Bold coffee as a digestive health issue...

Some of us have expressed our online frustrations over Starbucks' failure to have a bold coffee option available after the noon hour. It might seem like we're being picky, but the truth is we are far from alone in our complaints - see the chart above (click on the chart to see a larger version) - and for some coffee drinkers, the blend served is important to digestive health. Yesterday I was in Java City, a Starbucks competitor with shops all over the U.S. and in Asia, and one of their baristas explained to me that bold coffee has not only less acid but much less caffeine than the lighter brews. Most people will assume that just the opposite is true, that dark or bold equals heavy and strong...

You can do some quick research of your own. Using a search engine like Google, enter terms like Crohn's disease coffee caffeine; or Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) coffee caffeine; or Colitis caffeine coffee. You'll find that for persons with these digestive conditions, minimizing their caffeine intake is important. Bold brewed coffee helps in this respect, and every little bit helps.

So, here's a kudos to Java City and Peet's, two of the coffee companies that make a point of offering at least one bold coffee blend choice whenever their shops' doors are open! As for Starbucks, we're still waiting - and waiting and waiting and waiting - for them to get with the program.

Note: The chart above represents issues raised at My Starbucks Idea. As of early November 2008, over 17,000 respondents had expressed their desire - their idea in action, if you will - to have "Bold Coffee (Served) All Day."

If Seattle's Best can do this, why can't Starbucks?

Yesterday afternoon I visited my local Borders Books. On the positive side, my store is no longer running its "please don't ask us for a bag" campaign. I bought a music CD and was, nevertheless, asked if I wanted a bag. I said yes and was given a full size bag to go. (The bag was subsequently used when Munchy's litter box was cleaned.)

The counter signs discouraging customers from asking for a bag have also been either removed or covered up. See, the customer is always right!

We're posting the link, below, to our earlier write-up about Borders when we were not so pleased with the chain.

But while I was at Borders, I went to the Seattle's Best coffee counter and ordered a bold coffee. Even though it was mid-afternoon, this was no problem. The bold coffee served by Seattle's Best is about an 85% scale version of Peet's Major Dickason bold. But then something is far better than nothing.

This, then, begs the question... If Seattle's Best, which is fully owned by Starbucks of Seattle, can serve its customers bold coffee whenever they're open why can't Starbucks?

http://tinyurl.com/re8kov

Photos: flickr (bottom photo of Seattle's Best in the Ginza, Tokyo, by cloganese)

Days of Future Passed for Starbucks...

Back in 2007, Loews Hotels Chairman and CEO Jonathan M. Tisch wrote a book entitled Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough; which, by the way, has just been re-released in paperback. This 256-page book ended with 9 pages dealing specifically with Starbucks (Starbucks and the Tricky Art of Brand Extension). A lot of what Tisch said in these nine pages seemed to foretell the 'Bucks' current troubled existence.

Let's look at a few brief excerpts showing what Tisch wrote and thought then about SBUX' soon-to-arrive-future (the final italicized comment is my own)...

You (can't) simply tack on new offerings to your exiting menu and assume they will delight customers. Goods and services that don't fit your organization's existing mission may confuse customers and end up weakening instead of enhancing your brand.

... it's obvious that there are limits to the number of Starbucks outlets... the world can support.

CEO (Howard) Schultz has always maintained that Starbucks is not about coffee.

(According to) Geoffrey Moore, a partner at the venture-capital firm of Mehr, Davidow... (he) calls the (Starbucks entry into) the music (selling) foray, "a very interesting experiment. If I was on (Starbucks) board of directors, I'd be more concerned that they not corrupt the brand... If Starbucks is just trying to monetize the traffic that comes through, this is a bad idea. At some point, the customers will start to feel abused.

As Starbucks has discovered, it's wise to expect... mistakes when exploring new customer offerings. Joe, Slate and book sales have all proved to be disappointing for Starbucks, while CD sales are struggling to take off.

Starbucks coffee shops have (been successful in) pulling customers off the street for a brief break (for coffee). Can the same formula be applied to the very different market for music CDs? Don't assume that the delivery system you've honed for one product... will automatically work for another.

