Starbucks Coffee

It's good to see that Starbucks has taken to posting false information on their site.  Bold is NOT back all day everyday.  Stores are still telling me that Pike is my ONLY option after noon.  People are STILL complaining on these very forums. And...I know for a FACT that Starbucks is losing business over the situation. (that includes myself)  Wake up...and smell the....???

Some of the afternoon and evening baristas continue to say "It's all gone" and refuse to brew some when asked.  Please notify your stores nationwide about this asking policy.  Frankly, it gets to be so much effort convincing the baristas that I'm just not going to the store as much any more.   Fighting for my coffee just isn't the pleasant experience I wanted.

Matt...I HAVE been following the thread on the main site.  I HAVE been aware of the lack of Bold since the very first day Pike was introduced.  I am also very aware that nothing has changed except the amount of times I frequent Starbucks.  The "crazy" thing is, I would gladly go back to my regular schedule IF I was simply offered what was there in the first place.  I look forward to your "UPDATES".

Matt, I love to see your posts go back to orange for these blog comments. (Easier to spot and read).

I LOVE the new changes to Ideas in Action.  THANK YOU.

Sadly, the "brew bold on demand" is hit and miss. I believe I fare fairly well right here in the Emerald City, but mostly it seems we hear of frustration when customers want to get a bold cup of coffee. It makes one wonder if Starbucks is just a "beverage" business, or still in love with deeply roasted coffee. I had a Clover cup of Zambia Kasama the other day, which re-invigorated my love for Starbucks - I remember that Starbucks can still produce an exquisite perfect cup of bold and flavorful coffee, but 99% of the time your customers have the choice of PPR or the highway: That's the situation that nearly brings me to tears.

Downtown Seattle Melody

BRING BACK BOLD!!!

I work at a busy Starbucks from 4A - 1230PM Monday - Friday, and I kid you not, I am CONSTANTLY being asked why we don't have bold. Our customers cannot stand Pike Place Roast!!!!!! I would say about 10% of my morning drip customers approve of the Pike Place Roast, and that is being generous.  Just so we're clear, 57% of my store's morning sales are in drip coffee, so we are a good basis for judgement. I just don't understand why we have trained our customers to enjoy bold coffee for 37 years and now all the sudden we expect them to enjoy a plain coffee with hardly any flavor profile? In my opinion Pike Place is the closest flavor we have to swill like McDonald's coffee, and I DO NOT WANT US TO BE MCDONALDS!!!!!! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, BRING BACK BOLD COFFEE ALL DAY! Get over Pike Place, it's not good, and my thousands of customers are not responding to it.  Just because you keep writing on this website that people like it, doesn't make it true. Thank you.

Well, I just stood at the counter of Starbucks waiting once again for the 'Morning Pick' to be brewed (THRICE in the past week)... In the meantime there was about 50 milkshakes and fruit smoothies put out on the counter and there sat idle 2 decanters of Pike Place and a decafe!!! AMAZING how Starbucks has alienated the "coffee drinker" in lieu of competing with Jamba Juice! Even though I can't understand a single thing said at a Dunkin Donuts, they're coffee is pretty good, further, they pour a huge cup ANY TIME in an INSTANT! Starbucks started me drinking coffee with thick flavorful brews more than 15 years ago, today, I think I just visited my last Starbucks... If I was a fortune teller: I see another 600 stores closing in the near future. What a way to ruin a once good company!

Starbucks Partner here as well... I agree with Miket087, we missing the boat.  Sorbetto tastes great, but I am always hearing , 'what happened to the coffee'.  Mr Howard Schultz, what about getting back to the basics?  We, here in the field, don't think that we're getting back to the basics, and I don't want to see more people leave for the coffee experience that they are getting at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.  

~A concerned and slightly disillusioned Partner.

looper53:

If its that big of deal that there is not a consistent bold coffee being brewed, brew it at home. Its cheaper and you can make it as bold as you like.

When change happens it takes time to come from the top down to the stores. Be patient, and understand that Starbucks is not out to get you. If you politely ask a partner to make you a french press, they will do it. It might take a few minutes, but its truly worth the wait.

A little bit of kindness and understanding goes a long ways.

meganj:

I'm not really sure why you picked me out of the hundreds if not thousands of people on these fourms who aren't happy with the current lack of choices, but heres my response.

I DO brew my own coffee at home, and I HAVE been going to Starbucks less frequently, all because they changed their policy by telling the customers what they should be drinking.

Arent these very forums supposed to be used for the customers to voice their opinions?  Have you bothered to read all of the threads?  Again, I am hardly the only one complaining.  

I don't recall saying that Starbucks is "out to get me".  Again, as a paying customer I am simply not satisfied with the current policy.  I HAVE tried a french press by the way and wasnt sold on it.  

I'm not sure why you would think I was ever anything but kind to the employees however.  I DO understand that they are just doing their jobs, HOWEVER, they DO represent the company while they are working there.  If anything I have found that my attitude has not changed one bit.  

The bottom line is, don't post false information.  If bold options aren't available all day yet...fine.  Just don't go on the forums and announce that there is a new policy, only for customers to find out otherwise.  

In the grand scheme of things...it's just coffee.  But if long time patrons aren't happy, this is what happens.

This has NOT been launched and whoever told Howard it was/has been should be fired! I would not tolerated such lying and deceit!

I realize Pike Place Roast is an inexpensive, cheaper blend with less roasting cost and that is the reason it is the only drip coffee offered all day. Starbucks makes more on a cup of PPR then the other bold offerings. I, for one, would be willing to pay a bit more for a good bold drip available most of the day.

Another Partner here, and I got to say can we kill Pike's Place yet? I work a lot of mornings and about 75% of people get the bold roast. We got to face it most people like a bold taste more. And if this is Starbucks way of charging people for americanos, same on you.

