Starbucks Brews Up Changes

Next, Starbucks baristas will regularly grind beans to fill the cafés with the aroma of coffee and they'll also make fresh pots every 30 minutes. Gone are the breakfast sandwiches that, when heated, often overpowered the smell of coffee.

Starbucks will also install a new espresso machine called the Mastrena in every store by 2010. The Mastrena has a lower profile so baristas and consumers can see each other and connect during the espresso-making process.

To bring back some of the theater in brewing coffee, Starbucks also bought a small coffee manufacturer that developed a machine called the Clover, a sort of automated French press. A barista scoops out a precise amount of roasted beans, grinds them and puts them in the machine to make a single brewed cup of coffee.

"I'm more energized and excited about the future than I have been about the past," said Schultz reflecting on his goal to reclaim the past as the company rolls out future innovations.

Economic Worries

Those steps to reinvigorate the Starbucks' experience come, however, at a tough time for consumers as a whole.

Nationwide, depending on who is asked, the economy has either sunk into a recession or teeters on the edge of one. In either case, consumers are spending less. Retail sales in February fell 0.6 percent compared to January.

Schultz knows the timing is tough for Starbucks.

"We have a head wind now the likes of which we haven't seen in some time, and the consumer is in a recession," he said. "It's harder now to be relevant and important in the lives of the consumer. We have to earn that right and we have to earn their respect."

Part of the coffee chain's strategy is the focus on brewed coffee. It sells for less than $2, below the average price for espresso-based drinks.

In addition, for the first time, Starbucks will offer a loyalty card to its customers to bring them into the stores. Customers can receive free syrup flavors in their espresso drinks, free coffee refills and free coffee with the purchase of beans.