the company and really liked what they stood for! They weren’t come careless corporate giant that abused their way to the top, from bean to cup they care! In fact, I liked what I saw so much that I became a partner for 4.5 years! They nurtured my intrigue for coffee, turning it into almost an obsession!
And why a Mocha for my first every Starbucks drink? I was a huge fan of “American Pie” in my teen years, and one of the characters drank a Mochaccino every day, and had a lengthy description of this “strange” beverage. I tried it first at Second Cup, and became the drink to measure coffee companies!
I love hearing all the hooked on starbucks starts!
I started <3 Starbucks as a third place in high school. I could go there before or after work to wait on my ride (dad), they had lactose free options, and were friendly. I got more addicted when all the stories and books about the company came out late high school.
Wow, all these stories are amazing. I love it. Hope to read many more.
I guess I will add my two cents, though obviously I am not entering my own giveaway. My relationship with Starbucks has evolved over time. Really has been through ups and downs. I feel like there have been distinct phases. One phase was about August 1989 to 1997. Then another 1997 – 2001.Then 2001 – 2004. And then 2005 to 2008. And distinctly January 2008 forward. Each period I felt like I had a different relationship with Starbucks. The time from 1997 to 2001, I didn’t even feel like I was a Starbucks fan at all, or at least very little of a fan.
But in August 1989, I moved to Seattle. My first Starbucks experience was definitely on University Way. But I don’t think I understood the significance of Starbucks at all at that time. I studied there once in a while. The thing that made me fall in love with Starbucks the first time was my experiences at the Oak Tree Starbucks – I had one of the original passbooks where you collected the coffee stickers and turned the book back in to the store for a free 1/2 pound of coffee after the book was full of stickers. I definitely filled one full book, and was working on a second one at one point. It was roughly 1997 to 2001, that I was pretty ambivalent about Starbucks. That’s a long story.
In January 2008, I walked into 6th and Union Starbucks and discovered the Clover. That was a huge turning point, and the start of a series of a events that led up to this blog which launched September 2009. That Clover cup of coffee in January 2008 was a falling in love moment. I truly know that.
I have often thought I should write a book, but it would have no ending and no plot, and the process of getting it published is daunting. There’s self-publishing, which I guess I could think about. It’s still something I might like to do.
For me, it was when the Starbucks Doubleshot on Ice appeared on the menu…2007 maybe? That is the best drink. I often get an iced doppio espresso or a chai latte, but the Doubleshot will always be my one true love!
Starbucks was actually the first time I tried coffee EVER. No one else in my family drinks coffee, so I didn’t usually go to coffee shops. When I got my first car I decided to go to Starbucks one day. I don’t remember what I ordered, only that it was a Holiday beverage. It took awhile for me to appreciate the taste of coffee, but now I love it and am Starbucks obsessed. If Starbucks went away, I would probably stop drinking coffee. None of the other coffee companies are as exciting to follow.
Cold weather hooked me on Starbucks, it’s the closet store and you just can’t beat a cup of hot joe in snowy days.
I had my first Starbucks in Edmonds, WA. My friend bought me a latte from the little in-store kiosk. I remember that we weren’t even sure how to pronounce it. It seems like that must have been nearly 30 years ago.
I actually don’t partake in Facebook activities but i love your blog!! 🙂
I have been going to starbucks waaay before I started working here and my experiences have always been good ones, my drink i was hooked on before was the Peppermint Mocha that comes out at Christmas time. Such a delicious delight!! haha but after i started working at Starbucks my addiction to caffiene went to a whole new plane haha.
My real first Starbucks coffee was actually this year in January!! January 31st, 2012 was my first day of work at my previous store. Its was the delicious Casi Ceilo (My first tasting if i might add) I became hooked on this coffee and got several pounds after i started working 😀 til this day i have some pounds of it around my my house. My trainer made my first coffee tasting amazing and I loved how passionate he was about doing it that it made me excited to work there and made me passionate about coffee in general. His enthusiam was like wildfire!! It spread everywhere 😀
Another experience I had is at the store I now work at, the Baristas make up their own drinks and give them crazy names!! I love it, they are very passionate about what they do and they made my transition to their store very welcoming and easy since I was so nervous haha 😀
Just want everyone to know that I am so enjoying these stories.
I love giving SBUX coffee as gifts to my family and friends who enjoy the SBUX brand. I always know that it is something that they appreciate!
i love starbucks bc they are such an indulgence. I just love how fancy my coffees are. my friend got me hooked bc she worked there when we were in high school and would give me free drinks! lol
I like you via fb (Alaine Elise) I had my first cup of Starbucks coffee in Ohio, back before there were Starbucks in Nebraska. I got addicted…..great taste, great atmosphere, great baristas. 🙂
family74014 at gmail dot com
I agree with Suzanne C! These stories are great! Hope more chime in. Where are you, DadCooks?
This is an amazing giveaway! I initially began hooked on Starbucks during my undergrad when coffee was an essential. Seattle Starbucks’ amazing customer service and excellent tasting coffee kept me hooked!!
