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I guess Starbucks is not making enough money these days. Aside from charging people $9 dollars to drink highly sugarized coffee drinks that aren’t named in english and attempting on saving money by (allegedly) not paying baristas their tips in some places, SBUX has to try something new.

They are introducing the New Coke of coffee, Pike Place Roast.

Now I”m not a coffee snob by any strech, but their coffee isn’t the worlds greatest. People go to Starbucks for mainly the frappicinos and miso lattes. They also go for things like the friendly atmosphere and (in my case) soy milk as an option to put in drinks.

Yesterday I had a sample of their newest blend, named after the first Starbucks in Seattle. To mark the occasion they even put all of the cups using the throwback logo used back in the 70’s. Now the coffee itself is ok, but to me it tastes like an odd blend of Tim Hortons and Dunkin’ Donuts coffee…which in turn tasted like a mix between burnt wood and nuts. (FYI: I usually either have my coffee black or with soy milk. I had this black) The coffee is said to be “personally” grinded by a barista and held for only 30 minutes. (yeah right!)

I am not clear on what Starbucks is trying to accomplish here. They first did a stunt where they closed their stores for 90 mins to retrain their minions baristas on how to make the “perfect cup of coffee”. Secondly, I think they should worry about lowering the prices instead on doing stunts like the above.

There are mixed reviews about the change everywhere. Personally I say its not bad, but was this change really necessary?

You can check out these blogs for more reaction.

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