10 posts tagged “starbucks”
Reese Witherspoon returns to sunny L.A. after promoting her new movie "Rendition" at the Toronto Film Festival. She drops by Starbucks for a cold drink.
(Sep 2007, Yahoo! OMG)
Starbucks Rockwell with kids, Dec 2005
I gotta have a cup of Starbucks everyday. I mean, I just gotta. I know their products are outrageously priced, but that's one of the reasons I work so hard - so I can enjoy simple little pleasures like my double tall nonfat cafe mocha with raspberry, no whip.
Anyway, I don't drink, smoke, or gamble. My only vices are Starbucks and books. That's it. They have a fascinating way of complementing each other, by the way... have you ever tried curling up with a new novel on one of their sofas, drink beside you? It's an experience that calms and soothes and makes you take a step back to relax and renew your spirit.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schulz said that he envisioned their stores to be a "third place", apart from home and office, where one could go and receive a smile and a caring word along with your drink.
For me, it works. We could go into detail and analyze from a management perspective what makes Starbucks a successful business organization, but we won't do that here.
Naah. Here, we chill out. Cool down and let it all out. Reeelax. Savor that flavorful coffee (once you've gone gourmet, you'll hate the taste of 3-in-1). Rest. Attain a little bit of peace from the madness and stress of the real world. Escape to a place where the smells of coffee, cinnamon, and chocolate envelope you. One by one the tense knots in your body unravel as you relax in that other place, a place where you can be you for a little while.
Caffeine perks up brain's memory centres - study
Wed 30 Nov 2006, 3:05 PM ET
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Brain scans confirm what many coffee drinkers already know -- caffeine perks them up. The caffeine found in coffee, tea, soft drinks and chocolate stimulates areas of the brain governing short-term memory and attention, Austrian researchers said on Wednesday.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging scans performed on the brains of 15 subjects who had just consumed caffeine equal to that found in two cups of coffee showed increased activity in the frontal lobe where the working memory is located and in the anterior cingulum that controls attention.
"We are able to see that caffeine exerts increases in neuronal activity in distinct parts of the brain going along with changes in behaviour," said Austrian researcher Dr. Florian Koppelstatter of the Medical University Innsbruck.
Participants who were subjected to a 12-hour period without caffeine and a four-hour period without nicotine, another recognised stimulant found in cigarettes, were better able to remember a sequence of letters after consuming 100 milligrams of caffeine. Reaction times on short-term memory tests also improved.
Caffeine is the world's most widely used stimulant, according to the research presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Global daily consumption of caffeine averages 76 milligrams, equal to 1 1/2 cups of coffee. In the United States, average consumption is 238 milligrams per day, equal to that found in 4 1/2 cups of java.
From time to time, Starbucks comes up with new flavors to savor and favor. In Summer 2006, it was the Banana Mocha Frappucino (and a couple other varieties). It proved so popular that they brought it back to Manila in Summer 2007.
Since I'm a fan of the Mocha Frap, and I enjoy bananas (not in its natural form, though), this is a perfect combination for a light cool summer drink. I think I had one every day for an entire month. Or two.
Here's a little info on how it all began...
Starbucks, named after the first mate in Herman Melville's “Moby Dick”, was created in 1971 in Seattle's Pike Place Market by three hippie-ish coffee enthusiasts.
Its present Chairman, Howard, Schultz, whose first “decent cup of coffee” was in 1979, joined the company only in 1982—and then left it in 1985 after the founding trio, preferring to stay small, took fright at his vision of the future.
Inspired by a visit to Milan in 1983, he had envisaged a chain of coffee bars where customers would chat over their espressos and cappuccinos. Following his dream, Mr Schultz set up a company he called “Il Giornale”, which grew to a modest three coffee bars. Then, somehow scraping together $3.8m (“I didn't have a dime to my name”), he bought Starbucks from its founders in 1987.
Reality long ago surpassed the dream. Since Starbucks went public in 1992, its stock has soared by some 6,400%. The company is now in 37 different countries. China, which has over 200 stores, will eventually be its biggest market after America, and Russia, Brazil and India are all in line to be colonised over the next three years.
The long-term goal is to double the number of American outlets to 15,000—not least by opening coffee shops along highways—and to have an equal number abroad.
The key is that each Starbucks coffee house should remain “a third place”, between home and work, fulfilling the same role as those Italian coffee houses that so inspired Schultz 23 years ago. (The Economist)
MY FAVORITE STARBUCKS DRINKS:
- Hot Chocolate with Peppermint Syrup - peppermint syrup is available only during the Christmas holidays; it was my first drink, and still is my first love. It's a treat to slurp when the weather is nippy and you're warm and snug inside a favorite sweater at your Starbucks store of choice
- Mocha Valencia -has yummy orange syrup that add a flavorful surprise to every sip
- Caffe Mocha with Raspberry Syrup, Nonfat, No Whip - I've been rather addicted to this one lately. Maybe one every day for the last month? No kidding. On karera days, or days when I have to write stuff for various publications (and I need that extra caffeine kick), I have a double shot of espresso, plus one Equal to cut the bitterness of the coffee.
