November 2011

Thanksgiving Blend, Christmas Blend, and Blonde Coffee

Yum, Yum, What?

 

It's the busy season for coffee retailers! Starbucks has been industriously rolling out its holiday specials, including my personal favorite, the pumpkin spice latte. (A lot of people have tried making their own, using actual pumpkin puree. All I can say is, gross.) 
 
I don't know if Thanksgiving Blend was a new thing this year, or if I had just never noticed it before. A friend gave me a pound as a gift, I probably would not have bought it for myself otherwise. I'm usually pretty skeptical of the special blends Starbucks offers. There have been too many that I disliked intensely. (I don't like the acidic fruity berry tone coffee flavors, and Gazebo blend is of course an atrocity.)

Starbucks Busted For Secret Fee

If you buy less than 1lb of beans, check the cost!

 

If you have been buying your coffee at Starbucks loose by the pound, and you buy less than a pound, you may have been getting hit with a secret fee! 
 
A Massachusetts consumer agency began an investigation last August. They found that Starbucks was adding $1.50 to orders of less than a pound of coffee beans. The fee itself isn't the problem - the problem was what Massachusetts deemed "deceptive practices." Starbucks didn't post any information about the fee, Starbucks employees did not mention the fee to customers, and the fee was not itemized on a customer's receipts. It was just silently tacked on to the order such that "For example, beans listed at $11.95 per pound ended up costing $7.45 for a half-pound - not $5.98, or 50 percent of the price."