[For those new to the Ethiopia coffee trademark issue, start here]
Caffeinated bike safaris are intense!
We met up at the Starbucks on 26th and Wilshire, asked for and got our cups of Ethiopian coffee :)
This was after a rather long interaction with a barista, to whom we politely explained that we wanted Ethiopian coffee, then suggested that it could be made in a French press when the barista said Ethiopian wasn’t brewing, then asked that we be charged just for the 3 cups of coffee when she rang us up for $10+.
Then we went through a similar process at the Starbucks on 15th and Montana. Here, the nice manager got involved, and just charged us about $4 for one press pot.
My conclusion is that Starbucks still hasn’t done a v. good job of letting its employees know about the French press policy, but that, as usual, the people who work at the Starbucks stores are generally nice people :)
Partly (mainly?) due to my v. slow biking, we were only able to hit 2 stores during the hour.
Fun times though :)
December 18th, 2006 at 11:16 am
I work at Starbucks and have to fight my manager every day over the customers who I’ve personally introduced to our press policy…looks like you and I are on similar missions! You go, Green Girl.
December 22nd, 2006 at 4:45 pm
Siel,
You are doing great things in socal!! Let me know when the next bike adventure is. I would love to join. Keep it up.
December 24th, 2006 at 4:22 pm
You’re the sweetest, both of you. elyse — you’re awesome for taking decisive local action. Do you know Claire Hawley, another art-student / Starbucks barista?
Jason — Great running into you in San Fran :)
January 25th, 2007 at 4:45 am
I live and work in Pittsburgh, and recently asked for Fair Trade coffee. She said they weren’t brewing any, and when I asked if they could make me some, she politely said “sure” and began to look at what they had.
They only had Cafe Estima as a certified Fair Trade coffee (at least that’s what she said - I didn’t verify), though she did look for others. She cheerfully made the pot, and charged me $1.65 - the price I normally pay for a grande (medium) of whatever they’re brewing.
They were pleasant, accommodating, and didn’t charge extra for the press. I was very pleasantly surprised.
Now to try the rest of the Starbuckies in the area…
January 26th, 2007 at 12:58 am
Hey Eric! Thanks for trying out the challenge! Any more details as to where this store was? I’m tagging it to the Starbucks Challenge map and to del.icio.us, and want to give the store adequate props –
May 26th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
I live in northern Virginia and tried to get a cup of Cafe Estima yesterday during prime communter coffee time. First the barista didn’t know what I was talking about when I asked him if they had fair trade in drip - I had to point to it on the sign. Then he said they could press it for me, but looking at the line of harried commuters behind me, I knew that I wouldn’t be a very popular person if I had them make a pot. I will go in the “off season” to see how much they charge per pot. Thanks for catching me up on all the Starbucks info. I’m very behind.
May 30th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
Good to know he was willing to French press it for you though :) Lemme know how the next round goes!