Next Thursday, March 15th, plan on stopping by your local Starbucks between 10am and 12 noon. During that time, Starbucks will be holding is 2nd annual Coffee Break. All company-operated and licensed Starbucks stores in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Greater China will be giving away free Tall (12-ounce) cups of coffee to anyone who drops by. Starbucks Coffee Masters clad in black aprons will be present during each of the coffee breaks to kick off the company's spring brewing sale and to answer any questions you might have about the coffee or coffee brewing. Last year, many stores used the coffee break period to sample some of their pastries out to customers waiting in line, as well.
For the location of the nearest Starbucks, you can look at their website or text your zip code to "MYSBUX" (697289) for a return of the three nearest stores.
Update: Apparently, the Starbucks stores outside of the US and Canada will not necessarily be participating on March 15th; some will be hosting their coffee breaks on different days. You might want to check before heading over!

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3-05-2007 @10:57AM calamari said... Interesting. Sbux has been trying to develop a better reputation for its actual, unadulterated coffee, moving into single-source coffees...
...and they're engaged in a dust-up with their Ethiopian sources over regional trademarks. The Ethiopians have learned from the French and want control of their own regional appellations.
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3-05-2007 @1:17PM Crystal said... Does this include decaf? I've given up caffiene to see if it would help me sleep better...long story short, switching to decaf gives me a good night's sleep (meaning I'm less cranky through the day :D ).
Also, does this include the Starbucks in Chapters'? I don't wanna show up and have them think I'm a freak for wanting free coffee, lol
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3-05-2007 @2:13PM calamari said... The odds are against the outlets at Chapters being included. According to Starbucks' Web site, the Starbucks that are *in* something -- airports, colleges, grocery stores -- are usually licensed to a concession operator rather than company-owned. (I was curious about whether it'd be a good day to drop by the local university, but no.)
http://www.starbucks.com/customer/faq_qanda.asp?name=businessopps
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3-05-2007 @2:14PM calamari said... No, wait -- the blurb says LICENSED stores are included, too.
So you're likely to be in luck with Chapters, and I need to work on the ol' reading comprehension skills.
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3-05-2007 @7:31PM elbertc said... Interesting. I'm from the Philippines and I've been seeing little posters of Coffee Break in Starbucks stores. Never bothered to read them, so I never knew what it was about. Now I do. Thanks for the heads up.
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3-06-2007 @7:57AM drmike said... I wish they had something about this on their website to verify. I'm not doubting you but just remember when we went through all this with the free coupons a few months back.
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3-07-2007 @8:21PM matt said... Does "Greater China" apply to Hong Kong, do you think?
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3-08-2007 @1:04AM mochafreak said... I would personally love to see this coffee break event happen in Taiwan. If China has this privilege, why excluding the island. There are a lot more starbucks fans in Taiwan!
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3-08-2007 @3:58PM Howard said... I love that there is a breast feeding ad on the same page. "Care for some creme in your free coffee?"
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3-09-2007 @7:04AM Jasper Jugan said... wow
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3-14-2007 @6:24AM The Boxman said... Yeah now homeless people can stop panhandling me for a change for a cup of coffe for one day.
www.street-people.com
The online home for the homeless without the urine smell
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3-13-2007 @9:51AM Anne said... Don't forget you can always just *call* your local store and ask if they're participating. I just did and he said "Yes!"
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3-14-2007 @10:51PM Cindy said... Sbux is cheating while releasing the above info. I just came back from a nearby coffee shop for the free cup and was told that they did not offer anything free! I hate Sbux! Decide never to attend again!
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3-15-2007 @4:54AM Marcin Szczepanski said... I went into my local Starbucks today (Neutral Bay, Sydney, Australia), and the guy said it's not on here today. However he got a printout email from the back and told me that it was on 3rd May in Australia.
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3-15-2007 @7:22PM TV__STALKER said... Yeah....they are free....I see tons of people in my office with them in hand.........too bad none of their coffee's appeal to me........
I wish Tim's had something like this.....but then that would probably bring the cost of a cup of coffee to $5 or something dumb......oooopppppssssss sorry...starbucks people pay that all the time...LOL
Enjoy,
TV__STALKER
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