I missed the free cup of Starbucks’ new Pike Place Roast this morning but grabbed a cup after lunch today. Some quick observations…

• Schultz described this blend as not having bitter edges. I disagree. While it’s definitely a departure from the typical Starbucks blend, it’s still very bold with a hint of the legendary Starbucks burn. In other words, it’s not SBC’s Breakfast Blend (and we can be thankful for that) but Schultz’s definition of bitter is probably different than the typical coffee drinker’s definition.
• Schultz also described it as “slightly sweet.” I definitely agree. There’s a sweetness to this blend that you can actually smell and that lingers as the primary aftertaste. This is not a bad thing.
• The caffeine buzz is surprisingly smooth. With drip coffee, and specifically with previous Starbucks’ blends, the caffeine “upload” ranges from kind of harsh to feels-like-I’m-being-electrocuted.  Not so with Pike Place Roast.
• The baristas were very excited today. They made sure to inform me that the coffee was roasted locally at a plant in Kent and the beans came from Latin America (Starbucks is refusing to identify exactly where). It was nice to see the baristas back in the game, as it were, after a long purgatory of pushing buttons and up-selling pastries.

In summary, this is clearly a step in the right direction for Starbucks. As much as I dislike what they’ve become, I very much want them to turn it around and succeed. The only way they can do that is to prove to people that their number 1 priority is the quality of their coffee.