Starbucks Coffee

Fantastic !

I *still* say "Free Wifi" would help each store tremendously and I won't give up suggesting this. When places like Bob Evans, Panera, and the little cafe' down the street get free Wifi -- it's time for Starbucks to join up without any requirements from the customer. Especially when the requirements involve money on our part.

The Pour Over sounds good and I hope we can request this even if they have coffee already made.

Thank you,

Pat

is this instant coffee?

I love the idea of variety in the afternoon, but if its instant, I'm skeptical. Via wasn't very good.

pour over= french press method?  (pretty much)

I think we need a video.

it's Starbucks! why is it so hard to get a regular, plain old, fresh-brewed black cup of coffee in the afternoon? I really don't think that's a tall (er, venti) order to fill.

I hope this works!  I'm with geoffwarder.  If it tastes like Via, that won't be good.  On the other hand, if it tastes like Starbucks, I am looking forward to it.  I am so tired of asking for Bold and getting Pikes.  Someone really must tell the baristas that Pikes is NOT BOLD.  

Is the method picking which coffee one wants then the barista places it in a cone and pours water into the cone and your cup catches it?  Love the idea!

Is the pour over method the same as cold brew?

Hi geoffwarder - This is definitely not instant coffee. I don't work for Starbucks but I know for sure this is not instant.  I think that the pour, if done right, can produce a great cup of coffee. I really see this as finally a chance to reintroduce customers to great Starbucks favorites like Verona, Gold Coast, and Sumatra in the afternoon. I worry that I'm hearing too many rules - Like baristas aren't allowed to use this during peak hours, or cannot use it for more than just the bold pick of the day, but that's all gossip so I don't really know.

No matter what, I think this is a step in the right direction. You can google 'pour over' and Starbucks and find a lot of good information!

Melody

Woot!  Finally.

Coffee made this way has such a rich incredible flavor.  I buy my beans at Starbucks and then go around the corner to Philz to buy a cup of coffee made this way.  Maybe now I can enjoy it all at the same location?  

Fantastic news!  Oh wait, what the hell is the "pour over" method?

Now you just need to offer DECAF ICED COFFEE!!!!!

I mean you people never cease to amaze me (reviewers that is).  NurtriaKing, and many others could either do a 10 sec Google search (as mentioned earlier) to figure out what "pour over method" is, sit there and *** about it, or have an IQ above 60 to figure it out yourself.

Just a thought...

I do work for starbucks and I feel that it is about time. I am happy to know that soon I will be able to offer many different types of coffee (de-cafe) at any time of the day or night. the pour over has a cone filter that I cant wait to use. This is not in instant coffee nor it is a French press (which is the best way to taste coffee).

Great news!! Bold coffee in the afternoon!!!

This is a great idea! I love Sumatra  but not a big Pike's fan.

you know, I've long since given up on commenting on Bold choice in the afternoon.  Do pour-over, whatever.  

The fact remains, I can go to a local grocery story, or mini-mart and find more varieties being served up than at Sbx.  That's just wrong.  For god's sake, make PP your house and keep a medium and a bold on tap.

you're a coffee shop that has killed its brand.

This is a really good compromise, I think--plus this method should actually result in a very good cup of coffee. From someone who is not a big fan of mild, thank you!

Dorrison:  Then you just need a Starbucks where if its afternoon they offer to brew a Bold pot!

Oh, and to those worried it's like Via:  I don't think so.  I think it means you pour warm water directly over coffee in a filter, sorta like Vietnamese Coffee (only without the condensed milk at the bottom).

Via was good ~for~ instant coffee, but I passed the taste test, because it just isn't as good as brewed.

FINALLY!...you'd think that wanting Bold coffee in the afternoon or evening was asking too much from Starbucks.  And yes...please clue baristas in that Pikes is not Bold!

well, we'll see.  it's NOT the same as brewed.  I'm glad Sbux is FINALLY at least acknowledging and ACTING on our hundreds of thousands of requests for NOT-PPR, and yes, we want bold all day.   Since the 'brew-on-demand policy was so hard to 'enforce'....... we'll see how this 'works'.  

Thanks for being so outrageously vague about what this actually is.

