Howard Schultz sits down with President Obama

According to the following article from the Sacramento Examiner, the Starbucks CEO was among a group of guests who sat down with the President. However, this was after the famed beer summit and no brewskies were served! Pike Place Roast, anyone?

Click on the orange link, below, to read the article.

No free lunch for Howard Schultz, CEO Starbucks, with President Obama

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That was The Week That Was @Starbucks!

Click on the orange link below to read about what happened last week in the land of Pike Place Roast.

Starbucks week in review: undercover Starbucks, protests, petitions and pastries

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Starbucks and Hershey's Agree on a Divorce!

Click on the orange link below to read about the split between the King of Pike's Place Roast - the McDonald's coffee knock-off (OK, well it tastes like it!) - and the King-Kong of Chocolate!

Starbucks and Hershey's end partnership to offer premium chocolate

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The great coffee wars continue...

Click on the orange link below to read this great article from Michael Bauer's "Between Meals" column in the San Francisco Chronicle. McCafe, anyone?

http://tinyurl.com/mw7jbr

Even on the East Coast you can sample a fine cup of Peet's coffee!

Just click on the orange link below to see how you can sample what is arguably the West Coast's finest coffee in the New York City area.

Craving Peet's Coffee in New York? Then Book a Flight Out of JFK || Jaunted

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Photo: flickr

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)

We're still not mad at Cramer...

A few months back, we told you about the shots that CNBC's Jim Cramer (of Mad Money) took at Starbucks. We then tended to agree with him; plus we happen to like the guy! More recently he indicated that he wouldn't be caught alive going into a Carl's Jr. fast food franchise... Guess what, we agreed with him again.

So yesterday he appeared to give a bit of ground to the CEO of the Carl's/Hardee food corporation - no, we're not providing their stock name - but I think he was just being a polite host. You can judge by yourself by clicking on the link below.

Me, I'm still not walking into a Carl's Junior!

http://tinyurl.com/qxs6ks

Bonus: See our ealier Cramer versus Starbucks post at -

http://tinyurl.com/qbcakt

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...

Bob Dylan Warms Our Lives...

We earlier posted three separate reviews of Bob Dylan's latest album, Together Through Life, and expected that this would be the end of our highlighted reviews... Until we came across this review by Bob Lines - abridged here - published in the UCLA Daily Bruin on Tuesday, May 12, 2009.

From the Daily Bruin to Troy Bear:

Bob Dylan achieved his fifth Billboard No. 1 last week. His 33rd studio album, "Together Through Life," beat the soundtrack from "Hannah Montana" to claim the top spot.

Excuse me while I briefly celebrate. It's not that I have anything against Hannah Montana per se (I'm sure the soundtrack's great), but it's a moment for small jubilation when, in the age of Miley Cyrus, the music of Bob Dylan reaches a large audience.

That said, "Together" is probably the weakest of Dylan's albums since his stellar comeback in 1997 with "Time Out of Mind" - but this is hardly a criticism. It's just that the sound of the latter-day Dylan is fairly familiar to his fans, and here Dylan doesn't do much new. He sings with the same grit and wheeze and employs the same mix of jazz, spiritual and blues, just without as many good songs.

At its worst, "Together Through Life" feels humdrum and turgid. The finger-picked electric guitar and staccato organ work well on the good tracks but feel bland on the weak ones. The album's opener, "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'," a low-key blues turn almost slides into pastiche, heavily influenced by the songs of Chuck Berry and Little Richard.

"If You Ever Go to Houston" could have been cut from the final track list: the song feels like a cut-and-paste of the blues ballads of the '50s that Dylan plays so regularly on "Theme Time Radio Hour." The lyrics, co-written by former Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, are similarly lackluster.

Nevertheless, the album is a welcome addition to the Dylan catalogue. "Life is Hard" is a sweet melancholy ballad, originally written for Olivier Dahan's upcoming film "My Own Love Song." The gentle slide guitar accompanies Dylan's straining voice. As Dylan stretches his vocals to (the) breaking point, he sounds more vulnerable than ever.

The penultimate track, "I Feel a Change Coming On," is both a nod to the presidency of Barack Obama and a mischievous and wistful ode to an old lover. Add into the mix a cheeky reference to James Joyce, and you're left with Dylan at his best on "Together..." Here, David Hidalgo's organ-playing alongside Dylan's affectionate vocals is a welcome addition.

While the album doesn't reach the heights of "Love and Theft" or "Modern Times," it's still a pretty good effort from the nonstop touring 67-year-old. Dylan could have easily not released anything for the last 20 years. If he had died sometime after "Blood on the Tracks," his reputation would have been firmly cemented with Lennon, Hendrix and the other members of rock royalty who have sadly passed on.

