Starbucks

In keeping with the tradition of reviewing the old year, as we begin a new one, I am offering a look back at some of the topics that have appeared in this space under my name. It is a chance for me to share with faithful readers what happened next. For a holiday column, I wrote about the efforts of a handful of Starbucks managers in the Annapolis area to collect coffee for the troops overseas. They asked their regular customers to buy a pound of beans and donate it, and the Starbucks employees, who receive a free bag of beans each week as part of their benefits, donated theirs.

BOGOTA, Colombia -- The ever-faithful mule is still by his side, the poncho neatly draped across his shoulder, the straw hat perched atop the serene, mustachioed visage. But this is a new Juan Valdez - younger, more vigorous, more eco-conscious - a Colombian coffee grower for the hyper-caffeinated era of double lattes, triple shots and gourmet blends. Venerable Juan Valdez, one of the most successful emblems of modern advertising, is getting a makeover. Whereas the old Juan would stroll into mom's kitchen and enjoy a cup of Folgers while gently plugging 100 percent cafe de Colombia, 21st-century Juan has his own line of beans that he brews at trendy coffeehouses.

In Baltimore, where the scarcity of Starbucks was elevated to the level of civic crisis just a few years ago, residents are now drowning in a frothy flood of gingerbread lattes and gasping for air under a mountain of cinnamon scones. The Seattle coffee giant has opened three stores in Baltimore in the past three months, the result of years of lobbying by the city and a recognition by Starbucks that Baltimoreans are as willing to pay $4 for a macchiato as anyone else. This, civic leaders say, is a good thing.

SEATTLE -- Starbucks launched its first national television advertising campaign yesterday to drive more people into U.S. stores, which saw a 1 percent falloff in traffic last summer. U.S. sales still rose 19 percent, partly because of a 9-cent price increase on coffee drinks, according to Starbucks Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings released Thursday. The first-ever traffic decline has executives worried, and they announced several broad initiatives: conducting a prime-time TV campaign between now and Christmas, having district managers spend more time in stores and cutting back on the variety of drinks they serve.

There's a basket in my favorite Annapolis Starbucks filled with an assortment of coffee beans from Colombia, Mexico and Guatemala, along with pound bags of bold flavors such as Caffe Verona and Sumatra. And they all have messages written on them in black marker. "God bless you." "Merry Christmas." And "Go Navy beat Army." The coffee beans have been purchased by Starbucks customers and donated, to be sent to American troops overseas. Just about every bag of beans carries a message of love and thanks.

A. Robert Kaufman is closer to getting a kidney, no thanks to how he's listed in the phone book. Baltimore's most steadfast Socialist, who's always running for something, including mayor this year, has never persuaded many citizens to give him their votes. But someone who saw him in the televised mayoral debate in August wants to give him a kidney. Kaufman has been in need of a kidney and on dialysis ever since a near-fatal beating and stabbing in 2005. He never misses a chance to make a public plea for an organ.

The concept is not so strange anymore. The same place where you can buy a cup of coffee, a pair of jeans or even undergarments is also where you can find the latest sounds by your favorite artists. It's music shopping made easy for those who have neither the time nor the interest to haunt out-of-the-way record shops or big boxes like Best Buy for new tunes. In recent years, several traditionally non-music companies - Gap, Victoria's Secret and Starbucks chief among them - have thrived in lifestyle music marketing.

ALFRED PEET, 87 Coffee shop owner Alfred Peet, a pioneer of American coffee culture, died Wednesday in Ashland, Ore. Mr. Peet opened the first of Peet's Coffee & Tea stores in 1966 in Berkeley, Calif. The corner store serving brews from high-altitude beans grown in Costa Rica, Guatemala and East Africa "quickly became a gathering place for UC Berkeley grads, undergrads and faculty, as well as local intellectuals, radicals, writers, musicians, artisans and any number of the colorful people who still make up Berkeley today," the company said.

The polar bears of Arctic Tale have gotten a chilly reception in movie theaters despite Starbucks Corp.'s serving up promotional materials in thousands of stores. The Paramount Classics documentary, co-financed by National Geographic Films, has failed to draw the crowds that flocked to other recent environmental movies such as Oscar-winners March of the Penguins and An Inconvenient Truth. Costing less than $5 million to produce, the film has grossed roughly $600,000 domestically since its release July 25. Although the coffee giant has broadened its reach as a cultural tastemaker through music and book sales, Arctic Tale is another example of the green mermaid's golden touch failing to transfer to movies.

BERLIN-- --Standing before the majestic Brandenburg Gate on cobblestoned Pariser Platz, where President Reagan gave his famous "Tear Down This Wall" speech at the former divide between East and West Berlin, the Reed family from Atlanta had lunch on their minds. Only they weren't thinking about what they would eat; they were searching for a restaurant that would sustain the family of five for more sightseeing without breaking the bank. With the value of the dollar at historical lows against the euro -- the euro is worth about $1.37 as of Friday -- the Reeds are some of the many American tourists feeling the price pinch while traveling across Europe this summer.