I traveled a lot for work, and after suffering bad coffee at several places just started going to Starbucks in whatever city, state, country I happened to be in. Consistently good was working for me. Now I work 660 feet from three Starbucks locations and I’m able to have my favorite cup of coffee multiple times through the day.
My first experience at Starbucks was when I was in Gr. 12 – I was playing hooky (well, not really – I was simply leaving the school during my spare block) and my friend and I walked all the way to our local university, where they served Starbucks coffee. They introduced me to the mocha valencia, and I was hooked. I had to have one *every* day 🙂 when they got rid of it, I was soooo sad.
As I continued on through university, I frequented the local, open-late-at-night store to study, and had some amazing interactions with this partner named Cynthia. She was just so awesome, and friendly – the way she talked about her job made me want to apply. Eventually, I did, and instead of remaining a parttime barista as I planned, I’m now a store manager 🙂
Interestingly, my mother was talking to me about her favourite partner at her local store, and it turns out it’s Cynthia – she’s now my mother’s favourite barista. It’s pretty cool that she’s still there, and still has that same passion 8 years later!!
It’s Friday afternoon, and I’m trying to get caught up on emails and comments. I won’t get totally caught up before heading out, but I have to again say how much I adore all these comments.
I am not going to shout out to every single person who has written in this thread, but I want to make it unequivocally clear that I love these stories – every single one of them.
Yes – I too want to hear from DadCooks, and Chgo. too. And I hope Bcav and Taylor drop by, but they don’t all that often.
@JDNorthwest – You must seriously be in downtown Seattle! 🙂
@Steph Heath – That is such a great story. Love the romance in it.
As I said, I love everyone’s comments.
Keep ’em coming please.
I wasn’t really a coffee drinker before I studied abroad in Rome, not to say I was drinking at Starbucks there (I don’t think there are any Starbucks in Italy!), but it’s where my love of coffee began. There’s such a strong espresso culture there, you have a cappuccino and a cornetto in the morning, an espresso in the afternoon – you genuinely know your local bartender and every drink is handcrafted infront of your eyes, it’s an addicting and exciting experience.
After I graduated I needed a job that could get me through this rough economy and although I have many interests, the flexibility of a job at Starbucks was intriguing to me (not to mention the need for health insurance and job security). The great thing about working at Starbucks is that you can follow your interests: I’ll soon begin training to be a Coffee Master (an expert in all things coffee) and then host tastings at my store to spread the coffee love.
Two recent memories that really blow my mind about how I’ve come to love coffee: relaxing this past weekend with an iced Kenya that I just brewed on my ceramic pour over and my most recent clover cup, Sun-Dried Sumatra.
@Melody I just want to let you know that I really appreciate your blog, you share insider Seattle knowledge that I love reading about, and I use it from time to time when putting together tastings and pairings at my store. If you’re ever in Boston, I’d love for you to come by and we could share a freshly pressed cup.
Please don’t count this as a submission to the contest (even though I’d love to try the Pike’s Place Special Reserve) I don’t think I would be fair, since I enjoy these great coffees regularly. I just wanted to share my story.
My experience with Sturbucks coffee shops is completely new, I’ve never been in a Sturbucks until last April when I went to Paris for a vacation with my boyfriend and my best friend. One of the things that I put in my trip plan was having breakfast at starbucks, cause it was the first time that I visited a city outside Italy and here in Italy there are no sturbucks coffee shops. It’s a shame! Probably the reason is that Italian bars and cafeterias have their tradition stuck into Italian people’s mind, so we have to give up the idea of having a great cup on Starbucks coffee. I’ve heard that they’re opening the first Italian Starbucks in Rome, I hope it’s true! It would be amazing! =)
Anyway, I still remember the first feeling I had when I entered for the very first time a Starbucks coffee shop, it was like a childhood dream becoming real. I’ve always loved the big cups with the green siren on it, the taste of coffee (first you smell it, then you taste it) into those paper cups with your name written on it. I was so excited that I didn’t really know what to taste first! I asked my boyfriend to keep my videocamera on and to record my ordination! (I know, I must seem crazy!). I looked at the menu over the coffee machines, then a black girl with a beautiful smile asked me what I take (in French obviously, and I didn’t know French, so we talked in English) and I pointed to the sign and I said “Javachips”. She asked me if I knew that it was cold (outside the temperature was so low that it seemed December, not April). I nodded. That was my first order at Starbucks =) Then you all know how wonderful the drink I ordered is! Then I had to taste an American coffee and their pancakes…I’m still smelling them <3
Sometimes I watch the video we recorded into that coffee shop and I think that I want to come back there, because that was my first amazing experience and I will never forget it! Now I'm pregnant, so it's better for me to stay at home and not travel around the world, but as soon as I can I will go to US to taste the real Starbucks coffee!
PS I hope you'll forget me for my English… Love, maka
What a great idea … I’m loving reading all these stories!
I got hooked on Starbucks in college in the early ’90s, back when the signed sizes were short, tall and the new grande, and the Siren logo still had a belly button. I migrated from Mexican Hot Chocolate at my university bistro to Cafe Mocha from Starbucks. I would grab a muffin from a nearby Great Harvest Bread Co., and then walk over to the downtown Salem Starbucks for my mocha, and sit there as I studied for classes. Mocha was my gateway, and soon I was hooked on Christmas Blend for home brewing.
