Free Starbucks Pike Place Roast on Tuesday April 8th

Want a free cup of coffee tomorrow?

Just roll into your local Starbucks at 12est / 9pst for a free serving of Starbuck's new Pike Place Roast - a smooth drip coffee that is being 'launched' tomorrow. That said, several of the San Francisco Starbucks have been serving Pike Place for the last few days (you might also notice the new cups which have a brown Pike Place logo rather than the traditional green Starbucks emblem).

I've had a couple cups so far and it is quite good - decently strong, but not bitter. And supposedly this blend is a response to the critique that Starbuck's coffees tend to taste overly bitter. I still prefer Sumatra, but Pike Place beats many of the regularly offered drips. From the official press release:

Smooth, Welcoming Taste

This blend was created using input from Starbucks customers and represents our 37 years of coffee roasting experience, knowledge and passion. Taking the wide range of customer preferences as a guide, this everyday brew is a unique blend featuring Starbucks signature bold flavor with a smoother finish balanced by soft acidity and subtle, rich flavors of cocoa and toasted nuts. Fresh, Hand-Scooped

The Pike Place Roast™ coffee beans will be hand-scooped, freshly ground, and freshly brewed and served, giving the coffee a consistent, pure taste. To further ensure customers enjoy the freshest, high-quality cup of brewed coffee, stores also will brew smaller batches with a hold time of no more than 30 minutes. Licensed stores in the U.S., as well as Starbucks locations outside the U.S., will also transition to a 30-minute hold time over the coming months.

“Our partners (employees) are excited about bringing back the coffeehouse atmosphere,” said Schultz. “They really like the physical act of scooping and grinding the beans — they like staying close to the coffee. They’ve told us that it makes them feel more in touch with our Company’s core values. And they like that they can offer their loyal customers such an amazingly fresh cup of coffee.”

YouTube RickRolls April Fools In

In general, I don't understand why April Fools jokes on the internet have begun on March 31st - but apparently that's now standard. I also struggle with April Fools internet 'jokes' because they are mostly just made up stories (easy to do - though cleverness is clearly difficult) - but that's what makes YouTubes 'prank' so great: they actively made a product change and, in doing so, poked fun at themselves. YouTube RickRoll'd their users and their videos - linking all their featured videos to that classic 80s music video.

It's debatable who's career was resurrected more by web 2.0: Chuck Norris or Rick Astley.

If you don't know what a RickRoll is, here is a great example. Yesterday's #1 story on Digg was titled "Lala (Tiki Bar) Showers Video", raked in nearly 7,000 diggs and linked to this video:

Flick'Rolled:

Some guy RickRolling his class:

Happier Days on Wall Street (And How to Celebrate April 15th)

I've gotten too many emails in the last 72 hours from friends saying that the markets have caused havoc their New York / Chicago lives... Then Amazon sent me a merchandising email that reminded me that "Greed is Good" and that Wall Street is available on Blu-Ray. One of my favorite films. Another one of my favorite movies comes out April 15th and I will certainly be 'celebrating' tax day with Arnold Scwharzenegger and Carl Weathers on Blu-Ray (Rumors also suggest that Conan comes out on the 15th as well).

The $700mm 3D Movie Conversion… Hollywood’s Scared of your Living Room

If you haven’t seen U2-3D movie yet – do yourself a favor and hurry to the local Imax. Not only was it superb, it is now the future of the movie industry (which I am very excited about).

Yesterday at the ShoWest conference in Las Vegas, news broke that a deal has been reached with major studios to equip more than 10,000 theater screens with 3-D digital technology. Disney, 20th Century, Paramount and NBC Universal will finance the effort and it is expected to cost around $700mm.

Very exciting as a consumer.

The most interesting part though is that the move suggests that the studios are increasingly afraid of our living rooms. As high end TVs have become more advanced, movies downloads have become rampant, and services like Netflix have made movie-watching ultra-convenient, Hollywood is clearly trying to produce a product that can’t be replicated by consumers. DreamWorks executive Jeffery Katzenberg said as much,

“Now is our chance to deliver something that is far superior than anything that can be done at home.”

Food Thoughts – San Francisco’s Waterbar, Peet’s, Top Chef and more

Flying Alaska Airlines today for the first time and have thus far been unimpressed… as far as ‘cheap’ airlines go, I am very loyal to Jet Blue. After twittering about this probably being my last Alaska flight, I got some very funny responses.

Steeleydaniel: @berecruited what’s wrong? They taxi the plane by dogsled?

Anyhow, here a few quick food thoughts:

1. Terminal 2 at SFO has Peet’s Coffee. I ordered a drip and reaffirmed how much I dislike Peet’s coffees. I think their espresso drinks are better than Starbucks – but their drip coffees aren’t flavorful. I get a lot of criticism for saying so, but its hard to find chain coffee that beats Starbucks. Sure, some of their blends are bad (ie Kimono Dragon – terrible), but they rotate the roasts daily and several are terrific (my favorite is Sumatra).

2. Going to Seattle for the first time - which is embarrassing since Russell has lived there for four years (my long-time friend and beRecruited partner). Every time I have planned to visit him, business drives us elsewhere (usually Bay Area or Vegas)… Just my luck, Russell won’t be in Seattle as he is in Atlanta for beRecruited business!

3. Interested to see if the Starbucks in Seattle is really better than the one’s outside of Washington. I hear they are.

4. Top Chef starts tonight… I will set my DVR accordingly. 4 contestants are Bay Area chefs. Great show.

5. Interesting article in the Mercury News about Whole Foods now air-chilling their fresh chicken rather than with water (a Bay Area test that is now moving national). Just last week I was raving about how superior their chicken is compared to other grocers. I suppose this is why.

6. Randi was in town for the last few days and we ate like kings. Our favorite restaurant was The Waterbar (the new seafood place on Embarcadero and beside the Bay Bridge). Spectacular views, amazing food, great wait staff – and everything came out instantly. This is my new favorite SF restaurant – and if you like seafood, do yourself a favor and make a reservation. Amazing. Also enjoyed Blowfish Sushi (better than the Santana Row location).

Mark Cuban Chimes in on Jason Calacanis's Start Up Rules

Great blog dialog this weekend that started when Jascon Calacanis wrote his rules for running a start up. Mark Cuban then chimed in and I love his commentary - particularly his advice about only hiring people who are passionate and love the company.

But this was my favorite part of Cuban's post as it references one of my favorite movies: Glengarry Glen Ross. Coffee is for closers is one of the great lines ever. I will forgive Mark though for spelling espresso incorrectly!

"6. An expresso machine? Are you kidding me ? Shoot yourself before you spend money on an expresso machine. Coffee is for closers. Sodas are free. Lunch is a chance to get out of the office and talk. There are 24 hours in a day, and if people like their jobs, they will find ways to use as much of it as possible to do their jobs."

Always be closing!