In the end, it is the customers who will decide whether expanding Starbucks into a music business is "not inconsistent" [to use Schultz' words] with the company's... brand image. What will they decide? Stay tuned. - 30 -

Today, I've decided to head to Peet's Coffee for a bold one!

Coming up next...

We'll look at what a big business CEO wrote in 2007 about the future of Starbucks' business model. Very interesting...

How to Search This Blog... (or any blogspot site)

Friends have asked me how to search for particular articles - such as book or music reviews - within this blog. I had no idea until about a week ago when a fellow blogger explained it to me.

In the upper left corner of this sample blog page, you'll see a blank white rectangular box. This is where you can enter a search term phrase or keywords such as: bob dylan, dave mason, small faces, jenny dalton, green day, great central government, munchy, peet's, starbucks, bold coffee or some other topic and then click on Search Blog (earlier Search This Blog). The multiple results for these topics will then appear as one long web page. Pretty cool.

I feel like I should keep writing except there is nothing more to say, it's as simple as this.

Peet's Coffee Continues to Brew Up Tasty Profits...

This is an excerpt from a Barron's blog post of yesterday (April 29, 2009) by Bob O'Brien:

While Starbucks has been putting up double-digit sales declines in recent quarters, Peet's Coffee & Tea (PEET) has grown revenues. The results posted late Thursday showed that Peet's boosted sales nearly 8% in its March-ending first quarter, even though that growth wasn't quite as robust as Wall Street had been expecting. The company affirmed its profit-growth outlook for the year, suggesting that it could grow earnings as much as 25%.

This just isn't a taste issue, although true believers in the Peet's iconology are as adamant that their choice is the real deal as Starbucks' afficionados historically have been. Peet's has amped up its grocery-store footprint, making bags of beans, which consumers use in home kitchens, the engine of its growth.

Photo: flickr (jdong)

Editorial: Of coffee shops and neighborhood ties - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

Click on the orange link below to read this editorial from the Sacramento Bee.

Editorial: Of coffee shops and neighborhood ties - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

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Photo of Peet's in downtown Portland: flickr (jdong)

The CEO of Starbucks actually said this...

I found this quote from Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks online: "Our customers are not turning away from Starbucks because they're unhappy or they have lost faith or they don't like the experience... They just do not have the disposable income to come as often as they once did. They're either not coming as often, or cutting out the occasion - having coffee in the office, having coffee at home."

OK, now if he actually believes this, I'll offer to buy him a cup of bold coffee at Peet's.

Photo: flickr (~maitexu~)

The bitter truth about Starbucks...

Every now and then I go to one of the Starbucks-sponsored comment sites - like My Starbucks Idea or Ideas In Action - and post my latest critique of the company; and I'm far from alone in this. As we push one way, its natural that on occasion a young Bucks staff member or bearista pushes back. That's fine but I don't think they quite understand who "we" - me, Melody, Jolene and so many others - are...

So let me try to explain this here. We're the old flame, the one who first thought you were the best person (company) in the world until you let us down. Then we left or thought about leaving... but we haven't, actually.

We were your first and most loyal fans. We were with you when Starbucks was not "cool." We remained with you, in your cooler-than-cool state, when we had to wait the equivalent of two work breaks in line. We were still there when you became un-cool again. But, finally, enough became enough.

We have our memories of the early days... Days of great service, great bold coffee, innovative products, and the knowledge that we would always receive the highest quality of products at our local Bucks shop. Sadly those days are gone, long gone and we're hurt.

(From a music lover's standpoint it's like watching Rod Stewart go from Gasoline Alley to "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?")

One poster - menty66 - added this in response to a Seattle newpaper article on recent moves by Starbucks: "For years sbux touted its cultural standing. Now it's slowly slipping down a stripper pole to McDonald's level."

Menty66 wrote that on February 4, 2009 and I've kept it because it rang so true.

OK, so we still think about you. We don't ignore you which means somewhere in our caffineated hearts and souls we hold out a glimmer of hope... It's not like the final time we shopped at Sears or Penney's, decided to never return and truly never thought of those places again.

So please try to actually listen to us, and not just say that you do. And hire bearistas that will do the same. And please, please, please, please brew us a bold coffee when we tell you we really and truly need it.

