It has been a long time since I’ve had an “open thread”. By request, I’m doing another one. What this means is that you may write about any Starbucks-related topic you like in the comments. Feel free to talk about anything from Starbucks hand-crafted root beer, to their partnership with Danone, to Reserve Coffee Micro Blend No. 11, to how the Verona packaging has changed over the years, to anything you like that relates to Starbucks. The comments are open. However, the same comment rules as always apply. From this blog’s “About” page, here’s this blog’s comment policy: “This is my blog and not a public space. Critical discussion is fine. I will, however, decline to approve (or delete your comment) if you descend into personal attacks, inappropriate language, disrespectful behavior, or excessive self-promotion and link-baiting.” I have often approved comments that were critical of Starbucks, if written in a way where the comment simply represents an opinion, and not an attack.
There is a topic that I want to talk about: Starbucks custom blends. For those of you who do not know, this is when baristas experiment with the Starbucks core coffees, and re-blends them into something new.
I received an email in early August which said the following: “I have seen a few stores make their own custom coffee blend. There is one in tampa that made a Sarasota Summer Blend. It’s 1/3 house 1/3 Guatemala and 1/3 three region. Could you post about it? I’m curious if other store make them and if anyone has any ideas for any. I experimented today at work. I love espresso roast because of its smooth taste but I don’t like the heavy body of it. I like pike because its light on the youngest but I don’t like the acidity of it so today I tried a blend of 3/4 espresso roast and 1/4 pike. Very smooth and took away the bite of acidity of pike and had a nice full flavor but light on the tongue.”
Ever since that email, I’ve been toying with the idea of talking about barista-created custom blends.
Also this month, quite recently, a reader wrote me stating that he’d recently been on a trip to Lake Tahoe and picked up a bag of “Tahoe Blend.”
He said that he discovered that he really liked the “Tahoe Blend.” Unfortunately, he didn’t know what was in it, and was hoping that he’d be able to find someone who knew. By chance, are there any partners in Lake Tahoe reading this who know what this special blend is? I’m hoping that someone in the comments will be able to shed some light on Tahoe Blend!
The floor is yours now.
Edit on August 20, 2013:
This morning Heidi, a reader of this site, sent me an email with an image for Redwood Blend, which is another custom blend as described above. I think it’s a great picture to also talk about local custom blends, so here it is:
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BTW what is the objective of Playbook? One partner told me customers will have to get used to it.
@Jocelyn – Thank you for sharing all about the blends you’ve created. I didn’t know anything like this existed and your artwork is amazing! So talented!
@The Kwan – I agree that some level of moderation is needed at MSI. Well, something more than ‘none’ which seems to be the current trend 🙁
@Melody – With regards to the FB Posts by Others sections, your responses are the most positive and helpful out there. You are a great example of what good customer service should look like. I simply wish SBux Customer Service was on par with that.
@Jocelyn – I think SBux’s management of their FB page is pretty bad. I think the fact that the don’t respond to 99% of the posts, the fact that the don’t delete posts or ban posters and the fact that the responses they do post are completely inconsistent and canned is very frustrating. I simply do not think the company is putting enough stock in their social media visibility.
@Melody – I’m quite jealous that you’ve had such good interactions with your local SMs and DMs. And even that those people are accessible to you at all! Perhaps if that were true in my area (and if Customer Service did more than spit out canned responses) I’d be willing to set foot in the cafe two miles from my house. Their loss, that just means I don’t go during the day anymore, only one weekends.
@purple1 – From what I’ve read Playbook is a LEAN thinking initiative, which to me is something like ‘doing more with less’. To me, that doesn’t sound like a good thing.
@SnowWhite – Thanks for the kind words. I’m sort of appalled at how some people use social media as a platform to be rude. For example, I’ve seen MSI comments that include, “you’re an idiot for thinking …” – There is never any call for that. Heck, it’s way easier to misunderstand each other online than face to face.
As to the DMs, I think I am lucky.When I was in California this summer, there were a couple of moments where I thought it would be nice to talk to a store’s DM. And I realized, that was impossible. The little forms that say “share your thoughts” are almost never filled out with DM contact information. And partners look at you as if you are crazy that you want to speak with a DM – but that’s NOT true right in the downtown core. I recall in particular, I was very impressed with the Starbucks on March & I5 in Stockton, and would have loved to tell a DM that, and it was impossible. And, I kind of had hoped to meet the DM of the Starbucks in Orange, near my mom’s house – simply because I have been to that same Starbucks many, many times, I would like to know the DM. Impossible.I’m actually dumbfounded that Purple1 runs into neighborhood store’s DM so often. I think there are places where the DMs hardly get inside the stores!
On to the topic of the official Starbucks page, on the whole I think they do a good job. But just like Starbucks and Twitter, or Starbucks and MSI, the percentage of things that get a reply is very small. And, I too am not a fan of canned responses. Though, sometimes it seems like MSI is the worst for canned responses. It’s like as Starbucks doesn’t know that customers can tell that that is a scripted reply. I’ll just be glad when the gun conversations come to an end. It’s not a fight that I want to join.
Open thread comments:
1) @SnowWhite – I would gladly volunteer for MSI, to at least reply to people with general questions or direct them to customer service or appropriate departments, but of course that wouldn’t ever be feasible.
2) I truly hope Starbucks brings some form of Ethiopia Sun-dried Yirgacheffe back into my life…
@TheKwan @Chgo. or anyone else:
Sun-dried Ethopian coffee is the cat’s pajamas. The Ethiopia Sidamo and Harrar this year rocked. Agree with you both.
@Melody Just did a coffee tasting of Sun Dried Ethiopia Sidamo with my Store Manager, District Manager, and Regional VP the other week. It was heavenly! I hope that they’re able to bring more African/Arabian coffee back to our cores. Kenya is getting rather lonely…
@devin there is a new one coming … in october 🙂
I was visiting the Lake Tahoe area and stopped by the Starbucks in Incline Village. They made me some Tahoe Blend to take home and they told me it’s: 50/50 split of Kenya and Guatemala… Hope this helps. BTW, it has a really smooth taste. One of my favorite blends.