Memoirs of Beijing

To celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival (端午节) on June 6, Starbucks won’t be paddling any rivers but will be peddling triangular sticky rice traditionally eaten during this festival.  Pre-orders already started for these sticky rice and Starbucks will be selling them in a green felt basket for RMB 98.  Each basket will contain 12 sticky rice weighing 60g each.  The sticky rice comes in four flavors: coffee, mango, green tea with red bean and mocha chocolate.  I probably should order two baskets to bring home as presents to my relatives and friends.

More Starbucks Via Merchandise

You got mail!  Since Starbucks stores in China do not have the same type of promotion for each region, I have to search the internet for items which interests me.  In the eastern region of China, Starbucks stores gave away Starbucks Via mobile phone straps for every RMB 88 purchases with any Starbucks Via items. 

In northern China stores, customers who purchased RMB 50 in a single receipt with any Starbucks Via items will stand a chance to win either 1 sachet of Starbucks Via coffee, 3-pack sachet of Starbucks Via coffee or a Starbucks Via tumbler.  The northern China stores already ended their promo last 30 April 2011 but I can’t confirm the eastern China stores.

In any case, I’m happy with the Starbucks merchandise I got in the mail today.

Mark your calendars as new merchandise will be released on April 6, 2011.  According to the friendly baristas, the Starbucks Via will be officially launched in China.  A pack of 3 will go for RMB 25.  I’m hoping that they will giveaway free samples so that I can taste them.  I bought some last year as presents for my staff from my trip to Japan and they didn’t really love it.  Hopefully the new merchandise will include the Via bearista and the discount card.  (Bring them back!  I’m not a fan of the Starbucks rewards card.  There’s no life after 50 stars!).  If not the bearista and the card, I hope they’ll release the new mugs and tumblers with the new icons.

When the new logo was unveiled on March 8, 2011, only four stores around the world has this logo as their store signage.  The four are located in Paris, New York, London and Beijing.  After church today, I went for a sunny walk towards Starbucks Solana which has the new logo of Starbucks as its signage.  It would have been great if it’s located in the store window but it wasn’t meant to be.  They’re using the old logo on the paper cups as they ran out of stocks.  Twas nice while it lasted.  I hope they release some more soon.  According to the baristas, they won’t be replacing the mugs which they use to serve dine-in customers till next year.

To all my female readers, Happy International Women’s Day!  If you’re working in China, you get half-day off.  Go out and shop as there are lots of sales for women shoppers.

Not only is it women’s day today but also Starbucks’ 40th birthday.  Starbucks @ 40 meant a different logo for the company.  They removed the words “Starbucks Coffee” from the logo and featured prominently the Siren. 

Starbucks Coffee Blend

To celebrate it’s 40 years in the business, Starbucks released their Tribute coffee.  The coffee is a blend of four Starbucks’ highest quality coffee beans – Aged Sumatra, Papua New Guinea, Sun dried Ethiopia and Colombia. 

It has a bold flavor with spicy and full bodied, with berry and dark cherry taste.  In Beijing, they offered free taste of this coffee from 10am to 2pm today.  I missed it but would probably ask for a free taste in the future. 

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I’m late!  This was supposed to come out last 15 February.  However, due to amount of work for the past two weeks, I didn’t get enough time to write this blog.  Moreover, I still didn’t get any EDM from my favorite baristas.  In any case, here’s the latest from China for this year’s Spring edition.

Bearista

The 100th edition bearista bear is out!  If you’re a collector, this would be a good collector’s item.  This pretty bear is dressed in a pink kimono top with ruffled skirt and pink flower on the ear.  There’s no male counterpart and is considered as the 2011 Sakura bear.  It sells so fast, that I had to post my experience on how I hunted this bear.  This bear retails at RMB 128.

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I really hate renewing my visa around the time of Chinese New Year as my passport is stuck with the public security bureau for a stretch of time.  This year, I’m out of luck as they won’t release my passport until the day after the Chinese New Year holidays.  That means, I cannot travel by plane nor check-in in a hotel. 

As I was bemoaning about my predicament, my colleague took pity on me and asked if she could travel with me.  After contemplating on where to go which will only involve train travel, we decide to head to Shandong province for some sea and mountain air.

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A new year means new Starbucks merchandise to celebrate Chinese New Year which falls on February 3 and Valentines Day.  Have a look on what’s new in Starbucks China as they celebrate “A Cup of Prosperity” to coincide the Year of the Rabbit.

Bearista

This year’s CNY bearista is dressed as a rabbit with the Chinese character of rabbit as a scroll.  I believe this is the male bearista. 

The Valentines bearista is definitely the female bearista.  She’s dressed in a pink coat, chequered skirt, rose headdress and a red mink hand warmer.

Both bearistas are sold @ RMB 128 each.  The Valentines bearista sells faster than the CNY bearista.

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I’m back!  I missed the autumn edition.  I was planning to write one but was feeling lazy.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to post continuously from now on.  Well.. not daily but hopefully every other day or at least every Tuesday and Thursday.

In any case, Christmas is around the corner and the Starbucks theme is “Share a cup, share a story”.  Of course, there will be new merchandise, coffee, and pastry for sale. 

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Just a quick blurb about Starbucks Beijing.  As part of their efforts to help conserve Mother Earth,  Starbucks will be offering free 12 oz coffee to their customers who bring their own Starbucks Tumblers on April 15, 2010.  For people who want to have more than a coffee, refer to my post regarding money saving tip for Starbucks.

Enjoy your free cup of coffee!

My sisters came to visit me in Beijing but since they took the budget flight to Shanghai, I had to pick them up there.  As usual, I have to stop by a Starbucks shop to purchase for my favorite collectors.  There are several Starbucks in Shanghai notably in famous tourist spots like Xintiandi, Yuyuan and Nanjing Road.  They still don’t have a store at the new Terminal 2 airport of Shanghai Pudong.

Unlike Beijing tumblers, Shanghai have box sets perfect for gifts.  I was lucky enough to purchase a Shanghai box set and a Zhejiang box set.  Each box set costs RMB 388 (Ouch!).   What I like about it is, some of the tumbler designs are transparent and can only be purchased in a set.  The Shanghai box set is composed of Shanghai, Xintiandi and Yuyuan.  The Zhejiang box set is composed of Ningbo, Shaoxing and Hangzhou.  Check out the pictures of these sets.

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My friend went back to Hangzhou during her birthday and told my avid Starbucks tumbler collector cousin about it.  She said she wanted the box set which consists of Hangzhou, Ningbo and Shaoxing.  She thought it was supposed to be one tumbler with all 3 names but I told her it was one tumbler each for Hangzhou, Ningbo and Shaoxing.  So, she ordered it from her friend and asked her to courier it over to Beijing.  When I received it, it was 3 tumblers of Hangzhou which my cousin has already.  So.. I’m putting it up for sale for the first 3 people who wanted it.  The cost of each tumbler is RMB 100 each.  It might cost more than the retail but they had to courier it to me from Hangzhou.

Photo Credit: Gold Tan