Why? 'Cause time is passing, none of us is getting any younger, and there's a guy out there named Peet who is offering some really good times!

The Daily Californian :: Original Peet's Site Reopens After Renovation

The original Peet's coffee shop has re-opened in North Berkeley! Click on the orange link below to read the article.

And don't we just love this quote from Berkeley resident and long-time customer Alice Feller: "Real Peet's customers don't drink Starbucks."

Bold coffee rules!

Next: The bitter truth about Starbucks...

Photo of Peet's, North Berkeley: Seattle Times

The Daily Californian :: Original Peet's Site Reopens After Renovation

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Wrong About Starbucks?

In a Motley Fool article posted on MSNBC on Monday, April 13th, Tim Beyers reconsidered some things he'd said in a pre-Christmas article. At that time he wrote that Starbucks had lost its appeal as a destination, "(as) a place for writers like me to sit, sip, get connected (wirelessly), and write." In his more recent article, Beyers took the stance that he was wrong about Starbucks as revealed in the full title of his article: I Was Wrong About Starbucks: Wi-Fi is worth paying for, after all.

Interesting, especially as the final words in the article were these:

You want to blame customers for your woes? Look in the mirror first, Starbucks.

Very clever. Good stuff, almost as good as the bold cup of coffee that I can't get in the afternoon at Starbucks. On to Peet's...

Note: Earlier this week I had a change in schedule so I made what is now a rare stop at a Starbucks for a late morning brew. I was the only person standing in line... Nevertheless, the bearista barely listened to my order for a tall (small) bold coffee with room for cream; she was busy talk, talk, talking to a co-worker. Before handing me my coffee, she walked away and grabbed an ink pen for some unknown reason... I was not charging my order.

When she did finally hand me my coffee it was filled to the rim - she clearly did not listen to my order - and with the current supply of bad lids, the coffee spilt all over my hands and my formerly-clean pair of pants. Great, and another reminder of why I almost never pop into a Bucks anymore.

Photo: flickr (chrisdejabet)

Starbucks Continues to Stumble...

I regularly visit two Starbucks shops. Both now have in stock only one of the "The Way I See It" quotation cups - the one explaining that sudden success can be more dangerous than failure. I wonder if they see the irony in that?

One of the shops is out of sleeve holders, those cardboard grips you add to your to-go cup so your hands don't get burned. More problems with the supplies.

Interestingly, the CEO of Starbucks acknowledged just last week - at a coffee convention (who knew there was such a thing?) - that he's heard and read the criticisms... He even knows about Melody of Seattle, the activist attorney blogger who leads the bold coffee movement (whom I now consider to be a friend). More on Melody in the near future.

OK, let me supply this preview... As noted in the online-only version of the Seattle Post Intelligencer (Seattle P-I), Melody is one of the most frequent posters on My Starbucks Idea - where links to several of my own bold coffee comments are posted - and on the Starbucks Gossip site.

Enough said, almost... Keep on requesting those bold coffees, even after the noon hour strikes! If they won't serve you one, head on over to Peet's.

No sleep 'til Brooklyn.

Photo: flickr (nooni)

Peet's in Westwood...

This is now the Peet's coffee shop in Westwood - near the U.C.L.A. campus - that was once the site of one of the earliest Ralph's grocery stores. Peet's, in fact, occupies the original building.

Mrs. Bear remembers, as a child, driving regularly to this Ralph's with her grandfather so that he could buy the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner from the newspaper vendor in front of the store; the vendor would give her a piece of raspberry candy. Otherwise, everything remains the same.

Photo: flickr (karanmehta)

What the holy heck is Starbucks up to? (continued)

For those of you who may have missed it, an Associated Press (AP) article on Starbucks ran on Wednesday, February 18, 2009. My local paper ran this article with the headline: "Struggling Starbucks puts image at risk by offering instant coffee."

Before running the abridged summary of the article below, I need to ask the question - Is it still possible to buy stock in Peet's Coffee? OK, here's the short version of the AP article:

Starbucks Corp. has delivered a jolt to its devotees and rivals: It's embracing instant. The chain that helped create the gourmet coffee industry and became the industry leader began selling its new instant coffee online Tuesday, ahead of a nationwide launch to coincide with the company's first major ad campaign.

