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Friday, April 25, 2008

The Final Score

Trouble Brewing at Starbucks

David Asman

FOXBusiness

I just had my first cup of Starbucks new Pike Place Roast, and it tastes awful. It's like a watered down version of the old brew, which was strong and rich and left a wonderful coffee flavor in your mouth.

The new swill tastes like bitter water. And the only aftertaste is the bitter realization that you paid money for something that was worse than the free coffee at work.

When Starbucks introduced this new brand, I thought the customer would have a choice of the old brew or the new stuff. So today, I asked for a cup of the old brew.

But I wasn't given a choice. Unless I wanted one of the frou-frou, espresso coffees, I had to go with the Pike Place. It was Pike Place or nothing.

So what does all this say about Starbucks? Well, before they do anything else, management at Starbucks should read up on something that happened to another beverage company 23 years ago.

That's when Coca-Cola came out with their disastrous "New Coke." Coincidently, "New Coke" also tasted like a watered down version of the original. Coke lost millions of customers, who were only lured back after the company acknowledged that it had made a terrible mistake and promised to go back to the old formula.

Maybe Starbucks will do the same. At the very least, it could offer a choice of the old brew or the new stuff. Because what I really don't like, even more than the taste of the new brew, is the fact that I can't choose my old brew. And until Starbucks gives customers a choice, I bet a lot of them will choose to go elsewhere.