Dear Starbucks,
Update #1: Yea! Starbucks (somewhat) came to their senses and brought back Iced Green Tea. My wife is happy to have her favorite, everyday Starbucks beverage back. I’m still waiting for a Iced Guava White or Black Tea to return.
For some reason all the drinks I’ve loved and ordered over the years have ended up being discontinued. Like seeing a great deal at CostCo that you hold off on pulling the trigger. When you finally decide you want that CostCo deal, the item is gone. Or after you find, buy & enjoy a new food item a few times, they stop carrying it. That’s CostCo and there’s probably a future letter to the ‘Dead Letter Office’ addressed to them as well. For some reason, I expect this to happen more at CostCo because of their unique & seasonal buying practices.
Starbucks is more like McDonald’s. You can walk into a McDonald’s in Japan or Starbucks in Barcelona and order your favorite food or drinks. Although some institutions like KFC in Japan or Burger King in India have a culturally-adapted menu. You have expectations that most US-based companies will provide travelers with a taste of home. Like TGIF in downtown Yokohama serving burgers, fries, Diet Coke and unsweetened ice-tea – Thanks TGIF!
But I’ve hit an exasperated point where Starbucks has discontinued one too many of my favorites. Of course their coffee is always a great drink, a Venti Iced Latte or Grande Hot Latte still being available.
But the Latte Macchiato was discontinued several months after I discovered the delicious, stronger latte experience. They still serve a Caramel Macchiato that I can order without caramel but its not the same & more expensive.
My next discontinued favorite was the Guava White Iced Tea. It was my go-to drink when I didn’t want a coffee. I’ve tried the Refreshers but they are too sweet so this tea drink was a perfect thirst quencher in either tea-only or a tea+lemonade form.
Next I switched to the Guava Black Iced Tea or Guava Black Iced Tea w/ Lemonade – a decent replacement for the white iced tea but now that’s discontinued.
The Passion Tango, Passionfruit and Peach teas are not viable substitutes for me.
Lastly, the reason I’ve always thought I should have stock in Starbucks. My wife’s favorite Green Iced Tea – a Trenta Green Iced Tea Unsweetened was attached to every order for as long as I’ve been going to Starbucks – is now gone, discontinued. She’s broken-hearted and has no reason to leave a little earlier so she can pick one up on the way.
So Starbucks, it’s been a great run but I’ll be relying on my Nespresso machine for my Iced Lattes ($1.00-$1.20/drink). My wife will order ChinaMist and Tazo Green Tea from Amazon (<$0.50/drink) and brew her own teas. We’ll miss the convenience of the Starbucks Mobile App & drive-thru ordering when on the road. But we will not miss the scavenger hunt of finding the last Starbucks serving our favorite discontinued drink.
We’ll keep an eye out for the return of our favorites and perhaps even try some of the new drinks when out & about. But if your marketing team is trying to adapt the menu selections to draw new consumers. Remember Classic Coke and your long-time regulars like us that want their “usuals”. There should be room on the menu for both new and “classic” drinks.