It was a Super Tuesday-like atmosphere for many Chicago -area Starbucks as the company launched its latest ticket into the world of coffee. A new roast spectrum (including two new brands and their decaf equivalents) was revealed today at Starbucks across the country.Starbucks debuted Blonde Roast and is touting it as a "mellow and approachable" roast.To those wondering if Starbucks really needs yet another roast, Paul Rahn, manager of the company's Chicago flagship store at Oak and Rush streets, says it's a smart move."We're listening to our customers," he said.What Starbucks heard were 54 million coffee drinkers (surveyed in the U.S. by Starbucks) who want a lighter roast coffee option. It's a big picture approach, a way for Starbucks to continue to lead in the industry, Rahn said. The company wants to reach the average coffee drinker, who doesn't want to be overwhelmed by a coffee that's perceived as burnt or dark roast."A coffee for the non-coffee drinker," said Rahn. Interestingly, Starbucks sees those "non-coffee drinkers" as a big segment of coffee consumers.The company is offering the lighter roast as a way to reach new and existing customers. "We aren't trying to get people to switch -- the roast is marketed to the lighter roast group (of coffee drinkers)."That's the marketing aspect. More important: How does it taste? There are two options for Blonde Roast coffee: Willow Blend and Veranda Blend. At the Oak and Rush streets tasting I attended, we had the Veranda. It had a mild, smooth and fruity taste (I would have preferred more coffee flavor).The taste developed further as we tried Veranda with food and compared it to Starbucks' Dark Roast (Italian) and Medium Roast (Pike Place, the last "new" permanent coffee Starbucks introduced to give its customers more options from the company's bold-tasting lineup).According to Rahn, who led our tasting, the taste is mellow and approachable. It's a coffee that could be consumed without cream or sugar, although everyone in our group, including Rahn, agreed we weren't ready to go there yet.If you like coffee on any scale, be it dark, medium or light, you should try the Blonde Roast. It's not one of Starbucks' best blends -- say like Kenya of old and today's Estima or even the classic old-school Gold Coast Blend. But it's yet another option for coffee drinkers, and, of course, a way for Starbucks to stay competitive.Rahn confirmed rumors that Starbucks is building a two-story store (across from Prada) that will serve beer, wine and liquor and feature the Clover Brewing system. Target opening date: this June. 

 It's Blonde day at Starbucks! Your thoughts on the new lighter roast? Are customers showing interest in it? Baristas: How many blonde jokes have you had to put up with? Tell all in this thread. 
 
 UPDATE: NO BLONDE JOKES, PLEASE! (This was posted in the comments, and backed up by others) 
 
 We were told at a Regional Rally there are absolutely no Blonde jokes to be told around the coffee what so ever. It will be a written offense if so. This came right from the RD's [Regional Director] mouth to about 100 SM's [Store Manager] so communicate back to our stores at our own meetings. It's like the time they told us we could not refer to Via as instant it must be called micro ground but then wrote instant on the packaging...great idea! 
 
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 * Starbucks' lighter Blonde roast debuts in U.S. 
 
 * They were taste-testing it at Chicago's flagship store
– Starbucks launched its new, mellower "Blonde" roast this week, and it doesn't want to hear any baristas sniggering about the name. "We were told at a regional rally there are absolutely no Blonde jokes to be told around the coffee whatsoever. It will be a written offense if so," a worker writes at Starbucks Gossip. Starbucks introduced the lighter roast after surveys found that an estimated 54 million Americans prefer a lighter roast than the chain's signature bold roast, the Chicago Tribune notes. The manager of Starbucks' flagship Chicago store describes the Blonde roast as "coffee for the non-coffee drinker." (Update from a Starbucks rep: "Starbucks has no policy or directive to penalize our partners for joking about our new Blonde Roast Coffee or any other product. We are also not aware of a company meeting discussing this false policy nor was a meeting to discuss such a topic ever scheduled.")