One day when I was in high school, I found myself staring down the very-wide-open sweater of a very pretty girl named Jane, when I realized that I couldn't be the only one to behold such an awesome sight. Sure enough, I turned around and saw the most amusingly contorted and dumbfounded faces looking right past me, with gazes locked tightly on Jane's bra and all that it beheld. Ever since then, I've been fascinated as much at people's reactions to interesting stimuli, than at the stimuli themselves... if not more so.So instead of a blog post about this week's big story, a blog post about the blog posts about the story.
The coffee-blogosphere's (and online discussion forum) response to this week's big news about Starbucks' acquisition of Coffee Equipment Company, the makes of the Clover 1s coffee brewer, has been really interesting. I've had a lot of stuff going on in my own life these past couple of weeks, much of it not very pleasant... so this story was a welcome diversion. So please excuse me if I come across as a bit full-of-myself here, but I've had a few random thoughts about this:
Starbucks and CoEqCo: we're talking about effing PEOPLE. Zander Nosler is a good guy, and a nice one. He is a flesh-and-blood human being. Howard Schultz is a man, who by all accounts, is a very smart and personable one. For coffee professionals to sit around and trash, insult, and otherwise besmirch these people for the pure joy of typing bullshit online flies in the face of everything that good coffee people stand for. Coffee, at least for me, is really about bringing people together. Act like it's bringing us together... and not just when it's easy.
"It's all about the coffee." I understand that the Clover brewer was marketed to help engage the customers in the varieties of coffee that she or he offered. However, to say "it's all about the coffee" is ridiculous. I've seen at least 100 cups of Clover-brewed coffee sold at coffeeshops, and at least 75-80% of the time, the transaction and service includes the word "Clover" in it, very often with a whole explanation about the machine and what it does. If shops with Clovers were truly "all about the coffee," then you wouldn't ever mention the brewer, other than to say all your coffees are brewed by-the-cup. The Clover is a great machine. It's okay to celebrate the machine as part of the process. "It's all about the coffee" is, in most cases that it's used, just a line.
There's been a healthy dose of backlash, particularly from folks who don't have Clovers in their shops. "Sell out" and other such insults have been lobbed. This is totally ridiculous. CoEqCo is no more "selling out" than you are when you charge money for coffee drinks. I hate to say this, but one of the most common problems with many baristas is that we seem to forget that this is an industry... a business. It's great that we're passionate, but passion without discipline (or in our case, professionalism), has as much real significance as a 12-year-old girl's hysteria over Zac Efron.
About the Clover itself: I've had my own thoughts about the brewer, which I've generally kept to myself. For me, the most compelling aspect of the brewer was always the "fresh-by-the-cup" attribute, and the fact that you could brew pretty much any coffee that you had this way. However, the thing that always bothered me about the Clover was just how touchy the brewer was. "Good cups" and "bad cups." Practiced stirring motions would determine success or failure of that particular cup. It's certainly nothing that good training and practice wouldn't be able to overcome, but it seemed like an almost arbitrarily elevated degree-of-difficulty, with its main value being saving 2-3 minutes of water-grind contact time. That said, a great Clover cup was a great cup any way you slice it!
Finally, one of the most interesting debates that I've come across in the industry involves the question of, "How would specialty coffee in the U.S. and around the world be different if NOT for Starbucks?" Personally, I think that Starbucks' impact is undeniable, and more significant than most admit, much less realize.
Similarly, I think that the Clover brewer's impact in the industry won't be felt for years, when we'll be peering around our manual-pour-brew-bars and syphon-bars and quick-service french press menus and asking ourselves, "How would high-end by-the-cup coffee service be different if NOT for Clover?"
There are more coffeebars out there who don't have Clovers, than who do. That said, Clover's biggest impact won't be the brewer itself, but the way that it inspired and challenged everyone without (and sometimes with) a Clover to capture what Clover does well... but in creative and alternative ways.
Cheers to Zander, Randy, and the whole CoEqCo crew. In the story of specialty coffee, your place in history is secure... and I can't wait to see what you guys come up with next!
