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Starbucks Testing $2.50 Cup of Brew

Slumping company looks to both high-end and low-end products

By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 15, 2008 9:03 AM CST
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(Newser) – Struggling with its first major sales slump, Starbucks hopes to lure back customers with a $2.50 cup of luxury coffee. The company hopes to find a high-end niche among serious coffee aficionados with the new brew, made in an $11,000 gizmo similar to a French press, Bloomberg reports. The company already is experimenting with a $1 cup with free refills.

"If they can create a better-tasting product and if they can get people to pay more for it, then you'd have the missing ingredient, which is pricing power," said one analyst. The price is about a dollar more expensive than the current regular brew, but just less than the company's lattes.

J.J. Geise reads a paper as he treats himself to coffee and a baked good at a Starbucks coffee shop in Seattle in this Jan. 25, 2008 file photo. Starbucks Corp. is teaming up with AT&T Inc. and will start offering a mix of free and paid wireless Internet...
J.J. Geise reads a paper as he treats himself to coffee and a baked good at a Starbucks coffee shop in Seattle in this Jan. 25, 2008 file photo. Starbucks Corp. is teaming up with AT&T Inc. and will start...   (Associated Press)
An iced drink sits next to a laptop computer in use Monday, Feb. 11, 2008, at a Starbucks Corp. store near the University of Washington in Seattle. Starbucks and AT&T Inc. will start offering a mix of free and paid wireless Internet service in most of the international coffee retailer's...
An iced drink sits next to a laptop computer in use Monday, Feb. 11, 2008, at a Starbucks Corp. store near the University of Washington in Seattle. Starbucks and AT&T Inc. will start offering a mix of...   (Associated Press)
A woman sits at a table at a Starbucks store in downtown Seattle on Monday, Dec. 17, 2007. Starbucks reports its quarterly earnings after the market closes on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A woman sits at a table at a Starbucks store in downtown Seattle on Monday, Dec. 17, 2007. Starbucks reports its quarterly earnings after the market closes on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008. (AP Photo/David...   (Associated Press)
Customers wait for their orders at a Starbucks store in Seattle on Monday, Dec. 17, 2007. Starbucks reports its quarterly earnings after the market closes on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Customers wait for their orders at a Starbucks store in Seattle on Monday, Dec. 17, 2007. Starbucks reports its quarterly earnings after the market closes on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008. (AP Photo/David...   (Associated Press)
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Starbucks • McDonald's • coffee • Dunkin' Donuts • gourmet coffee • breakfast sandwiches • sales slump

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