In the image farthest to the  left is Blue Bottle’s Kyoto-style coffee maker.  Has anyone tried a cup of  coffee from this $20,000 machine?  What do you think?  If you would like to taste a cup head on down to Mint Plaza in San Francisco and see what you think.  Let us know!

In this video Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says, “I have been criticized over the years for strongly believing that building shareholder value and making money is a pretty shallow goal if its not linked to creating value for your people and giving back to the community.”  Do the actions of Starbucks truly reflect these principles?  What do you think?

Today, Starbucks announced they will soon deliver your coffee to your home. For $200 a month Starbucks will make a morning delivery to your home or office. You can have your coffee beverage right when you want it. No more waiting in long lines, and no more special trips across town to the coffee shop.

They will even wait to put the whip cream on top of your mocha before they arrive. Amazing! There are also different membership levels.

At $200 a month you are “Tall” member. At this level you will get your coffee delivered to you daily.At the $400 a month level you are a “Grande” member. At this level they will bring you your cup of coffee, your morning paper, and start your car on cold winter days.Finally, at the $600 a month level you are a “Venti” member. At this level they will bring you your cup of Joe, your morning paper, start your car, and get your kids ready for school.

April Fools!

The other day I was at the airport in Minot, ND craving a Good Cup of Joe. I wandered over to the cafe not expecting much. I was just hoping the coffee wasn’t burnt. I was surprised to discover that volunteers run the cafe. A friendly elderly couple served me up my cup of Joe. The coffee wasn’t very good, but their warmness left me feeling happy. Oftentimes, a well orchestrated cup of Joe is not as important as the service a person receives.

Is Starbucks Coffee anything more than pop culture bling?  Starbucks created a coffee revolution in the United States.  High quality coffee would no longer be limited to places like Pete’s Coffee in Berkeley, CA or Starbucks as Pikes Place Market in Seattle, WA.  People all over the country would begin drinking coffee that had dramitically increased in quality in comparison to the swill that they were used to drinking on a daily basis.  In addition, they would pay top dollar to drink these tasty cups of coffee.  However, in the long run Starsbucks has not maintained a high quality product.  Their regular cup of Joe is often weak and/ or burnt.  In France and Italy people enjoy magnificant cups of cappacino as part of their morning routine.  However, in the U.S. Starbucks has destroyed that cappacino and turned it into the, “vanilla skinny latte.’  A drink that is mostly sugar and artificial flavoring.  Furthermore, Starbucks has slipped so much on quality control that a person is lucky if their sugar and artificial flavoring are hot.

So what happened to a company that spread higher quality coffee throughout the U.S.  Unfortunately, it has just become another consumer good.  Nothing more than a status symbol that gives a person a little pick me up: a short burst of sugar, and an ego boost that communicates that, “I drink only the best coffee.”  Unfortunatly, many people have never tasted a truly Good Cup of Joe.  Consequently, the only quality that many customers care about is the logo on their Starbucks cup and gift bag.  This has brought coffee to a sorry state for many hard working Americans who pay their hard earned dollar for these drinks.  Americans deserve a high quality product that truly tastes great!