Topic: Is Starbucks trying to woo Tim’s regulars by going blonde?

[GAP]

Is Starbucks trying to woo Tim’s regulars by going blonde?
adriana barton Globe and Mail Blog  Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Article Link
 
Starbucks is out to gobble up even more market share by targeting coffee lovers who don’t care for its signature burnt taste.

The java giant is betting that would-be customers will prefer “blondes.” Starbucks’s new “Blonde” roast promises to be “lighter, mellower and more subtle” – and remarkably similar to the brew favoured by Tim Hortons fans, Macleans reports.

In an online video, two of Starbucks “master roasters” describe the lighter blend thus: “It kind of dances on your tongue in a different way than any other Starbucks coffee,” and “it’s for the person who always wished that Starbucks had a roast like this.”

That “person” is the Tim Hortons regular who starts each day with a double-double, argues Macleans columnist Jessica Allen.

And with a milder (read: insipid) roast on offer, Starbucks will finally have the seniors market covered. In a Starbucks blog post about the new roast, the company’s global coffee category manager acknowledges that her own dad “typically finds some of our coffees a little too dark for his tastes.”

Quick-serve coffee is black gold. Each year, Canadians buy 1.5 billion cups of the murky stuff, making it the nation’s most popular beverage, The Globe and Mail reported.
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[George Wallace]

Nah!...Starbucks is going "Healthy".   Lighter roasted coffee beans are healthier than Dark roasted.  They are just trying to keep up their "healthier yuppie" image.

[Bzzliteyr]

And... cue a media complaint by brunettes and gingers feeling all left out....

[PMedMoe]

Maybe not the gingers so much as there is a cinnamon roast coffee.  Google "blonde roast coffee" and most of the results are for Starbucks which makes me wonder if they are getting this specially roasted for their stores.

As far as trying to "steal" customers, Tim's started it when they introduced their espresso-based drinks.

Besides, stealing customers from Tim's shouldn't be too hard.   

Love this comment at the G&M:

I can never order a blonde at Starbucks. I like their strong coffees in comparison to other chains.

Tim Horton is for wimps.

[Journeyman]

Currently, the best 'drive-through' coffee is McD's

[Colin P]

Starbucks needs to offer better food at better prices if it wants to compete with tim's

[jollyjacktar]

Starbucks needs to offer better food at better prices if it wants to compete with tim's

They are starting with beer and wine and pananni sandwiches in selected places down south.

[uptheglens]

Starbucks needs to offer better food at better prices if it wants to compete with tim's

Yeah, $6 for a coffee that looks and tastes like Bunker C fuel is not what I'm looking for.

[jollyjacktar]

Yeah, $6 for a coffee that looks and tastes like Bunker C fuel is not what I'm looking for.

It must be a taste the cousins down south appreciate.  I found that the Green Beans coffee in KAF tasted very similar to Starbucks.  Not to my liking though.

[ballz]

Currently, the best 'drive-through' coffee is McD's

It is, but they don't have the crack-cocaine cream that Tim's offers. I drink my coffee black, but I go to Tim's a lot and always get a 1 & 1. Their actual coffee, without the cream, is generic and ordinary at the best, but the cream is definitely as good a drug as any.

[CDN Aviator]

Yeah, $6 for a coffee that looks and tastes like Bunker C fuel is not what I'm looking for.

I would rather pay $5.48 for a 20 oz late at Starbucks than get that machine crap that McD or Timmies sells. Regular coffe at Timmes tastes like it was filtered through the kidney's of a deseased dog.........

[Robert0288]

I can get ~14 coffees for your one Starbucks or 4 from timmies.  The tassimo machine in the cubical next to me is a god send :p

[CDN Aviator]

I can get ~14 coffees for your one Starbucks or 4 from timmies.

I know. I just can't drink Timmies crap....it is priced low for a reason.

The tassimo machine in the cubical next to me is a god send :p

I have tried several varieties and just haven't found one i like yet.

[GAP]

My son Matt has had a Tasimo, now he has an expresso machines....I don't care for any of the varieties either....Timmies is OK, McD is so-so, Starbucks wouldn't go near based on price alone.

[jollyjacktar]

We have a Krug in a nearby cubicle here.  For this machine they sell a reusable filter thing that you can put your own favorite blend of coffee into.  One advantage over the Tassimo in that respect.  At any rate, its better coffee than Tim's or McD etc with either option.  Better price too.

[PMedMoe]

A Krug?  Do you mean a Keurig?  I have one of those (both at home and in TO).  I've never used the filter yet, but I have found several flavours/brands of coffee that I like.  The darker the better.

Green Mountain Dark Magic, Folger's Midnight Magic, Emeril's Big Easy Bold are some examples.

[Bzzliteyr]

A Krug?  Do you mean a Keurig?  I have one of those (both at home and in TO).  I've never used the filter yet, but I have found several flavours/brands of coffee that I like.  The darker the better.

Green Mountain Dark Magic, Folger's Midnight Magic, Emeril's Big Easy Bold are some examples.

No blondes?

[Pieman]

I'm convinced that a Timmies double double has the same consistency & sweetness as warm baby formula or breast milk. (I have not tested this theory out mind you)

Only reason I can think of why people are so attracted so such less than mediocre coffee.

[PMedMoe]

No blondes?

Nah.  Too mild.  Actually, I don't think there is blonde roast coffee outside of Starbucks.

Edit to add:  Just found Jet Fuel Extra Bold online.  I could use that right now.

[Strike]

Tried the Timmies latte the other day and it was just like their coffee - weak. I'm loving my Keurig and it's nice that someone down the hall from me has one so I just bring in my own k-cups. But I still like my Starbucks non-fat latte first thing in the morning.

[jollyjacktar]

A Krug?  Do you mean a Keurig?  I have one of those (both at home and in TO).  I've never used the filter yet, but I have found several flavours/brands of coffee that I like.  The darker the better.

Green Mountain Dark Magic, Folger's Midnight Magic, Emeril's Big Easy Bold are some examples.

Yes, sorry that's the correct spelling.  You see, it's not my machine...    I did originally purchase some K cups from Sobeys.  They were Sobeys brand, and have Folgers Black Silk for the coffee.  I really like it and will try that  blend in the reusable filter as I see Sobeys also carries it as grounds.

[uptheglens]

I would rather pay $5.48 for a 20 oz late at Starbucks than get that machine crap that McD or Timmies sells. Regular coffe at Timmes tastes like it was filtered through the kidney's of a deseased dog.........

Sorry, but Edmund Blackadder was anticipating Starbucks during the Regency, and already had them pinged.

"A cup of your best hot water with brown grit in it -- unless, of course,  by some miracle, your coffee shop has started selling coffee."

[Redeye]

Nah!...Starbucks is going "Healthy".   Lighter roasted coffee beans are healthier than Dark roasted.  They are just trying to keep up their "healthier yuppie" image.

Healthier? In what sense? Lighter roasted beans carry a heavier wallop of caffeine, the "unhealthy" component in coffee to many people.

As for the K-Cup discussion - my staff and I headed over to Kabul sent a machine and a massive supply of coffee over in our UAB. We heard the coffee there sucks, so we're prepared.

[Robert0288]

The only unhealthy thing in coffee is all the cream and sugar people dump into perfectly good coffee and screw it up.

[Lance Wiebe]

I drink my coffee black, with no sugar. Timmy's coffee has little flavour; I only drink it if nothing else is available and I need a coffee. As a matter of fact, I don't know many people that drink black coffee that like Tim's.  The very best Keurig coffee I have ever had was Green Mountain Dark magic. Now THAT'S coffee!