Wish there was a tasting event in Allen, Texas.  I had last time I checked 810 thumbs up on my Where is my Decaf?  Where are My Choices?  Idea.  Now that I have received an e-mail saying my ideas have gone into ACTION, I no longer can receive comments.    However, the idea even though it halted my post,  does not reference my post as an idea that inspired the plan.  

Who will do this pour over?  Is this something the customer has to do or does the Barista?  How long before it is availabe in my area?

Please please please look into to offering coffee tastings at the Starbucks in other cities (like Tucson, AZ).   I would absolutely love to attend one and gain a new found appreciation!!

Hi all, it's Rachel - I work with Colin on the brewed team.  If you would like a personal demo of the Pour Over in your city, please feel free to email me with the name of the store closest to you and we will do our best to try to set a local tasting up for you.  You can reach me at rantalek@starbucks.com.

You can expect to start seeing the Pour Over any day now in your local store, and most stores will be up and running March 9 at the latest.

Hi Rachel! Will you be at the West Seattle event? I'd love to say a big "hello".  Melody

Hi Melody!  I will be there on Saturday and am looking forward to meeting you too!  Rachel

wantdecaf-- it's something they do behind the counter.  It's just another way of preparing your coffee.

I have a few questions about "pour-over":

1) Is this restricted to afternoons only, or is it available all day?

2) Can you request any coffee in the store to be brewed this way, or just the morning pick?

3) Are baristas going to be properly trained on preparing coffee this way (meaning dampening the filter, proper grind, proper water to coffee ratio, right water temperature, etc.)?

Recap- I had pour over Twice

it currently tastes nothing like fresh brewed or french press or Via

I carefully watched intently

How about put the grounds in the measuring cup

add Hot Water

then pour it in the filter  

great!

Ahhh, Sumatra in the afternoon!

I don't know why this is called pour over when it is really pour through.  I made coffee this way for years when I was in college.  It's not the greatest way because there are so many variables (right amount of coffee ground just right on the correct filter with the correct  water temperature  in a warm mug.  If any of these are not perfect the flavor suffers.   Usually, the result is warm and weak coffee.  I'd have to be convinced at a tasting in or around my area (Cherry Hill, NJ) to be excited about this new method.  

Hello Colin; thank you for your attention to this issue.

Some questions:

1.  If bold or Decaf isn't brewing, will this be the same price as drip?

2. What roasts will be available for this mention - any, a selection, or the bold choice of the week?

One request:  Please make sure the directions/policy to the stores regarding this  are very clear.  The brew on demand policy is still not uniformly implemented across the stores.

Cecile:  I agree with Hayley...how about stepping outside of Seattle with ANY tastings?  I'll e-mail Rachel....

To answer a couple repeat questions here:  one can only choose whatever "bold" they are using for the week.  (unlike clover, in my understanding)  That's what I was told by my regular store and they seemed very definite about it.  Also, I was told, same price as drip.  

Thank you for the great event today! Here's my recap on it:

www.starbucksmelody.com/.../meet-the-pour-over-coming-soon-to-all-starbucks-an-event-in-west-seattle

Short link is here:

http://bit.ly/b4eXUh

To answer some of the questions - the pour over method is not a new option to request - its a way of making a cup of the bold pick of the week in the afternoon. Baristas may brew a batch of coffee if they anticipate many customers requesting it, or do pour over if they think the rest of the batch is going to be wasted. It is not for use anytime we anticipate more than a few requests per half hour....

I'm a little confused... so is the pour over method filtered?  I couldn't tell by a previous explanation of the pour over method.  Unfiltered coffee raises my cholesterol, and that is why I prefer a drip coffee.  Is it filtered like drip coffee??

mocha2go, The pour over IS filtered. If made correctly, it will taste nearly identical to drip-brewed coffee.

Its all about perception i am parnter at starbucks and we tested this method in our store for the night customers and they did not like it at all and not because of the taste but the perception of pouring water in a plactic thing. The cusomers just started to get americano's instead.

customers comments i remember.

1) I come here for a greta cup of coffee that other way i rather brew at home.

2) You guys usually have my coffee ready when i walk in now i go to wait a while.

3) Im not going to bother trying that sorry!!!!

Hello WhiteTiger2010 - That's definitely interesting. I've often written in many places that every drink has two parts to it: (1) The theater, the persuasion, and the experience and (2) The drink itself. The drink could be just fine, but if the experience lacks any theater and romance, the customer will not be persuaded that the drink is worth its price.