Good thoughts. The only thing I disagree with is this statement: "Similarly, I think that the Clover brewer's impact in the industry won't be felt for years..."
ReplyDeleteI think the impact is already out there with some serious weight. Many of those who have chosen not to (or are unable to) utilize the Clover may not readily admit it, but I believe the development of this brewer has stimulated many professionals to re-evaluate their brewed coffee program. The Clover prompted many professionals, both with or without Clover brewers, to make the most out of brewed coffee service rather than it being an afterthought to espresso.
That's the most complete pile of utter bullshit and BoD politico positioning I've ever seen you write yet.
ReplyDeleteThe focus of specialty coffee retailers on "high-end-by-the-cup coffee service" has been developing through the generations (or "waves"). Brewing methods such as French Press, Melitta, Chemex and VacPot PREDATE that of clover and were responsible for guiding the direction of clovers' development.
"Quick-service French Press" also predates the clover as companies such as Stumptown have been doing it since their inception and were influenced by places like Lighthouse who, by my understanding, also used the French Press to brew their daily coffees.
Not to mention Japanese Kissaten influences where I've been to a shop that focused solely on hand-crafted coffee by the cup with little more than a grinder and a sock - and it was some of the best damn coffee I've had anywhere in the world.
And those guys couldn't bother with vacpot, much less clover.
This is nothing more than a sheer attempt to rewrite history - ignoring all that has happened in our industry prior to October 2005. It's a narrow-minded focus that's stuck in a Third Wave frame.
People wonder why I disdain being part of the "Third Wave" - it's for exactly this kind of narrow mindset that believes that everything of any substance only happened in this wave where the brewing method that got the Third Wave to talk "about the coffee" was some automated brewer with push-button efficiency since everyone was basically too lazy to actually work to make coffee by the cup.
Jay, it is you who is being revisionist.
ReplyDeletePeople also try to deny Starbucks' impact on our high-end specialty coffee shops. Would there be no Intelligentsia or Cup of Excellence, if not for Starbucks? You could make the case that the pre-existing conditions existed... but the more compelling argument is that Starbucks paved the way... not only for the followers (Tully's, etc.) but those who chose to produce a contrasting competitor.
Obviously, the "technologies" for single-cup brewing existed before 2005. Peet's Coffee employed manual-pour brew bars before 2005. Japanese syphon bars existed before 2005. French press are everywhere, and have been for a long time.
That said, who was doing, or actively interested in developing or employing a fresh-by-the-cup brewing service as a significant part of their coffee service before 2005? I'm sure that there were some shops out there, but the Clover represents a "tipping point" effect that is undeniable.
Clover didn't invent by-the-cup brewing. Starbucks didn't invent coffeeshops either. However, no other "coffeeshop owner" has been on the cover of more magazines, and no other "single-cup-brewer" has had more press out there.
When you write, "everyone was basically too lazy to actually work to make coffee by the cup," I'm assuming you include yourself in "everyone?"
I agree 100% with Matthew above, and I actually read it that way in Nick's post.
ReplyDeleteI think the Clover was a great contribution to the efforts of the Second and Third Waves of coffee.
Sure other brewing methods were used to help develop Clover (duh). But this is not the first time in history things have come full-circle.
I'm so SO happy brewed coffee is back on the map! Jay wasn't around at the time, but there was a time when we were all terribly espressocentric. Dark days for me.
PS:
ReplyDeleteWant to remind everyone of a post I made here a couple of summers ago documenting a "beach roasting" excursion in Seattle. We roasted single origins on an open fire, ground them with a hand-cranked oldy, and french pressed them.
I considered this a VERY Third Wave thing to do at the time...a moment in time when the Clover had made us all excited about stepping away from our Lineas for a while.
Third Wave is about never taking it for granted. It's about working on stuff and discovering. It has never been what Jay wants to claim it is- his depiction of a cool kids' club. No matter how many times and how many different ways he wants to say it, he is simply making a fallacy of deduction.
