I just want to say a big “thank you” to the two people who sent this gift bag of Starbucks coffee. Nathan, a Starbucks partner in Edmonton, recently took a trip to Mexico and picked up these bags of coffee in a Starbucks store there. I’ve met Nathan on two separate occasions when he’s vacationed in Seattle, and he is one very coffee passionate partner! And, a heck of a nice guy too. What a wonderful surprise to find Starbucks Shade Grown Mexico, Starbucks whole bean Colombia, and Starbucks Bella Vista F.W. Tres Rios Costa Rica coffee all awaiting me when I arrived home from work. The yellow cap with the Siren on it was in the same bag, and came from Becca, also a Starbucks partner in Edmonton. Thank you two very much! Made my day.
(By the way, notice how pretty the packaging is! I would really love to see some prettier packaging return to the U.S. coffee offerings. I have felt a little disappointed at the new look of the whole bean wall in Starbucks stores in the U.S.)
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Melody sure could use the yellow cap as I shovel!!! And it is funny how international markets have such vivid marketing themes.
@Purple1 – I am pretty jealous of your snow! I have seen some great snow photos on twitter and Google+ and that is one thing I wish that Seattle would get – Snow! It’s so pretty!
And, yes sometimes it’s absolutely amazing what international stores get. From the few times I have had people email me pics from international stores, it looks like the food is much better too!
Thanks for this post. I really appreciate when you get your gift boxes and share them with us. And I could not agree more that the packaging is a lot better on these coffees.
I’m glad that you got the coffee so quickly! You’re very welcome. And since you mentioned the food in international markets, I’ll tell you about it. It IS way better than what we have. (as far as I’m concerned at least) There were HUGE pieces of cake (raspberry cheesecake, caramel cheesecake, chocolate cake, and carrot cake), there were very large tarts with fruit in the center, there was apple pie, lots of different pound cakes, and other stuff sort of similar to here like bagels and muffins. They has paninis but they looked completely different than ours.
I agree with you about the packaging, they are pretty. I miss the old packaging & I’m not fond of the new logo either. I do wish that Starbucks had better food offerings. It’s gone down hill over the years. i remember when the Starbucks first opened near my in the early 90’s & they seemed to have more variety & they were better tasting.
@bmommyx2 – That is an interesting topic. I have to say that I am super curious about what Starbucks food will be like in the future. I totally agree that some aspects of the food are really uninspired and dull – Too many loaves-type foods. On the other hand, when Starbucks launches La Boulange recipes, I am just soooo curious what that’s going to be like. As far as I can see, the plan is something like freezers in the stores, and then using the ovens to finish off the pastries fresh in the stores. The thing of it is, I’ve seen some mixed reviews of the stores that have already switched to all La Boulange pastries and don’t have the current fare. I’m keeping an open mind because I haven’t tried any La Boulange pastries yet, but I really can just feel the curiosity in me!
This is how packaging should look like! The new design is simply boring. It’s hard to distinguish whole beans from others with the same roast profile.
About food, I really think they use too much preservatives. Food at Starbucks is artificial. I’m looking forward for something more natural and healthy.
I agree with everyone about the beautiful packaging. When you look at coffees at the online store the ones that jump out are the Puerto Rico, Kape Vinta, and Muan Jai. In the stores the only one interesting lately was Casi Cielo. Starbucks needs to go back to beautiful artwork on their coffees. The Christmas blend bags were very pretty and the colors were rich and festive. I used to love the scones but without the buttery goodness it’s just not the same. I rarely get food but if I do it’s a treat and I want it to taste great. Oddly enough we have the whole bean Colombia here in central Indiana in a few grocery stores.
@DadCooks, Artur, and Becky E – It’s amazing to me that Starbucks doesn’t realize they made the packaging so bland. There must’ve been some meeting when someone said, “Doesn’t everyone love this?” and nobody was brave enough to raise their hand and say, “that’s dull.”
As I recall, the current packaging was launched with the introduction of blonde, so it’s been about one year.
http://news.starbucks.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=578
Blonde was actually launched in the stores in January 2012.
It feels like much longer!
Hi Melody! I’m so glad the package arrived safely! I’m also glad that you’ll put the hat to good use. I wonder if eventually you’ll have to move to a much bigger place just to fit all of your coffee memorabilia into your home. There is a partner in Edmonton that collects mugs, bears and tumblers. His collection is getting so big that I’m not really sure where he stores it. I have a lot of mugs but I try to give one away when I find a new one I love. I’m very excited to try the Bella Vista next week!!!
We agree on the packaging. Nothing catches a person’s eye than really bright packaging. I would love to try those blends, I’ll bet the coffee is amazing.
I totally agree that the packaging is prettier on individual bags, but I used to find the competing colours and designs distracting when they were all on the shelves together. And confusing to new customers who didn’t know how to tell what they were looking at.
On the flip side, it is harder to differentiate between the different coffees in the same roast spectrum now, and that’s not all that great either :(. And the fact that the decaf and caffeinated counterparts are only differentiated by some blue writing? Don’t love that either – has led to a few returned pounds of coffee. I think my comment can be summarized by saying I’m glad I don’t have to design the bags – I’d be frozen in indecision :).
Enjoy your loot!!