- Mocha Frappucino Light Blended Coffee, with Raspberry - sweet, especially when the barista has a heavy hand on the syrup pump.
- Chocolate Cream Frappucino - I have this when I want a change from the Mocha Frap. Sometimes I have a shot of espresso added for punch.
- Strawberry Cream Frappucino - A liquid dessert - really REALLY SWEET!
- Banana Mocha Frap - for the past couple of summers ('06 and'07) ...the US version has coconut
- White Hot Chocolate - another of my "first beloved" drinks. It's truly sweet, and has no coffee. Now it's Ik's fave
- Cinnamon Streusel Latte - another of those "limited edition" blends; it was offered here in Manila from January till May 2006.
I've tried all the syrups, from Hazelnut to Irish Creme to Sugarfree Vanilla, but I keep coming back to my triumvirate of choice - Raspberry, Peppermint, and Cinnamon.
I haven't always been a coffee connoisseur, you know. In fact, I used to dislike coffee. I never drank it, ever since someone told me when I was a kid that I would never EVER grow taller if I drank coffee. And since I was a really REALLY short kid and had to take hormone shots to add height and probably would not have reached my present four feet ten inches if I didn't have those shots, all the more I avoided coffee.
But the point became moot and academic when I was 34 and had to work late nights at Santa Ana Park covering the horse races for TV. By then I figured I wasn't going to get any taller whether I tanked up on caffeine or not; and I needed a way to stay awake during those long racing nights.
And a caffeine fiend was born. Mwahahaha. Although for now my addiction is confined to coffee ONLY. I don't get into all that energy drink jazz.
Just hand me my Tall Double Nonfat Caffee Mocha with Raspberry, One Equal, No Whip, and I'll be ready to face the world. Really.
It might not be the best or the tastiest or the greatest coffee in the world, but like I've said all along - they're selling the experience, not so much the coffee.
Though I think their coffee is just fine and what I crave when I need a hit of the mojo that makes me walk and talk - caffeine.
Yup, Starbucks is the best caffeine delivery system in the world!
Photo: If Bacchus were around today, he would ditch the wine for a quad venti mocha frapuccino light blended coffee with raspberry syrup. No, really, he would.
Image from gridskipper.com
Starbucks is not only my favorite caffeine delivery system, it is also my ideal global business. Its stock has risen 5,000% since 1992, and has hundreds of stores around the world.
Dr. Joseph Michelli attempts to explain in this book the reasons for this phenomenal success. He interviewed "partners" (employees) on how they deliver their own particular brand of customer delight that makes people come back for more and more.
My sister-in-law Dr Mitas Alcasid got me this copy for $14 (regular price was $22) at Walmart in Oswego, when we visited them last February.
Two of my favorite things, together - Starbucks and a quilt!
Textile artist julieb conducted a community workshop for the launch of the Preston, UK Starbucks store. She says in her blog, "Representatives of local community groups each stitched a 30cm square panel depicting their organization's work."
Photo shows the artist and Peter (store manager) with the finished artwork.
www.juliebtextiles.co.uk
It's that time of the year once again, when our favorite "third place" rolls out bottles of minty joy to squirt into cups of hot or cold mocha. Red sprinkles on top of mounds of whipped cream are an added pleasure.
It's true, what they say...after experiencing the joys of espresso, you can't go back to instant. Except in an emergency.
Now, I grew up believing that coffee was bad for you. Being petite, as a child I was told not to drink coffee or I'd never grow tall. When I was nine, I endured an entire year of weekly growth hormone shots. At 21, I reached my full height of 4 feet 10 inches - but still never took a drop of coffee. The old childhood conditioning stuck.
Once, in college, I did take a cup of coffee at a student political meeting (I didn't want to look out of place) - but there was more milk than coffee in my cup, and I must have emptied half the contents of the sugar bowl. The waiters were snickering. "Para kang bata," they said. ("You take your coffee like a child.")
At 34 I had to go back to work after ten years of being a domestic goddess. As a horseracing sportscaster on cable TV, I had to stay up until midnight four days a week, every other week. I wasn't used to burning the midnight oil. In the studio, simply everyone was sucking down that brown fluid like it was water. I figured, what the hey - I'm not going to get any taller, am I?
Now I can't work without a caffeine fix. The more caffeine in my cup, the better. I got over the palpitations and jitters. Now it's pure mental alertness. My drink of choice? A double tall Raspberry Cafe Mocha non-fat no whip one Splenda from Starbucks.
Aahh, the joys of coffee!
