My money on the release of its everyday Pike Place Roast. I feel confident in this prediction because Starbucks’ Howard Schultz put a memo out to company partners (employees) today detailing plans for the release of the new coffee next week:

“Next week we will experience one of the most significant moments in the history of our company. After much anticipation, we will introduce our new coffee, Pike Place Roast, which we will serve everyday in our U.S. company-operated stores. In my opinion and that of several others who have tasted this incredible coffee, Pike Place Roast is truly one of the best coffees we have offered our customers in our 37-year history and it will reinvent brewed coffee. It is so good that when we discussed names, it felt only right that it should be named after our home in Pike Place Market. We would never have considered naming the coffee after Pike Place unless it achieved all of our expectations in the cup…and it did that and more. And the original logo acknowledges our pride in our past and embraces our heritage as the world’s leading purveyor of specialty coffee.”

That seems to pretty well spell it out, but we’ll see.

Contributors to How To Do Things have posted a Caffeine Resource Guide linking to articles they’ve written on the subject. The focus in particular is on coffee .  They answer questions like how to reuse coffee grounds, give or get a coffee enema and how to endure caffeine withdrawal.

Personally, I think I’ll pass on the enema one…

So sit back, monitor your RSS feeds and watch soon for my first entry in this new Percolating Portland column here at A Nice Cuppa.

Starbucks hasn???t said much about the deal, but a corporate representative did tell The Oregonian, which is based in Portland, Oregon where Coffee People was first started before being acquired by Diedrich Coffee in 1999, that they would ???operate the acquired locations — under its own name within a couple months — even in areas???where it has nearby locations.???

There???s also a story about the sale in the Los Angeles Times, which is located in Southern California not too far from the Irvine-based Diedrich???s headquarters. While the Diedrich and Coffee People names will be going away it looks like, ???Diedrich will continue to franchise and supply coffeehouses under its Gloria Jean’s and Diedrich Coffee brands???.

• The first ever Starbucks location in Seattle???s Pike Place Market is the only location where Starbucks??? Pike Place Blend can be purchased. For a limited time, it will be available in U.S. and Canada locations in addition to Starbucks #1. The Pike Place Blend is described as a combination of single-origin Latin American coffees which together offer ???smooth complexity and a touch of roast intensity???.
• With fall almost in the air, Starbucks is returning to the seasonal fold two self-described crowd favorites: Anniversary Blend coffee and Pumpkin Spice Latte.
• Starbucks is going podcasting, unveiling Coffee Conversations as a four episode podcast launching on September 5. ???Celebrating the art, science and culture of coffee???, Coffee Conversations will be hosted by Starbucks employees who chat with special guests to share ideas and information on topics such as home-brewing methods, specialty coffee, entertaining, Fair Trade certified coffee and pairing coffee with different foods.
• Baristas at various Starbucks locations will be holding ???Coffee Exploration??? seminars during September to ???reveal the essentials of finding, roasting and blending the finest cup of coffee; identifying distinctive flavors and aromas; the Four Fundamentals of brewing; “Geography is a Flavor;” and the taste characteristics of great coffee.???

The first of the two new Frappuccino drinks, which both consist of Tazo Tea and fruit juice, is the Pomegranate Frappuccino juice blend. Starbucks describes this drink as a ???lively mix of pomegranate, peach and hint of mint blended with ice” which contains ???as many anti-oxidants as an equivalent amount of orange juice, and it provides 40 percent of an adult???s daily vitamin C requirement.???

The other Frappuccino beverage is the new Tangerine Frappuccino juice blend, which its maker says is ???a tangy blend of freshly-brewed Tazo Passion tea, tangerine, a splash of lime flavor and a touch of hibiscus blended with ice.??? Like the Pomegranate drink, the Tangerine also contains some healthy stuff, including being ???packed with fiber??? and providing ???50 percent of an adult???s daily requirement of vitamin C???.

Rounding out Starbucks??? summer offerings is the new Iced Caf?? con Leche, which is described as ???the classic Latin summer cooler, made with Starbucks Terraza Blend coffee, a classic syrup and touch of whole milk???.

Belgian Blends, when it hits store shelves beginning July 31, will consist of what looks to be three flavors ??? Dark Chocolate Mocha, Milk Chocolate Mocha and French Vanilla Latte. It will be available in ???stylish??? 9.5 fl. oz. glass bottles in both singles and four packs.

And what does the Web have to say about Belgian Blends? Here are some items to read up on. Provided my taste buds have fully recovered from the Coca-Cola Blak review I did back in April, I???ll do the Belgian Blends taste test as well.

