Coffeehouse
A Double Shot of Style
This summer is going to be an exciting one for Starbucks in London as we prepare to welcome the world for the Olympics and celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. With all eyes on the capital, we have been busy renovating some of our most popular London addresses to ensure that visitors and locals alike can enjoy Starbucks at its very best.
Last night we reopened our newly refurbished store on Vigo Street in the West End, the jewel in our London estate. In one of the most prominent and fashionable neighbourhoods in the city, it is our responsibility to show up beautifully, be well dressed, and to celebrate our coffee heritage. In between London’s Savile Row and bustling Regent Street, the store takes its place alongside the biggest and most beautiful luxury brands and has received high end design treatment, turning this gorgeous townhouse into our very own Starbucks ‘maison’.
Win Coffee for a Month with My Starbucks Rewards
To celebrate the launch of My Starbucks Rewards we are offering all new Starbucks Card holders the opportunity to win coffee for a month. All you have to do is register a Starbucks Card between January 5th and 31st and you’ll be automatically entered to our draw to win!
A Sneak Preview of our Exciting New Starbucks at Westfield Stratford
Millions of people heading to the London Olympics will be able to see one of Starbucks most ambitious ever new-look stores. It’s part of the Westfield Stratford shopping centre – the largest mall in Europe, which forms a gateway to the Olympic Park and opens on September 13. The store is the latest of the new Starbucks designs which is changing the appearance of our coffeehouses across the UK and Ireland, making them more comfortable and welcoming than ever.
Our designers take their inspiration from the surroundings of each store and at Stratford the massive regeneration of the area and the futuristic architecture gave them plenty to work with.
What’s in a store?
What’s in a Starbucks store? There’s so much more than you first might think, particularly from a store designer’s point of view.
Our stores, big and small, play host to countless interactionsbetween ordinary people living out their lives every single day of the week. The fantastic thing about Starbucks is that we don’t have a door policy - everyone is welcome in our stores allowing these real life moments to be played out over a coffee. And by that I mean it’s the stuff that we’ve all been through in our lives. It might be that first date, it could be that interview for a dream job, or it could be where you catch up with an old friend you haven’t seen for years. Relationships will break up in our stores and marriage proposals will happen, inspiration will be sought while gazing out our windows for emails, homework or book writingall in the name of time out. Think about it, so many of us have lived out key moments of our lives with a Starbucks coffee in our hands.
Coffee Ambassador on Tour
One of the great things about being the Starbucks UK & Ireland Coffee Ambassador is that I get to visit stores and meet partners (other Starbucks employees) across the country. This week I jetted off to Manchester and Leeds and met some of Starbucks very talented Baristas.
First stop was our new Barton Dock Drive Thru store outside the Trafford Centre in Manchester. Yes, we do have Drive Thru stores! There I met the store manager Mark and his team.
Rachel, the store Coffee Master put on an amazing coffee tasting session. The selection included freshly brewed coffee from Guatemala, Kenya and Sumatra and was accompanied with various nuts, fruits, cheeses and even cigar tobacco. Rachel chatted with her customers, demonstrating her coffee expertise by helping them discover which flavours and coffees they liked.
Missing the beautiful sights of Rwanda, already.
I am in the Entebbe, Uganda airport on our first stop of the journey back home. We miss Rwanda already. They were seven intense days that gave Starbucks the best Rwanda has to offer; coffee producers full of pride in what they do yet humble of what they accomplish. Looking not for help but for a valued business partner. I am very privileged to continue to be able to experience the best of human spirit and to live the results of what Starbucks can achieve; one cup, one bean, one connection at a time
We have no false illusions. We have been charged by our leaders and the farmers to work even harder to resolve issues related to financing, reducing cost of production, consistency of high quality sustainable coffee. The good news is this; we have learned a great number of lessons from farmers in other regions that will help us work together to come up with solutions.
A New Year, a Fresh Start
Happy New Year to you all. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are all well rested and energised for the months ahead. The days are now getting longer and the snowdrops will appear soon so you’ll know it’s not long until spring arrives!
At this time of year some of us like to reflect and think about fresh starts and here at Starbucks we’re doing the same! Our very popular Pike Place™ Roast is making a return to our stores but with a fresh start of its own! It is now Fairtrade certified!
Buying Fairtrade coffee is only one of many ways in which Starbucks is committed to helping coffee farmers around the world, it is still a really important matter to us and so to be able to add a new Fairtrade certified coffee to our range is fantastic.
A Fresh Start: Welcome from Laurence Winch our new Coffee Ambassador
Jambo! My name’s Laurence and I’m the new UK & Ireland Coffee Ambassador taking over from Alan Hartney.
I was a Starbucks store manager for 5 years and a coffee master for 4 of those. What got me into coffee was my very first coffee tasting on my very first day with the company. My training manager, Natalie, introduced me to Starbucks Espresso Roast brewed in a cafetiere. Doing that coffee tasting really opened my eyes to the world of coffee and I was instantly hooked and wanted to know more. And that’s how my coffee education began…
Ah, Paris
What a beautiful city. I just came back from a long weekend there, and I’m already planning my next trip. Lucky for me, it’s only a train ride away.
There is something magical about Paris. I can’t say what I love the most about the city. Is it the architecture? Perhaps it’s the beautiful sweeping vistas along the boulevards? I do love visiting the stores where the merchants elevate the display of their wares to an art form unrivalled by nearly anything in the Louvre. And whether I see the Eiffel Tower looming over the Champs de Mars or poking out from behind a building, I am still amazed by both its gracefulness and its strength.
There are few places in the world where food and wine are so celebrated. Even the simple, typical breakfast here – a baguette with jam and creamy, unsalted French butter – presents itself as a luxury when the ingredients are of such a high calibre. The butterfat content of the French butter is higher than many other places, and this makes it extra smooth and creamy. So a little goes a long way. And with a great cup of coffee, it’s a perfect way to start the day.
A Right Royal Occasion…
Grand opening of our new-look store in Scotland’s Royal Mile!
I felt so privileged and honoured to attend the launch of our redesigned store on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh last month. Led by Tim Pfeiffer, our global head of design, the team’s goal was to give the store a distinctly local feel, taking influence from classic Edinburgh tea rooms and coffee shops. The team used locally sourced and recycled materials where possible (including reclaimed vintage items from Edinburgh antique shops and salvage yards) and restored many of the original interior features of the building, including adding a library featuring great bookshelves that makes you just want to kick back and enjoy a good book with your coffee.
Categories
- Brand (2)
- Expand Coffee CategoryCoffee (51)
- Coffeehouse (10)
- Expand Community Service CategoryCommunity Service (1)
- Expand Menu CategoryMenu (8)
- Expand Responsibility CategoryResponsibility (16)
- Starbucks (38)
- What's New (7)
- Wi-Fi (2)
Change Region