Someday, I think it will be more common everywhere that the standard for coffee is a cup by cup production of it, rather than large batches, as this seems to be the direction of the independent coffee movement in Seattle (For example Trabant, Stumptown, and I think even Peet's...?). However, the idea that you might have to wait for coffee is simply not part of the 'normal' coffeehouse experience yet nationwide.

WhiteTiger, hope you'll visit the blog links I posted above.

The coffee filter being used in the pour over contraption causing the coffee to taste less satisfying than brewe.

Take a big batch brewer coffee filter and stuff it in the pour over thing, and see for yourself.

HMS HOST,  Barnes and Nobles, grocery stores, other, Target, Macy's, and Pour Over Method (from worst to exceptable).

Has issues with taste and smell. Coffee Filters are the main issue.

The pour over method tastes great when using the coffee filter for the big Starbucks brewer.

And please ship these big Starbucks batch brewer standard coffee filters to all liscense and happy to brew Starbucks coffee places everywhere. so that Starbucks coffee will taste great everywhere -

Even at Airports and HMS HOST and Barnes & Nobles , etc.

POUR OVER IS FANTASTIC!  I discovered it this afternoon when I sheepishly asked "are you still brewing a bold" at 2:30pm at a small shop that usually stops brewing bold at noon.  

Pour over is a well accepted way of making a great cup of coffee.   It is actually identical to "drip" coffee except that it is done manually.  So, while it is more subject to user error, it is also infinitely adjustable.  How much coffee to use, which coffee, how finely ground, and how fast to pour through the water.  (There is debate about paper filter versus permanent gold filter;  also some say it is best to wet down the paper filter prior to adding the coffee.)

My primary reaction to this is embarrassment.  I can't believe I never thought of suggesting this simple, obvious solution to the whole "no bold in the afternoon" or "no decaf in the afternoon" problem.  If you find that demand is not sufficient to brew entire pots, doing a pour over for an individual client is perfect.  

It does not require all the expense of a Clover installation!   (Even that I sure hope you keep rolling out Clover :)

I suggest that you enhance the value of the pour over option by offering a wider range of coffees that just the bold pick of the week.

Thanks,

Art

ArtM good to see you here! It seems like it has been too long since I've seen you post. I'm with you: The Pour Over is the perfect solution to the bold brew on demand problem. I can't understand why it wouldn't be for any coffee. If baristas were to make a press, that would mean breaking open any bag of a core coffee - don't know why this is so different. I'm confident we'll get there... :-)

Melody

Pour over using the big batch coffee filter, yields same results as machine brewed.

Let coffee sit in cup with lid for a minute, yields slightly better results than machine brewed.

I'm quite amazed that no one has mentioned how intertwined Pour Over is with the history of Starbucks.

It was the way Howard Shultz first tried Starbucks coffee.  Actually, it was the fact that the original owners were buying these filters from Howard's previous employer that made him aware that there was such a place as Starbucks.  If that first cup of Starbucks coffee, brewed by the Pour Over method hadn't been remarkable, Howard wouldn't have felt the passion and joined the company.  

Things would have turned out quite differently.

pour over method works very well when using the batch coffee Filter Filter.

Pour over coffee filter takes longer to make a cup of coffee.

big batch coffee filter takes less time for the hot water to pass thru

and taste is very good

Is the pour over also an answer to people who want decaf when none is brewed ?

seems like an interesting try at solving our gripes about the lack of choice in the afternoon

I will give it a try before rendering my judgement

Well, had many stores try the pour over method but, using the big batch coffee Filter, with amazing satisfying Partner results.

Also it took less time to make a cup and smelled and tastes better than the Cone filter. Now this is not just my opinion but also Partner's.

Has any big wigs tried a COFFEEE <br>

first ---from full batch brewed<br>

second --a pour over using the cone filter<br>

third --a pour over using the big batch coffee filter in the pour over contraption.<br>

?????????????????????????

which is more satisfying

??????

Hello, Two years ago, My Starbucks Idea (MSI) debuted at Starbucks Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The

Thanks for your comments on my comments

I understand if you purchased a boat load of cone filters and would like to use them up.

