Henry's Blend vs No. 4? Seriously?

Apparently, the executives running Seattle's Best Coffee (SBC) have lost their minds. Or maybe Starbuck's, who purchased the company a few years ago, has finally decided to kill their acquisition by gutting SBC of it's history and sophistication. In a move that reminds many of us of the formula change disaster that was "New Coke" or the recent Tropicana OJ repackaging disaster, SBC has dropped their roast and blend names and changed their actual blends! They've repackaged their once great coffee in bags that look either numbingly bland or something that kindergartners would be attracted to (hmm, maybe children are their new target consumers?). Now they are marketing their coffee in bags of ugly, light colors like flashy orange and teal blue which have one HUGE number plastered on them - SBC's new 1-5 leveling system replacing roast or blend names. It's as if SBC executives think that actually remembering the name of a roast (say French or Italian) or a blend (like Henry's or Breakfast) is too much for coffee drinkers. Really? Do they honestly think we're that stupid? Coffee drinkers have been getting "more sophisticated not less" in this country as specialty coffee cafes and roasters have popped up in every city, village, and hamlet across this great land.

What is this really all about? Why change a great product with hundreds of thousands of loyal customers? My suspicions are two-fold. First, the clown executives now in charge of SBC have no appreciation for coffee or SBC's tradition and so feel they can soil it without losing any sleep. My second suspicion has to do with Walmart's which is one of the first places they debuted this new name/level branding of their coffee. Maybe they think that the average Walmart's customer is so stupid and uneducated that they can't understand phrases like Italian roast but maybe, just maybe, remembering the number 2 is possible. Though honestly, do you want to walk around Walmart's shouting, "hey honey, I'm going to get a bag of no. 2 is that okay?" Most of us know what going "no. 1" or "no. 2" means in bathroom-speak so you make the inference. But seriously, I'm thinking these SBC clowns are betting that for every one loyal, sophisticated customer they lose over this fiasco (and believe me, they will lose many as gourmet coffee choices abound in today's market), that they'll replace them with 2 or 3 Walmart's shoppers. Though frankly, unless they decide to sell their coffee in big tin or plastic drums of 3-5 pounds at wholesale prices, I doubt the average Walmart's customer is going to switch to their product.

So unless the clown executives at Seattle's Best Coffee reverse course (like Coca-Cola did during the New Coke fiasco), then I say farewell to Henry's Blend and the once great tradition (since 1970!) that was Seattle's Best Coffee. RIP SBC.