Starbucks Banks on New Hardware

Get ready for homemade lattes

(NEWSER) - Starbucks is expanding its venture into your home. First it offered instant coffee, then it launched K-cups of brewed coffee that work with Green Mountain Coffee's single-serving Keurig machines. Now the coffee chain is taking it up a notch: It's readying a single-serve espresso machine, enabling the chain's classiest coffee drinkers to make their own lattes and other espresso drinks at home, the AP reports. The Verismo machine goes on sale this fall. More»

Tea-drinkers will get strongest Starbucks drinks in the world

(NEWSER) - Get ready to get your buzz on, Britain. Starbucks is planning to double espresso shots in all its lattes and cappuccinos served in the UK. The move has been brewing since customer requests for extra shots started skyrocketing two years ago, say company officials. The new shots boosting caffeine and flavor in the Starbucks drinks will be free of charge, and the deal won't be offered anywhere else in the world. More»

(NEWSER) - Just as Starbucks is scaling back its European expansion, McDonald's plans to open hundreds of new outlets offering high-end coffees and pastries on the continent, reports the Financial Times. “We can become the biggest seller of coffee in Europe,” boasted McDonald's chief financial officer. The company plans to launch 1200 new McCafés by the end of the year. The coffee shops operate inside or next to conventional McDonald's restaurants. More»

Loyalty card, new machines headline plans to jolt coffee giant

(NEWSER) - A customer-loyalty card, a new website and upgraded brewing machines highlighted changes in store at Starbucks, the Wall Street Journal reports, with CEO Howard Schultz using today's annual meeting to re-focus the firm on quality of customer experience. The card will offer rewards for regulars at the coffee giant, which aims for a social-networking flavor with its new internet presence. More»

Rival coffee chains target customers as Starbucks takes training break

(NEWSER) - Starbucks customers and competition alike got to know each other yesterday as the java giant closed for a 3-hour training break for all employee, reports the AP. "Free-market economy, baby! You've got to take advantage of what the competition throws at you," said one former Starbucks devotee swilling a competitor's discounted joe. More»