Saw this Starbucks Advertisement in The Sun on Thursday, 22nd January 2009.

How to Prepare Great Coffee

Starbucks mentioned 4 points apart from the espresso machine:-
– Proportion
– Grind
– Water
– Freshness

Mind you, these tips does make a lots of sense.
I agree with almost everything they say (except their 18 – 23 seconds from extracting espresso).

I’m just surprise that they actually mention:
1. Coffee should be ground just before brewing
2. Fresh coffee = Less than one week old.

I wondered when have Starbucks ever practice these 2 important criteria in preparing great coffee.

I have been to a Starbucks just as they open in the early morning and their grinders were half filled with ground coffee which must be at least 8 hours old.

And I seriously doubt they even have any beans that is even anywhere less than 3 months old.