Called Via, the water-soluble product sells in packets of three for $2.95 or 12 for $9.95. Just Columbia and Italian roast varieties will be available at first.

Critics say the move smells of desperation as the chain closes locations in the United States and overseas and cuts about 1,700 jobs.

Andrew Hetzel, the founder of coffee consulting group Cafemakers, said the new product could denigrate the premium positioning that helped establish Starbucks. "I see it as... a very short-term approach to a long-term brand problem. They're throwing things out there to see what hits."

Even competitors seemed surprised. Micheal Fell, president and founding partner of Biggby Coffee, a premium coffee chain of about 100 stores mainly in the Midwest, said he follows the company closely so he knows what his biggest competitor is up to. He called the announcement "shocking."

"We try to make sense of out of everything that they do," McFall said. "This one I'm having a hard time making sense of."

Sleeping Close to Coffee Heaven...

This year the Portland Marathon falls on Sunday, October 4, 2009. The host hotel for lodging, registration and the two-day pre-race Expo will continue to be the Hilton Portland and Executive Tower. This is a fine hotel (ranked #55 out of 133 Portland hotels by Trip Advisor) but there are some other interesting choices downtown.

One of my favorites is the Portland Marriott City Center - ranked #23 by Trip Advisor - located at 520 Southwest (SW) Broadway. Officially, this is a four star, 20-story highrise, but with just 249 rooms it provides the feel of a relatively cozy, boutique-style, hotel. This feeling is enhanced when you first walk in and see that the lobby is quite small; space being at a premium in larger cities. But the good news is that the lobby is small because most of the ground floor is dedicated to a magnificent Peet's coffee shop.

This special Peet's at 508 SW Broadway has authentic mission-style chairs and couches, with enough open space to feel calm and relaxing (unlike, perhaps, a competitor's often smaller shops). In fact, it feels like you're sitting in a quiet lodge, but one with good food and extremely fresh coffee.

On weekday mornings this Peet's opens at 5:45 a.m. and closes at 7:00 p.m. It opens at 6:30 a.m. and closes earlier on weekends. The actual brewing of the bold and bolder coffees begins hours before the shop opens, so you find yourself waking up surrounded by the smell of coffee seeping through the Marriott's walls and floors. It doesn't get much better than this.

Oh, I could discuss the great spa in the hotel or the world class chocolatier across the street, or how close this hotel is to Nordstrom... But all that really matters is how very close you are to Peet's when you wake up. Throw something on and it's a short elevator ride down to a coffee-laden paradise!

Old Major Dickason, here I come.

I'm not posting about Starbucks today...

Except to wish that I could find one where I could get a bold brew past 12:00 noon: a Casi Cielo, or an Ethopian Sidamo, a Gold Coast, or a Komodo Dragon, a Sumatra or Verona or a Yukon. Any one of these would bring me closer to coffee heaven.

Oh, well, where's the nearest Peet's?

Drink another cup of coffee and savor your mental health?

According to an article in yesterday's New York Times - "Coffee Linked to Lower Dementia Risk" - a study that tracked coffee consumption in a group of 1,409 middle-aged men and women found that drinking 3 to 5 cups of coffee a day might lower a person's risk of developing dementia. Dementia is defined as the loss of mental processing ability, including communication, abstract thinking, judgment and physical abilities. It affects everyday living through short-term and/or long-term memory loss, disorientation, difficulties with money and math, etc.

The men and women in this research study group who drank this amount of coffee over an average of 21 years were 65% less likely to develop dementia than those who drank 2 cups or less per day. There's also an apparent, but not statistically significant reduction in risk, for those who drink five or more cups a day.

If you drink two cups a day, like I do, you might want to consider increasing your consumption by that extra cup of Peet's or Starbucks. However, if you do not currently drink coffee, according to this study, there's no evidence that starting to drink coffee will have any protective effect.

Earlier studies have suggested that drinking coffee may also reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and/or Parkinson's disease. Of course, the possibility of error exists because study participants may "innacurately" recall how much coffee they consumed over the course of many years. Oh, well...

Just in case, I'm ordering an extra cup of Java today.

(Pictured is the Peet's coffee shop in downtown Portland.)