Fresh Brews: Starbucks, Green Mountain Coffee and Green Coffee

The weekly look back at the coffee world. A lot was going on, especially if your name is Starbucks. Don’t worry, this isn’t becoming a Starbucks only blog, lots of other things in the works for the near future.

Starbucks, Awaiting Recovery, Says Profit Fell 77%
Last week was a pretty rough seven days for Starbucks. They announced that their profits dropped by 77 percent so they’re still making money, but business is definitely slowing down. Normally, I don’t really pay too much attention to quarterly reports and stuff like that, but this one really shows how much factors like McDonald’s McCafe and the recession are causing people to skip Starbucks..

Starbucks Fights Back With Major Campaign
Of course, Starbucks isn’t just going to sit back and let McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts take all of their business. They’ve launched an ad campaign that has an emphasis on the value and quality of their products. Maybe it’ll work, but I don’t think anything besides the economy picking up is really going to help Starbucks compete. Starbucks falls under the category of a luxury item for a lot of people, a luxury that we’ve often had to cut back on recently.

As Profit Cools, Starbucks Plans Price Campaign
Starbucks is also fighting back by reducing prices. Pretty soon, we’ll be able to get their grande Iced Coffee for less than two dollars, a drop of 45 cents. They’re going to be lowering prices of many of their basic drinks, but there is a catch. We can expect to see the prices of the more “complicated” drinks going up. I thought some of the prices of their drinks were already high enough and to see some of them increase even more, doesn’t really make sense to me.

Coming soon to a corner near you: Seattle’s Best
You’ll be seeing a lot more Seattle’s Best, the little brother of Starbucks. Back in 2003, Starbucks bought this coffee shop chain and now they’re hoping that an expansion can help counter the Starbucks profit losses. It doesn’t seem to make too much sense to me – closing Starbucks stores while opening Seattle’s Best. Their coffee is alright, but it’s pretty generic. I can’t wait to see how it compares with rest of the market out there. If I were them, I’d focus more on the main brand and go from there.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Q2 net income up 118%
This isn’t good for Starbucks. Green Mountain, whose target audience is people who brew their own coffee, saw their income jump last quarter. It only makes sense with people skipping places like Starbucks and making their own coffee instead.

When the office is a coffee shop, it’s a different buzz
Sales overall may be down, but it seems that Starbucks is getting an increase in business from people that have been laid off and fired. These people are using Starbucks and other coffee shops as their own office. I’ve never really been able to get work done in places like Starbucks, but apparently it’s working for a lot of people.

How Green Is Your Morning Coffee?
A basic look at the environmental problems that are associated with coffee and includes ways that consumers can buy coffee that is more eco-friendly coffee.

4 paths to jazzed-up java
A look at four different methods of brewing coffee that most people don’t see every day. Included is the french press, which I think is just a subtle hint that I need to be one sooner, rather than later.

Photo by Action Datsun.

Tags: French Press, Fresh Brews, Gree coffee, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Starbucks

Category: Coffee News