It also makes the iced coffee taste weird

Honestly the smell is foul. It’s even stronger than the kiwi

As much as I agree the pineapple is absolutely terrible because of the staining and the smell, I believe corporate doesn’t see this as an issue because it’s not *technically* supposed to be stored in cubes

I swear the entire corporate development team caught covid early on in 2020, and their taste and smell are messed up. The last two years have had some of the most disgusting new drinks ever.

Hehe, seeing "cubie" in the written flesh made my day.

On the day of launch I was a little nauseous and the smell of a pineapple refresher at 6am sent me over the edge. Upside is I got to go home early but I can’t stand that damn drink.

Wait why is it even coming into contact with cubes? It should be made/stored in pitchers. Pick some sacrificial pitchers and go for it

Our store has specific cubes, pitchers, and shakers for it

Bruh you can’t wear perfume because some people are allergic to it and when y’all wear it they get massive migraines. At work they can’t just walk away from you. You gotta be mindful.

wait what? no perfume? my co-worker literally comes in either overly smelling like she walked through the perfume department in Macy's or she took a bath in colone.

but agree, that darn pineapple thing stains the crap out of everything.

I remade a customer's iced coffee from another store today because it tasted like pineapple. We keep our PNR pitchers faaaaar away from our other pitchers after the first time someone used it for iced coffee.

We have a partner allergic to it 🤷🏼‍♀️ can’t touch anything that has touched or made contact with that refresher base or the inclusions.

If you have no choice other than to use cubes, maybe use masking tape/ sharpie to label that cube and only use it for the refresher base? Then it won’t be getting used for beans and such

we have pineapple only pitchers!

I’ve had so many customers stop ordering teas and iced coffees and ask for things to not be shaken because it sets in so deep that it fucked up everything.

Honestly at this point we stopped putting them in cubies and instead used designated pitches for the pineapple, and we cleaned out all of our pitchers with a shit ton of urnex

aaaand the pineapple drinks are so gross😭 not worth. they need to bring back very berry!!

We had to set aside a few pitchers to only be used for pineapple. People were complaining that the iced coffee tasted like pineapple.

i miss very berry everyday, pineapple is nowhere near the same😭

Make lemonade in the cubes to get stains and possibly smell out. The acidity eats it up. Use to do this for kiwi.

We have labeled pitchers just for pineapple - because it’s soo powerful

Pineapple literally has 2 different multi-purpose proteases in it—which means it will break down most proteins it comes in contact with. Not a smart move by upper management not providing special separate containers for it cause now all the containers that it comes in contact with are going to be messed up

We don’t use cubes for backups so I haven’t run into this problem but that makes no sense. It probably ruins the coffee

I wear perfume idgaf

Don’t put the pineapple in the same containers as coffee. Use the p touch to label specific pitchers for pineapple

Okay! So despite the claims on being able to taste/smell fragrance, vs. coffee, I believe that -This- is the real reason against cologne and fragrances in Starbucks.

Asthmatics and other fragrance-sensitive people.

I am one. Asthmatic to be precise.

Asthma is a serious health condition! If you don’t think it is, then stop reading. You are wrong. You have to breathe to live. You can withstand not breathing for three minutes—and then you die or experience extreme brain damage, depending upon conditions. The key is when and why the lungs themselves stop working!

And, for asthmatics, some chemicals can make the lungs stope working.

For example, I personally cannot handle the ammonia present in off-the-shelf Windex! It isn’t uncommon! Go look! You’ll find that the glass cleaner in many companies is ammonia-free! The one at SBUX certainly is!

As far as the freshets go—let me tell you!! I can avoid a refresher by asking not to be on bar!

I can avoid a refresher by not smelling it! I can stop breathing for 60 seconds! (Asthmatics can often hold their breath! I am SO good at it! It is the difference between me and an ER or hospital visit! You BET that I am gonna try not to do that! In America?! With my insurance?! In THiS economy?!)

Asthmatics often Know what their tiggers ARE, but there is not an exhaustive list! We don’t know -ALL- of our triggers. You can find a new one out of the blue!

So, I cannot avoid 4-8 hours of you sweating a new trigger to the oldies! And sometimes you can be fine at first, but over time you become a life-threatening trigger! And you may not even smell bad—But, suddenly I can’t breathe!

The problem arises because there are so many varied ingredients in perfumes, lotions, conditioners, beauty products, etc.

And ANY OF THEM can be an asthma triggers! Even some of our cleaning SBUX products are triggers! I personally have to avoid our restroom cleaner! I know a whole store that cannot use Kay 5.

Many chemicals and beauty products that tigger asthmatics have strong smells—not all—but statistically MANY of them.

So if you are asked to stop using “strong fragrances,” it is likely that the cause is someone being allergic or reactive to your scent.

Let me be clear.

I avoid a person for as long as I can. I do not want to be the pain in the ass who “can’t breathe!” People in controlling positions don’t always believe it. See: recent history.

But, there comes a time where you have to weigh your job and your physical well-being against someone else “stinking pretty.”

I also worked in a pharmacy that made medication—I can tell you fragrances are often allergenic. They are rarely necessary. We usually aimed for the most neutral binders and liaisons!

This means the item you are using that is causing problems is most likely NOT necessary to your physical well-being. But, if that thing is included in another person’s environment, it can cause severe lung distress!

This means not breathing!
This means not smelling!
This usually means that this person will have to use additional medicine in order to simply EXIST in the same space with you, and they will most likely tax their lungs in an unhealthy manner!

Just so you can smell nice.

If the managerial staff takes you aside based on smell, I promise it isn’t that you necessarily smell bad, but that someone on your staff is having real problems.

Save it for dates and your days off. You may have to do some sleuthing because sometimes multiple fragrances combine.

Finally, I don’t want to work for an SBUX that thinks that you being attractive is worth more than my life and well-being.

Also, PPF smells weird, but we still have 2L pitchers that stink of green apple Jolly Rancher. They’re bad, but not as bad as some designer perfumes that make me huff the inhaler that makes me go home for three consecutive days while my lungs recover.

Do you want to smell pretty, or would you rather have a supportive team member? Your decision and eventual write-up!

We can’t wear perfume because it effects the palate. It interferes with one’s ability to taste and fully appreciate our product and has nothing to do with the porosity of coffee beans.