• Godiva Belgian Blends Press Release
• Coca-Cola Belgian Blends Press Kit
• Atlanta Business Chronicle Belgian Blends Article
• Slashfood Blog Belgian Blends Post

So, how does Coca-Cola Blak look, taste and all that stuff? A short search in my local Safeway turned up a lonely looking case in the front of the store which had the Coca-Cola Blak label on the side and a few dozen eight ounce bottles on ice. I grabbed two bottles to bring home and throw in my refrigerator over night so they could chill for a taste test. I wondered though - would anyone know this was a new drink in this store based on the way the product was displayed?

The bottle: As you can see from the picture below, Coke took the course of putting their latest drink into an eight ounce glass bottle, which looks to be a play on the original bottle design many of us still love and miss (unless of course you hit a Mexican grocer and find the glass bottles imported from our neighbor to the south or happen to stumble across Coke’s limited run of eight ounce glass bottles in your local market).

The labeling on Coca-Cola Blak (as does its Flash heavy marketing Web site) looks to convey a drink which is cool and sexy. It is alas, not etched in like the labeling of old, but instead a tightly adhesived paper. Pulling back this paper reveals the naked Coke bottle in all its glory (minus the plastic bottle cap), with liquid inside which looks no different then any other Coke product.

The pour: A twist of the Coca-Cola Blak lid gives a slight popping/fizzing sound, much like its brethren. The carbonation rise is slightly less however, though one does get that slight puff of fizz which looks like steam rising. An initial sniff of the liquid contents gives off a somewhat sweet odor ??? like that of caramel. Also vaguely present is a hint of coffee. As the drink is poured into the test glass, it produces that soda froth we are all so accustomed to, nearly at the same quick rate of rise which normally overfills a glass if one pours too eagerly.

The taste: With the Coca-Cola Blak now in the glass, what do the taste buds say as it goes down the throat? Yum! A nice initial taste ??? reminiscent a little of iced coffee. Somewhat muted however, meaning that it???s not an explosive coffee blast in your mouth (if you like that). Strangely enough, it feels slightly heavier than normal Coke in my mouth as I swish and swallow. I do notice afterwards a little bit of an aftertaste ??? a touch of bitterness (coffee like one could say) lingers in my mouth.


The verdict: Coca-Cola Blak ??? what can I say about you? You teased me during the Red Carpet pre-show at the 78th Annual Academy Awards. Your name spoke to me of something exotic. And after I tasted you I came away not rushing back to the store to fill my shelves. You are a curiosity to me ??? a foreign taste tied to a name I???ve long associated with something else. Your essence in my mouth leaves me wanting in one moment and waning in the next. Are you love at first sight? Alas, no. I shall stick with my Stumptown Coffee and Mexican Coke chaser instead.

See what others around the Internet had to say about Coca-Cola Blak:

• Apartment Therapy: Video Review Coca Cola Blak
• South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Coke, coffee or Blak?
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Lots of research, no guarantees for Coke’s Blak
• Houston Chronicle: Coffee/cola fusion drink creates a buzz
• Consumer Reports: Taste test: Coke BlaK

As detailed on its dedicated site BloggersFuel.com, six blends currently make up the Bloggers Blends line up. Notes from their Web site indicate the following about each coffee:

• Bloggers Boot Up Blend ??? A medium blend of African, Central and South American coffees.
• Bloggers Pajama Passion ??? An exotic flavored coffee featuring vanilla, Kahlua and caramel.
• Late Night Log In ??? A bold, dark roasted blend of South African and Island coffees.
• Bloggers Beach Blast ??? A tantalizing combination of chocolate and caramel.
• New Media Mavericks ??? A medium roast from the prized Tarrazu region of Costa Rica.
• Blogs of Bravery ??? A blend of South American dark and medium roasts.

As a kick off to their recent launch and a way to conduct some vital marketing via the blogosphere, Boca Java is offering the first five hundred bloggers who sign up at BloggersFuel.com a complimentary “Bloggers Coffee Review Kit” that includes six eight ounce bags of coffee, one of each of the Bloggers Blends, as well as a bloggersfuel.com coffee mug and a bloggersfuel.com hat. This is on top of being entered into a contest to win free coffee for a year. Blogger reviews will be posted on the BloggersFuel site.

Also ongoing is a contest to determine the next Bloggers Blend. Entries, due by April 21, will be reviewed by the Boca Java roaster and his team. The finalists will then be posted for public voting. The winner will get a free year of coffee and have his or her name appear on the new Bloggers Blend label.

For those unfamiliar with Boca Java, they describe themselves as a company who fresh roasts to order over 20 signature roasts, estate coffees and flavored blends, available in regular or decaf. They are based in Boca Raton, Florida and have been around since 2002. Their coffee has been featured on the NBC Today Show and in several news publications.

Boca Java founder Bruce Frcek is maintaining a blog about the launch and growth of Bloggers Blends for those interested in an inside view.