PPS:
Nick Cho mentions boobs yet again while thinking about coffee. Anyone keeping score on this one?
The amount of press received should be no surprise considering the services of a highly-paid and well-connected public relations firm.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I was just talking about that today with a friend of mine - that we should be hiring clover's PR firm to hype our next project.
And yes, I do include myself when I say "everyone." However, more accurately, is that I wasn't ready to explore that avenue. The readiness to explore the by the cup brewing did not come because of the clover or the use of the clover by people we know, but because I had developed a mastery of craft and vision that I knew that the time had come for us to explore this venue.
Royal Coffee in Berkeley had been doing melitta by-the-cup service for quite some time before I visited them in January 2005. And this wasn't some by-the-cup service on highlighted coffees (like we started doing at Jay's Shave Ice featuring french pressed 100% Kona back in 2003), that was Royal's entire coffee service.
The odd thing you mentioned in the press: the hype. There are a number of operators out there who focus on delivering quality without the hype of national press to spur us forward. While it would be nice and I would enjoy national hype, it's not what drives me towards constantly refining our processes, methods and ingredients.
What I think had been lacking prior to clovers' emergence is: ease of commitment. Doing by-the-cup coffee service is hard work - and a lot of it. clovers' push-button efficiency of automation brought by the cup brewing into the realm of everyone. The level of commitment and training was much less than that of any other cup brew method. It was nearly as simple as auto-drip with better clarity in the cup.
I've spent a lot of time these last six months thinking and exploring by-the-cup brewing methodologies and I can honestly say that there's nothing easier than clover. Just grind, dump and hit the button.
BTW - will it always be a boyfriend/girlfriend thing with the two of you? Maybe one of you should speak for the other instead of the tag team approach.
As one of the few hundred or so shops to take the plunge- I would like to add a few things.
ReplyDelete*Re: Clovering is easy... I agree that the barriers to entry for making a cup of coffee on a clover are low, but you have endless control available to you to make the coffee really sing- if you care to take the time to do so. A few times a week I'm tweaking time and temperature as well as seeing what grind/dose combinations bring out the characteristics I like in the coffee. The attention my staff and I pay to these details today vs. eight months ago when we started is radically different, and we learn a little more every day.
*Re: machine hype... I hype the machine, I hype the coffee we brew, and I hype the fact that we know how to prepare drinks properly and with care. I hype the fact that I have a friendly staff. I do it all in a very conversational and friendly way and make sure that when people leave our shop they remember at least a few things that set our place apart from the rest. Most customers know very little about all of the things we go through in order to serve them that cup. I'm in business to succeed and I don't really see the need to leave any bullets in the gun, so to speak. I happen to think that black cat espresso tastes pretty awesome brewed at around 197-198F, and sometimes I talk about that too.
*Re: the best cup ever... I frequently tell customers that they can get comparable quality coffee from a well executed press or chemex and we sell them in our shops. Can I bang out these methods in our busy retail environment as quickly (yes customers will only wait so long) or with such stability and control... not even close. We've tried it. It's not because it's "too hard" or "takes too long to learn".
*Re: player hating... The easiest thing to be in life is a critic. I think it's even easier than making a bad cup of clover coffee. Don't lump everyone with the balls to try new technology into some category of lazy s.o.b.'s that lack true commitment. I'm sure there are plenty of clover hacks out there just as there are shops with Marzocco's spitting out thin bitter swill. We "explored other brewing methods" and took time to learn "the craft" just like any of the "true believers". If you spent less time hating and more time implementing the fruits of your explorations there would no doubt be bushels of coffee accolades piling up at your doorstep. You seem like a smart guy, please don't make generalizations.
woah, Jay.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you call me?
Part of someone else's agenda?
A part of someone else's agenda that does not need a voice?
Are you asking me to please lose my voice now? Sit down and be a nice girl?
Woah.
Jay,
ReplyDeleteFWIW, you're wrong. The abovementioned Luke is the current - and forevermore ONLY owner of a Clover-branded Clover in Pittsburgh. There are a ton of reasons it made sense for him to get one and not us. But after he did and we didn't, we had to look inward and say, "If this doesn't make sense from a business perspective, what does?" And we had to act accordingly. We sell the same coffee (fwiw, we do Black Cat two degrees higher.)
