Starbucks Pike Place Roast
First developed in 2008 to be the daily house blend offering for all Starbucks stores (not to be confused with House Blend) Pike Place Roast is a medium roast offering, featuring a pre roast blend of washed Latin American coffees. It is, in my opinion, a true medium roast, meaning it has a medium acidity, a medium body, and a very smooth drinkability. It is commonly referred to by baristas as "I guess Pike is fine" which is really underselling the true value of this coffee. I drank it every day while I was in core, or traditional, Starbucks stores, and I still drink it a few times a week when I'm not working. I love this coffee for the simplicity of flavor and the comfortable feeling. It is a house coffee. It is approachable for non black coffee drinkers, it can be "dressed up" however you like your brew. Cream and sugar, splenda and soy, honey, cinnamon, whatever strikes your fancy will go very well with this cup.
I start my first actual post with this coffee because it is the first coffee I ever had as a Starbucks barista, and it seems fitting that I start my new project the same way.
My love affair with coffee didn't start along the conventional lines. I wasn't raised in a coffee household. I wasn't raised in a very coffee friendly state, for that matter. I tried a few coffee drinks during my late teens, White Mochas and similar, but never found much value in the drink. Here is where I eat those words. I was bitten by the coffee bug late in 2008, not because of the actual coffee, but because of a single experience with a barista.
In September 2008, I gave birth to my son. I was 20, and had decided from the moment I found out I was pregnant that I would place my child for adoption. It was the most difficult experience I have ever had. By October, I was ready to end my life. I had my son for 3 days in the hospital, and then gave him to his new family. I wasn't regretting that decision. I have never regretted that decision since, but I felt like I had fulfilled my purpose on this earth, and I have had a life long struggle with my mental health. Those two factors put me in a very dark place. I was driving around a city near my hometown one night, probably around 7 or 8 at night, when I stopped at Starbucks. I had been in a few times, but was by no means a regular. I was driving aimlessly just waiting for my mind to calm down enough to actually follow through with my planned ending. I walked into the cafe, ready to order a cup of coffee, sit in my car and chain smoke, and then end it all. As soon as I walked up to the register, lost in the very twisted maze of my thoughts, I was greeted by the catalyst for change in my life. Her name is Shawna, and she quite literally saved my life. She was half way though giving me her "Hi, what can I get for you?" before she just stopped. She looked at me and said "Whats wrong?" I don't know why I actually paused. I should have given her my stock answer that I had given to that question a thousand times in my life. Living with chronic depression gives you a way of auto-responding to that question. "I'm fine, just tired" But I didn't. I don't know why, but I broke. The tears started. She told me to follow her outside, and we sat on the patio. I lost it. Everything I had been holding inside, all the self loathing, the depression, the all consuming sadness of what I had just experienced came tumbling out of me. She just listened. She didn't know me, and certainly didn't owe me a listening ear and an empathetic heart, but she gave me both. She shared life experiences with me, and was there with me in shared heartbreak and humanity. She gave me something that can never be taken away. She shared with me the pure humanity that exists between all of us, over a cup of coffee. As soon as I was all cried out, and found some level of peace in my heart, that tomorrow would come, and that I could keep fighting, I was hooked. I needed to be part of this experience. I needed to join this company. This brand that I had really never experienced had all of the sudden become my siren call. I NEEDED to join in their humanity. It saved my life, and I spend the next 10 months applying and interviewing and applying again to join their team. I finally got a job at the Orem Starbucks in July of 2009, and the rest is history.
This isn't a typical "Why I work at Starbucks" story. But it is a typical why I continue to work at Starbucks feeling. The sense of belong this company has brought me is something I've heard repeated over and over from hundreds of partners who I've come in contact with over the years. We belong to this coffee community. We come from all over the world, from every background and lifestyle. And we all belong. The family we have all found is irreplaceable. For some of us, it becomes a career, for others, a stop on the way to other paths, but we all belong.
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