As I understand it, doesn't Starbucks have pretty stringent guidelines on the water they use in their brewing process? I have a family member who worked for a resort that was opening a Starbucks branch there. She was telling me one day about how their Starbucks branch was better than a Target Starbucks that basically just brews Starbucks coffee. Part of the reason why was that water had to be filtered.

I've been a fan of Starbucks for a long time, I think they make great coffee. I've even had "fresh roasted" beans from a high-end grocery market and its just not as good. It's good to know Starbucks have date restrictions on their beans.