Even Starbucks employees will quietly admit that the drip coffee available in Starbucks stores is just awful.  I don't know if it's the blend, or the way they brew it, or both, but I find it completely undrinkable.  Worse than office coffee.

Starbucks has made several moves to try and prevent this.  First they started insisting that baristas throw out the coffee every N minutes and make a new pot, so that it wouldn't be stale.  This resulted in the inevitable "We just put on a new batch, your coffee will be ready in five minutes."

Then, because "no one orders regular coffee after 2PM" and because they didn't want to waste it, they stopped serving regular drip coffee after 2PM.  

Then they went to this cutesy system where they offered a specific blend for drip coffee every day.  But no matter which blend they used, it always turned out terrible.  And many times I have requested a cup of Blend A only to find out that they sold out (???) but hadn't updated their sign, and would I like a cup of Blend B instead?  (And if you reluctantly agree to a cup of Blend B?  "Okay, we just put on a new batch, your coffee will be ready in five minutes.")

Worst of all, I recently visited a Starbucks store with a friend who wanted a cup of drip.  She requested a cup of Blend A, which was all well and good, until she spied the barista pouring her a cup of Blend B.  When my friend pointed out this switcheroo, the barista sheepishly admitted that they had sold out of Blend A.  I guess she thought my friend wouldn't notice the difference?

If I just want a regular coffee at Starbucks, I'll order an Americano.  I'm not touching the drip!  I don't know what they do to their drip coffee, but it's obviously not meant for human consumption.

Now Starbucks seems to have given up entirely.  They are going to start offering "pour-over" service at some of their stores.  This involves the use of something which used to be quite common, but which has since fallen into obscurity: the single cup, "drip it right into your cup" coffee cone.  It's a plastic cone that you set atop your coffee cup.  Just add grounds then pour hot water through.  Presto, a fresh cup of coffee!

These used to be quite common in offices, back before decent coffee became ubiquitous, and in offices which didn't have a coffee maker.  As long as you had a source of hot water, you could make a cup of coffee at your desk.  I remember my mother using one at her office in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  (This would have been long before the French press became readily available.)

According to this article in the Seattle Times, the pour-over "will not be customer-facing," meaning that the barista will make the pour-over themselves behind the counter.  But it's a lot funnier to imagine them handing the kit and a pot of hot water to customers.  Like, "We give up on this drip business - just make it yourself!"

Creative Commons-licensed image courtesy of Flickr user onlyberlin