I'm confused.  I thought I understood this to mean that I could get any coffee I wanted, even if it wasn't the brewed offering, by using the pour-over method...is this correct?  I visited a Poway, CA store today and they obliged me by doing the pour-over (I asked for Africa Red, even though the brewed choices were Pike's and Komodo), yet it seemed that by doing this, it was a special favor.  Isn't that the point of the new pour-over method?  The manager did it for me, but requested that I let Starbucks know that he did this for me.  I appreciate that he did, but I didn't realize I was making an unfair request.  Was I wrong in thinking that this is what the purpose of the pour-0ver method is for?  

PLEASE inform your stores, if this is so.

If i would like something other than would is big batch brewed.

Could i please get what i would like ( if available, and not too inconvient ) in the pour over.

I went to a Starbucks store recently and they basically wanted nothing to do with making me a coffee using the pour over

The partner basically stated - what we have brewed we have brewed,  as i stared at the pour over contraption.

Why is it that many other stores --even Target stores don't mind using or bothered using the pour over

760 Consumer Square Mays Landing, NJ 08330

609-645-0688

Colin, with all due respect, buddy, the coffee from this pour over method tastes very weak.  I can do better at home.  I think Starbucks should do a french press instead.  

I realize these comments started months ago, but I'd like to add a note.  The Starbucks we frequent the most always gladly uses the pour over method for my husband's decaf.  I asked for decaf while in southern CA and there was no offer to use the pour over method.  I even asked if they used the method and just got blank stares.  This was a not a busy time of day.  I ordered a decaf Americano misto for him which has been an alternative, but they really botched it up.  I was quite disappointed with them.  

I guess I didn't read the comments far enough to learn that my experience has happened to others.  .  

I've been cruising in Naperville, IL. this weekend and am disappointed that a Starbucks (off Rt 59) would not make a milder coffee for my wife.  It's not that they looked at me with blank stares, rather the woman behind the counter, in her chirppy happiness, claimed that they do not grind coffee specially for those who want MILD coffee.     Hold on a second;   Isn't that a pour-over thingy behind you and couldn't your do that.  What? Ohhh, ONLY for Decaf users????  HUH??

Starbucks needs to offer either milder coffees, or milder coffee as an alternative for a pour-over,  or start serving less strong coffee's.  

As a supporter and former share holder, I am getting tired of 2 choices, Bold and Really Bold.  Even the Christmas blend was ridiculously heavy and strong.  It really doesn't need to be.

Pour over has been a fantastic way of getting fresh coffee at any time after the stores stop brewing bold. . . .. .  . . Please make sure everyone at every store knows how to use the pour over and why they should Offer The Pour Over to Customers when there is only house blend brewed which alot people like. But there are many people that would rather have bold or decaf etc. but stores sometime don't know how to use the pour over, don't even know what it is,  re-fuse or avoid using the pour over. Also just so to be clear about what I am saying, when a customer in front of me is asked what you would like? The individual says "what kind of coffee you have brewed" and the partner says "sorry,all we have is house blend" , and i look around at all the bags of coffee and containers and such and see the pour over sitting on the shelf behind the partner. and it is only about 7 pm. .... Then its my turn i ask for my 5 scoop grande in a venti cup pour-over, :-) , the reaction or answer is very unpredictable, usually they just comply, sometimes its like i asked them to clean the bathrooms. sometimes they want make it but don't know how. so I tell them how, step by step. :-)  ....... . ..  but just please check with all the stores and make sure they know how to use the pour over, and be not afraid to offer it when there is a chance someone might perfer that to house blend. Hope this helps.

Colin,

I am a twice a day, Starbucks in the cafe customer. I have a regular store but also go to others in the area.T his afternoon I was aghast when visiting a store in another location in the county to have the Shift tell me that he could not give me a bold decaf pour over but would be glad to do a French Press for me. I asked to speak with the Manager (who I know) but he was not there. He kept reiterating that he would be glad to do a French Press and could not do a pour over. I left without buying anything and feel let down by the Starbucks system. I fully intend to contact the Store manager but it appears that something is breaking down in the management/training process. I did have this happen earlier this year at another county store and it was dealt with by the Area Manager.

I find it hard to believe that a Shift would not know the Starbucks policy for this!

Vent over! I am always glad to have my regular baristas ask if they can do a pour over when I need a decaf other than Pike!  

Pour over coffee is very inconsistent in taste and quality across Starbucks locations. I now refuse it when offered