As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. I moved to Florida in the late ’90s and it was a number of years before Starbucks made its way here. Every trip back to family included Starbucks shopping trips. The built-up passion for a taste of home has carried through to this day … and I’ll still go out of my way when I travel to find Clover and Reserve stores!
@Melody – I know you invited me to this thread yesterday. I actually did read it prior to the emails back and forth yesterday. I don’t do Facebook, but would gladly like it if I did. I actually wrote a long story on my first Starbucks experience which if you remember, it wasn’t good and it was almost 11 or 12 years later until I returned. It was my second experience and coffee that hooked me. For some reason, after I put my whole story together yesterday, I just deleted it. I couldn’t get myself to copy and paste it here. A lot of personal stuff went on in my life during that 11 or 12 absence between my first 2 experiences.
To tell my story, would sound like I’m looking for sympathy. In a way, Starbucks changed my life for the better. My story comes with a lot of personal stuff that was going on at the time. I swore after my first Starbucks coffee around 1989 or 1990, I would never return. Sometime around 2001, Starbucks was in the right place at the right time, and in a strange way, it may have actually saved me. Something happened that 1st day I returned. I don’t know if it was the Light Note coffee, or the two wonderful girls that opened that morning who greeted me, but something happened and I have been returning ever since. There is a big hole in the story for those 11 – 12 years, but it is so personal, that I can’t find it in me to share it. I tried yesterday, but failed to deliver the whole story. All I can say is that I can testify that I experienced something that day, and it helped me through a very bad time in my life. In brief, something happened during that 11 – 12 hiatus after my first bad Starbucks experience, that I’m lucky to be alive today to share a small part of a much bigger story.
my God! I’m sorry for what I wrote before…forget insted of forgive…ordination instead of order…my English’s so rusty!
My apologies! 🙁
Do not have facebook else I would like your facebook page. My 1st drink ever at a Starbucks was A caramel macchiato. That got me in the store, and had me trying the coffees as well. I love the special reserve from the pike place store.
Hello Melody! I’m a huge fan from your blog! I wrote you once to ask for info about Verona, remember? I’m a partner from Argentina! Just got back home from giving my first coffee practices workshop and I have to say I loved it. For me, coffee is not just a drink, it’s an excuse to gather together and have a nice chat, and even a cool way of knowing new people. I’m on my way to be a Coffee Master next year, and I’m so into coffee tasting right now, finding new flavors and cool food to pair it with. The reason why I’d love to win this prize it’s because we don’t have those kind of coffees here in Argentinian stores, and as a future Coffee Master I’d LOVE to taste these two! Oh, BTW, what hooked me on Starbucks? Simple: coffee! ♥ (: Thanks for this opportunity, and just hope to win!!!
My first experience with Starbucks was when I was about 8 years old. My mom loved getting the bold pick of the day, and she would always grab me a packet of sugar in the raw. It seems weird now, but it is a fond memory I have. I really began loving Starbucks when I worked there in 2009, and my last day in August was a sad one!
I’m not sure what my first Starbucks visit was, but it’s something I associate a lot with my mum. She and I would go to the starbucks at our local supermarket, she would get a caramel macchiato usually, and I’d get a chocolate chip frappuccino. I went off Starbucks for a while, they did fairly poor coffee in my country, and I was working for a different chain which I liked much more. In the last year, I’ve become a more regular customer, as they’ve changed pricing and beverage recipes in my country, which appeals to me a lot!
Going to a Starbucks is always an experience. An experience that has always been different from finding coffee elsewhere. My first time into a Starbucks was when I was roughly 14. I remember seeing the sheer amount of choices and I was overwhelmed. The friendly staff though, they made everything accessible. I remember choosing a frappuccino and ever since then I’ve grown to love the brand. I’ve evolved over time, slowly developing my palette. All thanks to the magic that is Starbucks!
Melody,
I just love your website and blog. I learn so much from it about SBUX. You are the one who alerted us to the fact that after the new rewards system became available, we actually had extra rewards built up. I wouldn’t have even known that had it not been for you.
I enjoy your travels and updates on SBUX around the US. I frequent the Sacramento and San Francisco area often and it helps to oknow which SBUX are good to go to. If I win the coffe prize, I would enjoy it very much esp sharing it with my family and friends when they come over to my home. Many of them really enjoy good coffee and tea !
The first time I ever had SBUX was on American Airlines many years ago. It was so new that I hadn’t even heard of it bc there weren’t any SBUX cafe stores yet that served coffee. I thought oh just some commercial bulk brand coffee that you’ll only see on airlines and such. I noticed that the airline had changed brands to some brand named Starbucks. Hmmm I thought . Never heard of it. This memory is very vivid in my mind bc now I reflect and see how such an unknown brand became so well known all around the world! To me, it’s so amazing.
I remember the first time I ever drank Starbucks was when I was in my first year of college, during finals week. I haven’t turned back since. 😉