Starbucks... It's not about the coffee...

Good morning... What can I get for you?

Today we need to talk about the current state of Starbucks. Yes... we NEED to. For the longest time, I've been drinking Starbucks coffee. My first experience with Starbucks was at the Federal Way Mall store in Washington... during the holidays. I purchased a holiday sampler pack... 4-half pounds of coffee. I can even tell you what they were. Christmas Blend, House Blend, Gold Coast Blend and 80/20 Blend (which is Verona)... I walked in... I smelled coffee. I watched the baristas go through the tactile exercise of scooping beans and letting the oily beans cascade into the white, measuring hopper on the scale... expertly getting each .50lb into it... not a bean more, not a bean less... They folded each bag by hand. First they removed the air, folded it from the top very tightly, did the patented "Pack and Slam" movement to remove the air... folded the twist ties and took some care to put each sticker on the bag... exactly 1/2 inch above the logo.

It truly is a shame that this experience has gone away... The only remnants left of that "Coffee Merchant Experience" is in my memories and now on this blog post. Not even at the Pike Place store (which isn't really the original store) do they sell this experience. Sure they have the beaten up wood floors, the smell of "old" and the sounds of begging musicians... but those baristas haven't touched an oily bean in years.

One of the baristas that trained me used to talk about this thing called a "coffee moment". For a couple of years, I used to wonder what she meant. Then it hit me... my senses had become used to the smell of coffee and had blocked it out... A "coffee moment" was that instance where you could actually smell coffee again... like the first time you walked into a Starbucks and got hit in the face with the most wonderful smell in the world.

CDs, Akilas, Bees, Happy Feet, Breakfast, day parts, DVDs, things that don't contribute to the "Coffee Merchant Experience" have no place there. Baristas... Managers... Shifts... DMs... Take your coffee stores back... Starbucks Stuff is about selling stuff... Starbucks Coffee is about creating coffee experiences... coffee moments if you will.

Now about this Pike Place thing... In 1976 they moved the store from its original location on Western Ave in Seattle to the location where it currently resides. This is the truth. At one point in time, I had a copy of the letter sent out to customers letting them know that the store was moving. I no longer have the letter, but I do have the photo of the original founders... standing in the original store... 2 holding coffee scoops... one holding a butcher's cleaver

Sorry for the rant... We'll see you tomorrow for your usual.

Pat Nerr...