Dylan was never one to spend retirement pottering around the garden. Now the challenge for both Dylan and his fellow rock elder statesmen is how to mellow into old age without declining into parody or Starbucks-promoted cheese.

Dylan has done neither, but then we wouldn't have expected him to. His late career return to form has been more than we could ever have hoped for. As such, every record he gives us should be savored like the final days of a wonderful summer - it will be cold when he's gone.

And Here's Another...

Here's another Starbucks Bearista, which reminds us to remind you... Don't forget to visit us at our Twitter site:

http://twitter.com/troybear07

A bold coffee for everyone, on the house!


Photo: flickr (Jepster)

Next: Bob Dylan warms our lives.

Yes - There Really Are Bearistas at Starbucks!

This is a Starbucks Bearista imported from Portland, Oregon... far, far, far away. Let's hope he's ready to brew up a pot of bold coffee! Ethiopian, Sumatra, French Roast?

A fun coffee blog for caffeine fiends (and bold coffee lovers)...

Mackenzie Shieck of the online newspaper, Seattle Post Intelligencer, has a fun blog that deals with her experiences as a former bearista for a major chain of coffee shops... Let's see: Seattle, coffee, bearistas...

Gosh, do you think she could possibly be talking about her days at Starbucks?

Here's the link to her blog, It's Just the Caffeine Talking:

http://blog.seattlepi.com/caffeinetalking/

Photo of a Starbucks in Portland, OR: flickr (cafemama). Sure I could have used a pic of a Starbucks in Seattle, but that would have been too predictable, don't ya think?

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.

McDonald's Begins Its Shelling of Starbucks...

Thanks to Jolene for finding this and posting it on her blog site. I hope she doesn't mind this co-post, as this intriguing article - click on the orange link below to read it - should be published just about everywhere.

A few quick notes... I disagree with the columnist's conclusion here; I do believe that $100 million in advertising by the Golden Arches will hurt the Bucks. Also, I think they should have called their new shops McCoffee.

I further feel it's worth mentioning that Starbucks was once far ahead of its second and third-tier competitors - like Peets and Sacramento-based Java City - but it has now been caught and surpassed in terms of the "total customer experience." (That experience should include excellent service.) Perhaps more importantly, these competitors are now providing what many see as a better product, a better cup of bold coffee.

Note that Peets, for example, does not compete with the Bucks on price. A small cup of Peets coffee costs 15 cents more than it does at S-B. For those serious coffee drinkers who think they're getting a better brew for just three nickels, its a very small price to pay.

Selling coffee becomes diacritical for McDonald's - Los Angeles Times

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Photo: flickr (turtlemom4bacon)

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)

Like Chocolates on the Pillow...

In the book Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough, Jonathan Tisch - CEO of Leows Hotels - makes the following comment about AOL: "This is the mark of a company desperate to keep its link to customers alive while behaving in ways that only increase alienation."

While reading this, I had to stop for a second to see if he was referencing AOL or Starbucks...

Photo of the Starbucks in Ripon, California: flickr (suendercafe)

Some Tough Words for Starbucks...

This is an abridged version of an article ("More Bad News for Starbucks as McCafe Moves in For the Kill") printed on the BNET Industries website; BNET Food subcategory. The original article was posted on the morning of April 20, 2009 and was written by Katherine Glover.

Months ago, this same publication had high hopes for a Starbucks revival based on the return of CEO Howard Schultz. Now the view is not so optimistic...

Things are not looking good for Starbucks. McCafe's continue to spread - almost 70 percent of McDonald's outlets now offer specialty coffee, and the Chicago Tribune has reason to believe that McDonald's will launch a national advertising campaign for its coffee starting in May.

"McCafe is a game-changer in coffee," a Deutsche Bank analyst wrote in a recent memo to clients. "We expect McDonald's will extract a significant toll on Starbucks' performance, beginning this summer..." Deutsche Bank has downgraded Starbucks stock to "sell." And as McCafe expands its reach, Starbucks is moving in the opposite direction, closing 200 U.S. stores this year.

But the problem isn't just that McDonald's offers cheaper coffee than Starbucks. The problem is that Starbucks doesn't necessarily have anything to offer for its higher prices. The Starbucks phenomenon itself led to higher standards, and, as a result, more cheap coffee options that don't necessarily taste like dirt water.

QSR Web recently did its own blind taste test and found that a majority of its testers actually preferred McDonald's coffee drinks to Starbucks. So the question is not "Are customers willing to pay more for a better drink?" but "Is the drink really even better."

Photo: flickr

Note: For even more Starbucks-related updates, see http://twitter.com/Melody206

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)