The brand-new Roy Street Coffee & Tea, open since November, is a unique prototype for a café concept from Starbucks. In addition to the typical coffee and espresso drinks under the Starbucks brand, now beer and wine are being poured as well. Yes, that's right: You can now upgrade from a Venti Mocha to a Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel or Silver Cap Brut. Many Washington and Oregon wines are on the wine list too. Specialty beers, ranging from Chimay Blue to Snoqualmie Wildcat IPA, are available as well. All to be sipped while listening visiting musicians or watching the monthly film series.

It's a move to bring Starbucks up a notch as they struggle to take the lead over other coffee chains like Peet's Coffee & Tea, Dunkin Donuts, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and even McDonald's, where the line for a cup of joe is only getting longer -- and the competition steeper.

Roy Street Coffee & Tea appears to be much like the experimental restaurants Starbucks launched in the San Francisco Bay Area during 1999, called Circadia. The eateries only lasted a short while but during their peak were much like "Central Perk" on the television show "Friends." Singing songwriters performed acoustically; patrons could order salads or sandwiches or pasta dishes; beer and wine were served, and the Starbucks coffee drinks were there as well.

Coffee and tea cuppings each day (at 2 p.m.) at Roy Street strive to dole out a little education to customers who can also elect to drink their coffee from a more sophisticated brewing system, such as the Clover, manual pour-over, Synesso or French press.

But one of the more truly exciting changes is Starbucks' commitment to being green at Roy Street: low-flow toilets and faucets; LED lamps; and low- or no-VOC paints, finishes and adhesives. Insulation inside the walls is a combination of post-consumer recycled glass and rapidly renewable materials.

Upcycling is part of it too. Most of the furnishings were bought from local vintage and antique stores instead of big-box wholesalers (the pieces get a bit of reupholstering with fabric acquired from worn-out pieces at other Starbucks locations). The front doors were salvaged. Slate from a local high school, combined with steel from a local shipyard, is now the bar. And instead of ordering a bunch of track lights, Starbucks worked with local artists to create custom light fixtures, or rewired others found in salvage shops.

Starbucks expands mobile payment service to all US stores

Starbucks expanded its mobile payments program to more than 7,500 of its US stores on Wednesday, following a successful pilot program in 1,000 company-owed stores plus all of its Target in-store locations. The offering allows customers to use their smart phones to show a barcode that is linked to their Starbucks Card accounts without carrying the actual card.

The coffee retailer initially began offering the app last year as a method to check card balances, reload the card, and check previous transactions. A pilot program for the mobile payments system was later launched in all Target stores as well as select locations in New York, Seattle, and across northern California.

Starbucks' app would also allow for reloading of the card and viewing past purchase history. Once the card is used, the balance is automatically updated on the card's home screen. Company-owned stories will be the first to support the mobile app, which is currently only available for iOS and Blackberry. Blackberry 8800 series, Bold, Curve, Storm, Storm2, and Tour devices are supported.

An Android version of the app is still in development, the company said. The functionality should be available immediately to customers.

"Today, one in five Starbucks transactions is made using a Starbucks Card and mobile payment will extend the way our customers experience and use their Starbucks Card," Starbucks Card and brand loyalty chief Brady Brewer said in a statement.

Users can download the app for free from either the App Store or Starbucks' website. While a card can not be purchased through it directly, customers can pick up a physical card from any of Starbucks' locations.

'Dumb Starbucks' Shop Appears in L.A.'s Los Feliz



The Los Feliz coffee scene has a new attention-getting entrant, though all bets are off on how long it sticks around.

Dumb Starbucks Coffee, which parodies the design of a coffee giant chain store, appeared out of seemingly nowhere over the weekend as a pop-up store in a nondescript Hillhurst Ave. location.

All of the coffee, brewed by two baristas, is free (tips appreciated). They also have pastries (apparently purchased from Vons) that are also free for the taking for now. Alongside a non-functioning cash register, CD's like "Dumb Nora Jones Duets" [sic] and "Dumb Jazz Standards" are stocked.

And there is a reasonably long line -- dozens of people -- waiting for a novelty brew on Sunday.

Perhaps due to its impeccably rendered versions of the shop sign, menu and coffee cup design, the store has drawn attention on social media. Community showrunner Dan Harmon and The Office comedian Rainn Wilson happened to boost the profile of the shop by sharing links to Dumb Starbucks images.

One barista told The Hollywood Reporter that he was hired two weeks ago when he found the posting on Craigslist. "Our boss wasn't prepared for all this, that's why we're short staffed," he said. There wasn't any word yet on who's behind the parody pop-up store.

There were only a few tables inside of Dumb Starbucks and patrons who were served didn't seem to stick around too long. But there was a working espresso machine (but no working steam wand) and a drip coffee maker.

In a Frequently Asked Questions page seen in the shop, a few basic questions are addressed. The FAQ notes that, despite being a parody store, it also intends to be business-like.

"Although we are a fully functioning coffee shop, for legal reasons Dumb Starbucks needs to be categorized as a work of parody art. So, in the eyes of the law, our "coffee shop" is actually an art gallery and the "coffee" you're buying is actually the art. But that's for our lawyers to worry about. All you need to do is enjoy our delicious coffee!"

Starbucks coffee only briefly commented on the pop-up store. "We're aware and this isn't a Starbucks location and we're looking into it," Starbucks rep Megan Adams told THR.