On Tuesday, I walked into Starbucks and was greeted by the likeness of the Oprah Winfrey.
Only the Oprah isn’t partnering with Starbucks for coffee, instead the Oprah has her own chai tea line with Starbucks’ Teavana. You can get the Oprah chai tea at Starbucks in either a hot or iced form.
Different sets are available for purchase to take the Oprah home with you.
Go ahead and infuse some rooibos to steep your soul.
While I haven’t yet tasted the Oprah Chai, I will because Oprah.
That was fast! The Starbucks neighboring Macy’s Ala Moana has undergone a renovation and is ready for business. Looking at pictures taken by fellow caffeine addict, @yoda808, the renovation primarily appears to be cosmetic, but then again, the location wasn’t closed for that long, and it still is a tiny space so what can you really do? Not clearly discernible from the pictures is the lack of indoor seating. No longer do tables line the inside of the glass walls.
Structurally, things look the same although the drink pickup counter is nearer the middle, no longer at the end by the water pipe. Also, the pickup counter is flanked on each side by espresso machines (sadly not Clovers).
I can’t recall if the original layout had two espresso makers. If there were, the two machines were side by side, crowding the baristas. This new layout potentially provides a balanced piston action to fire out customer drinks. Hopefully this means shorter wait times in this popular pit stop.
Starbucks in Ala Moana is back at full strength with two locales at Hawaii’s largest shopping mall.
Now about the aesthetic redesign, here’s one opinion of the old but new look…
Now Starbucks is just playing with caffeine addicts like you and me. Go from two busy locations in Ala Moana to a single, always-slammed spot. But hey, look, a new kiosk graces the Center Court area, and it, too, is busy.
So Starbucks balance has returned to Ala Moana. But not so fast! What’s this?! The minuscule, always-crowded, Macys-in-store location is now closed.
Or is that really a Home Depot storage spot?
Above pictures courtesy of @yoda808.
What are you doing to us Starbucks??? Just can’t win.
Today is March 27, 2014 and should mark the opening of the Starbucks kiosk at Ala Moana. But these are pictures from @yoda808 from yesterday, 3-26-2014.
After hearing about the future Starbucks kiosk at Ala Moana near Centre Court, I had to take a peek. This is the view from above on the third floor.
The kiosk is on the main floor of Ala Moana, technically level two. It’s not exactly where Aroma Caffe was, more towards Nordstrom, but it is huge for a “kiosk.” I’m guessing there will be outdoor seating but coverage from the sunlight would be needed. There may be some seating under the roofed area but can’t really tell yet as construction is on-going. And that nice black, shiny roof will be covered in bird poop soon enough.
I gotta say though, I love how Starbucks goes head-to-head with other coffee purveyors. Diagonally above this spot is the longtime Honolulu Coffee Company kiosk. If you’re seated in their outdoor seats, you have a clear view of this Starbucks. Coffee competition will get fierce starting on opening day of March 27.
If you have any pics of the progress, be sure to tweet them out using the hashtag #sbux327.
Fellow caffeine addict, Yoda808, spotted this sign at the Macy’s Starbucks location in Ala Moana (yes, that crowded one). A new Starbucks kiosk opening on March 27.
There was mention of another Starbucks in Ala Moana near centre court, but if you looked in the area, you saw no visible signs of its arrival. There was the construction of Aloha Gelato that I thought could be a Starbucks, but it actually was Aloha Gelato.
So in 10 days, a new Starbucks will have risen. Keep an eye out!
I guess it makes sense to make this dash easy. The chance to win a year’s of Starbucks will probably draw in many contestants.
Remember back in the day when joining the Starbucks Gold program got you a black membership card? Then in 2009, the Gold program was revamped as the Starbucks Rewards program and with it came a new gold card. There’s even a newer, sparkly gold card, but if you’re like me, you kinda miss that simple black look. Or maybe gold is just played out with iPhones, Pop Tarts, and more.
If you’re yearning for some simplicity, Starbucks now has a special edition card that’s mostly black. The iconic mermaid is there providing some visual contrast.
I don’t know how long these will be available, but for now, Starbucks black is back.
Walked into my favorite Starbucks this morning and was greeted by this interesting sign accented by the sunlight. Hmmm, a Vanilla Macchiato now joins caramel and hazelnut. I had to try it, and yes, it is good, similar but different from the other two. I ordered my VM (not virtual machine for you techies) non-fat, stirred, hot, and short.
I didn’t take the lid off before taking a sip, so I don’t know what a fresh VM looks like. Flavor-wise, the depth of the vanilla hits you right away. For me, the Caramel Macchiato is sweet then the aftertaste follows with the richness of caramel. The Hazelnut Macchiato is more mild with the hazelnut undertones, and I prefer substituting a few pumps of vanilla for mocha to waken this drink up. But the Vanilla Macchiato is more balanced from beginning to end. Flavorfully deep with a matching level of sweetness. The new drink for spring? Yes, indeed.
Just where will the new Starbucks location at Ala Moana be? The Sears location closed along with Sears, and the Macy’s location is usually slammed, so some relief is in order. According to the Ala Moana online map, there’s a Starbucks location on mall level 2 near center court.
But if you’ve happened to be in this area (the former location of Aroma Caffe), you know there’s absolutely nothing going on. But interestingly, on level 3 diagonally, there is work being done.
The same online map states that this is the home of Aloha Gelato. It very well could be, but this structure kinda has a Starbucks vibe to it. And Starbucks has the cash to completely reconstruct a space if needed, and it also has the moxie to go head to head with other coffee vendors (the Honolulu Coffee Company stand is directly across).
This has to be a trick question or a problem to solve. What time does the Starbucks inside of Windward Mall open? The store locator site shows this.
So if I go on a Monday morning at 7:45am while waiting for a car battery change at the Sears Auto Center, it should be no problem right? Don’t fall for the obvious answer. The mall doors don’t open until 8am. Cut through IHOP you resourcefully say? Sorry, IHOP locks their interior doors and tells customers they can’t let people through until 8am. Supposedly, you could enter the mall through a service entrance if you know where they are, but still, should it be this hard to get to an establishment open for business?
Did I mention that the Starbucks location at Windward City is now powered by Google Wifi? My last check in December 2013 confirmed wireless connectivity provided by attwifi. But during a recent visit to finish my hardcore dash of 2014, I saw the Google Wifi network show up.
Additionally, the small Starbucks inside of Windward Mall is also Google connected. Oddly, the third and seemingly busiest Starbucks location in Kaneohe, the one with the first 24-hour drive thru in Hawaii, is still not Google-fied. Here’s a SpeedTest comparison of Google Wifi versus attwifi.
The top two lines are from the Kaneohe drive thru location while the bottom line is from the Windward Mall location. Two out of three ain’t bad I guess.