[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 :)
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.
Comment by elyse — December 18, 2006 @ 11:16 am
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.
Comment by Jason — December 22, 2006 @ 4:45 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 :)
Comment by Siel — December 24, 2006 @ 4:22 pm
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…
Comment by Eric — January 25, 2007 @ 4:45 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 –
Comment by Siel — January 26, 2007 @ 12:58 am
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.
Comment by Gift of Green — May 26, 2007 @ 2:01 pm
Good to know he was willing to French press it for you though :) Lemme know how the next round goes!
Comment by Siel — May 30, 2007 @ 5:07 pm