Green Mountain Coffee is in a pot of trouble. And that's even before Starbucks introduces Verismo, its own single-serve brewing system for consumers that's rolling out in October (and already available on Verismo.com), to challenge the iconic K-Cup system by Green Mountain that features its Keurig pods. 

The brand has been a darling of consumers for several years, on a continued growth tear as K-Cups led a revolution in how Americans consume much of their coffee by making the single-serve system de rigeur in homes and offices. The company fed strong double-digit sales growth by continuing to proliferate the types of pods, to include "iced" drinks and juices as well as coffees and teas.

Green Mountain also had been a darling of investors seeking to cash in on a boom that, for the six years after the Vermont-based company acquired Keurig, managed to thrive without attracting the competitive interest of Starbucks.Continue reading...

You know summer's over in North America when Starbucks starts hyping (watch below) its Pumpkin Spice Latte — which it wants fans to associate with the return of fall and call "PSL" — and and its related menu of pumpkin pastries. A second annual Facebook challenge brought the seasonal beverage to Leavenworth, WA, ahead of its national rollout today.

And for the first time, this year Pumpkin Spice Latte will be offered beyond North America. Starting in October, according to a blog post, the beverage will be available at Starbucks stores in the UK, Ireland, France, Austria and Switzerland. Its VIA line of instant flavored coffees is also adding, er, PSL to its lineup.Continue reading...

Will Starbucks customers give a cold shoulder to the company's new iline of green coffee Refreshers drinks? Hopefully they'll get a better reception than the VIA instant beverage mix that was panned when it launched in 2010, and which resurfaces with a new twist here.

The fruit-flavored iced coffee beverages, produced with unroasted green arabica beans, are rolling out in the U.S. and Canada on July 10th, with a global rollout to follow.

According to the Huffington Post, "The drink line will be offered in three formats: handcrafted (made by baristas), ready to drink and VIA. VIA is Starbucks' newest drink format, brought to market three years ago, and is best described as a microground product that dissolves when emptied into water."

The Refreshers sub-brand page states that all three are made with green coffee extract as their base for a "boost of natural energy" and are made with either "real fruit" or "real fruit juice":Continue reading...

Starbucks likes to present itself as a company that’s a leader in making decisions that take environmental concerns into consideration. So it must have been a bummer in the boardroom when they figured out that they couldn’t meet one eco-goal that it was aiming for.

The plan had been to have 25 percent of all of its drinks served in reusable cups such as mugs and tumblers by 2015, offering customers a 10-cent discount for bringing their own coffee cup or tumbler.  The Seattle Times hears that number has been downsized that goal to just five percent.

It's dismaying news for eco-conscious consumers and sustainability watchdogs, especially coming from a a company that holds an annual "Cup Summit" that invites "industry leaders (to) discuss innovative ways to make cups and food packaging more recyclable."Continue reading...

If there's one thing America needs more of, it's CAFFEINE IN THE MORNING!!!! OR ANY TIME!! At least, that's the thinking at Starbucks and Krispy Kreme, two brands that have just upped their investments in beverage caffeination. Starbucks plans to launch its first line of energy drinks, called Refreshers, while Krispy Kreme executives said they plan to triple the volume of coffee they sell along with the brand's delicious doughnuts.

U.S. sales of energy drinks increased by more than 14 percent last year, according to a new report by Beverage Marketing Corp., making it the most-growing volume segment in the American beverage business. What was No. 2? Ready-to-drink coffee, up more than 9 percent. Beverage sales as a whole edged up less than 1 percent last year.Continue reading...

Energy drinks aren’t just boosting people’s bodies to push on to new heights. They are also seriously boosting the bottom line for plenty of companies. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Monster, Red Bull, and Rockstar all enjoyed "double-digit increases" last year.

So if you’re already a beverage company, it seems like a no-brainer to get into the energy drink space, right? That’s apparently the thinking at Starbucks, whose drinks already have a generally uplifting effect on consumers. As USA Today puts it, the coffee giant is entering “the $8 billion energy drink category” in April with “a new line of ‘natural’ energy drinks, Starbucks Refreshers” that according to the press release will be sold not just at Starbucks locations, but at groceries and convenience stores.

The Refreshers ready-to-drink line is based on “fruity, carbonated drink that's high in antioxidants” and use “unroasted, green coffee extract for the energy boost,” but won’t have any coffee taste, the paper reports. Flavors include raspberry pomegranate, orange melon and strawberry lemonade.Continue reading...

All you people drinking coffee in India should keep track of your cups. Drink enough of the stuff and you might earn yourself a free flight.

Indian Express reports that the country's top airline, Jet Airways, and #1 coffee chain, Barista Lavazza, have partnered up on a new loyalty program, JetPrivilege, that allows members to earn air miles from coffee purchase. For every 100 rupees spent, members earn five miles.

"Opportunities to engage with premium brands are of huge value to us,” said Jet chief commercial officer Sudheer Raghavan. “It means we can go above and beyond guest expectations, providing them with a number of value-added services. Given Jet's extensive route network and the high propensity of its guests to travel, it is a natural partner for a brand like Barista."

Barista has more than 160 cafes in India and also has locations in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. "Partnering with Jet is part of the larger strategy that Barista wishes to follow with an aim to ensuring customer delight," Barista Lavazza chief operating officer Nilanjan Bhattacharya added. Now bring on the caffeine and start racking up miles!

Talk about vertical integration! Starbucks is taking the concept to new heights — er, depths — with its announcement of the imminent introduction of its own machine to make single cups of coffee.

The product, named Verismo, will be launched soon and sold at some Starbucks stores as well as specialty retail locations right away and then more heavily marketed and sold in the fall. The machine was developed with Krueger, a German-based company, and it "combines Starbucks signature Espresso Roast and drink recipes with precise Swiss engineering and a patent-pending high pressure extraction capability," Starbucks said in a press release.

The move is yet another bid by Starbucks to broaden and deepen its franchise over the last couple of years. The company also today, in Amsterdam, was scheduled to open its first "concept shop" laboratory meant to imbue its retail outlets with more "local flavor." Inspired by concept stores in its hometown of Seattle, the new Amsterdam store features in-house-baked cookies, for instance, and will test other ideas. It's housed in an old bank vault in the city's historic Rembrandt square.Continue reading...