I don't know this yet but is the Partner suppose to charge for the French Press or the size the customer wants for his brew bold coffee?

Bring Back Bold......... Launched ???????? Your kidding, right ??????

If the "MSI team" truly believes that Pike's Place roast is "an incredible success", than the "MSI team" has not a) read the posts on these pages, and b) has not been to the front lines and experienced what their "partners" are experiencing inside the stores, and c) the "MSI team" are in major denial, ignoring the opinions of their customer base who go to starbucks for quality coffee, and wind up with an aroma that is far from "approachable".  My experience has been that NOBODY is going to starbucks more because of Pike's Place, in fact, EVERYBODY that I know who goes to starbucks has told me that either they go to starbuck [much] less or they don't go to starbucks at all because of Pike's Place Roast.  Perhaps the executives and anybody else on the "MSI team", if they refuse to heed the wishes expressed on these pages (note that I haven't seen a single post from anybody saying that they like Pike's Place roast, the best thing that I have seen posted about it is that it is tolerable, not something that I agree with), than they should get out of their comfortable air-conditioned offices and get into the front lines and see exactly what the "partners" are experiencing.  If they wind up in the one in my neighborhood, they will see me walk out if the only coffee that they are brewing is Pike's Place.  Even other "partners" are telling you what's going on.  If you're not going to listen to starbucks customers, than the least you all could do is to listen to your employees.  People are tired of being ignored and lied to.

What is the bold brew policy?  One barista told me recently that ALL stores are supposed to brew bold until 5 pm.

Today I was at a Starbucks in a tiny town about an hour south of Seattle, and asked for a short morning pick.

Conversation went like this:

Melody:  I'll have a short morning pick

Barista: We only brew Pike Place Roast after noon.

Melody:  Well then you can brew up some for me! (Still with a smile in my voice)

Barista: Sure!! No problem. I think I've got some gazebo. Can you wait a couple of minutes.

It was beautiful. The barista honestly sounded sincere and genuine - there were no atmospheres where the barista impresses upon the customer about what an inconvenience it is. No, the barista was perfect.  I sat down, and she brought out the coffee to my table. I was impressed. And then I took great satisfaction that literally a minute later, I watched an older bald-headed man walk up to the counter and ask what bold coffee he could get, and the barista said "I've got Gazebo ready." He got his coffee and left.

What is happening in other places? I was shocked as I was in no-wheres-ville, Washington (as far as I'm concerned) and had never been in that store before (and likely will never be back, simply because of its location).

Downtown Seattle Melody

OMG Isuddenly feel like bursting into song and loving my brother.......oops its gone.Sounds great Melody you should write for Disney.Truth is in tha real world it aint happening. Partners are unhappy with tired customer attitudes and we in turn theirs.I don't live on the west coast. I live in the southeast where its hot and tempers flare  more easily. I'm sorry to say i'll believe it when I see it!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a partner in the southeast so I wouldn't speak for all of us down here. We're happy to brew a batch of bold for you if you don't mind waiting and we still have some left. But we also stop brewing our bold at 12 noon and not at 5:00 PM (which I think would be MUCH better than stopping it at 12).

Still, I agree with the fact that bold needs to be brought back AT LEAST until 5:00 -- if not for the whole day. I've got a lot of regulars complaining about the lack of variety and if we're trying to create consistency yet keep those customers who DO like changing it up a bit, we should be brewing a bold pick as well as Pike's Place all day everyday by now.

@Queena, What do you mean by "and we still have some left" for Godsake it is a coffee house, no????? Why wouldn't you have coffee?

queena i appreciate your post.But i travel all over the southeast regularly and I seek out sbx wherever I go.I applaud your commitment to your customers,butyou seem to be the only one from my experiance.I am consistantly told no bold after noon.In my city of Montgomery,Al we have five locations.All have the same policy in respect to bold coffee.In respect to we always have some left,here the only coffee you have to wait for is bold..theres alway plenty of ppr.And the baristas tell me they have to dump ppr decaf because it doesn't sell........talk about waste!

A little story. I used to go out of my way just to get a coffee from Starbuck's. Also used to be a stockholder.  Every morning I would go to Starbuck's for a quad shot Americano. Then Starbuck's brought in automatic espresso machines that made horrible espresso.

I continued to go and jut started getting coffee (bold) and then Pikes Place comes around. I can honestly say I have stopped going to Starbuck's and make espresso or coffee at home.

It seems in the name of profits, speed, less repetitive stress injuries and an attempt to attract non-coffee drinkers Starbuck's has alienated the true coffee lover. The irony is Starbuck's isn't doing as well. Very reminiscent of what Dell did (I own a Mac now, no more Dell computers). Attempt to be all-things-to-all people and forget your core business.

Very sad.... Maybe one day we'll see  quality espresso and brewed coffee back at Starbuck's. A ship a few degrees of her compass ends up really off-target.

Wouldn't it just be easier if Starbucks just kept an urn filled all day with a bold flavor? Coffee isn't that expensive that Starbucks can't afford it. Can they afford to alienate the core customer base? I think there are a lot of unspoken people (like me before today) who have realized that McDonalds coffee and Maxwell House at home is about the same as Pike Place and cost 1/2 or less. I will pay for Starbucks at Starbucks prices but not for a namsy pamsy take it or leave it roast. Just put back a bold brew and advertise it on TV for a week. "a bold brew everyday."  I think you can guarantee a good result.

Brew bold and give it to people when they ask for it! I can't tell you how many times I have gone through the drive thru and asked for my Misto to be made with Bold only to discover that Pikes was used instead when I am already out of the line and don't have time to turn around and wait at the worlds slowest drive-thru again. GET RID OF PIKES all together.