For us to just roll over and say, "We suck, go to 21st Street for a better cup," well, that wasn't going to happen. We had to figure out a different way of presenting great coffees that made sense in our situation. So yeah, Clover had that kind of impact on us, a non-owner. And I've told Luke that privately on a couple of occasions already. Now I'm saying it publicly.
And truthfully, if Intelly had a hard time selling their stock of Clovers and offered a big discount, we'd still be open to talking about adding one.
Nick,
On that first para... you took 90 words to essentially say:
"I like tits. Other guys like tits too. So let's talk tits."
Get an editor ;-)
I've been reading all that's out in the internetosphere regarding the CoEqCo sale, and I really don't see it as a big deal. It's a smooth marketing move by Starbucks, but if you really look at what they're doing... including an announcement they may be unveiling an 'energy drink' it amounts to nothing more than 'shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic'. Why do I say that? For years Starbucks has moved away from its (supposed) core aspect of the brand, coffee. Now that they make a PR move to show they are "about coffee" they also are about "developing energy drinks". It's still a continued dilution of brand, which will ultimately lead to them passing like the dodo bird.
ReplyDeleteAs for people being too lazy for by the cup brewing-- I don't see it that way. I see it from two different perspectives. The first is that of the existing owner who has built his business model on high morning volume of drip and fears changing that for loss of revenue. The second perspective is the new owner who is afraid to challenge the status quo and do something different.
In both cases, the only laziness is that of not exercising the possibilities. It's the mindset of how we view ourselves that needs to change before the public perception can change. At our caffe, we're doing what we can to redefine the concept of coffee in the way that places such as LA Mill and Blue Bottle have done for their respective markets. I've spoken before about no "to go" offerings... and we're not there yet, but as for the "by the cup" brewing, we've never offered to go on that. In my opinion, if you offer a particular by the cup method, it's because you believe that method best highlights the coffee, and that being the case the way for the customer to appreciate what you are doing is by elevating the experience. Most people here have elevated the coffee, but the experience needs to match.
So for those who were thinking Clover, do something different. It shouldn't be about speed and serving the masses. It should be about delivering a memorable coffee experience both in the cup and out. Think of yourself as a great restaurant with coffee as the main dish, not as a place for people to get their morning caffeine on. If you start to look at it from that perspective, you'll be surprised what you can come up with.
My cent.
Wow, more than anything else that has happened from the sale of Clover is the reaction people have had. I have had a knot in my stomach since reading all the posts about this. Posts have become vicious and nasty, with personal attacks etc. What happened to this great community that we all rave about?
ReplyDeleteJay, I love you man, and I love the fact you speak your mind, but some of your posts have just been plain mean. Ease up a bit dude. You are coming across as arrogent and petty.
I think Nick is right, this is the tipping point for us. We are being forced to go out and PROVE what makes us better that Starbucks, not by just say that we are. Let's put our money where our mouths are. Quite the fighting about who was right about Clover and let's work together. Let's find ways to better ourselves, our shops, and our communities. Let's use this as our rallying point, to come together and raise the bar and take us to a new level.
Get on-board or be left behind. It starts now....
you are all ridiculous
ReplyDeleteOK, the above comment that I deleted was replete with phrases along the lines of "F this, what a bunch of sellouts", the best of the industry has changed my mind. I think I'm going to take another look at the simpler methods that my customers can aspire to duplicate in their own homes. Peace out.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the Clover offers push button efficiency...well, I guess it can and does for some people. But to make a truly nice cup via the Clover is actually quite labor intensive and it takes a lot of time and effort to dial in coffees. This is kind of why I didn't get Clover at first: I would have samples of coffees (from reputable roasters no doubt) at trade shows, gatherings, etc... and they all tasted like shit. I'm thinkin' "who in the fuck would want this thing?" We got a Clover in the store and started putting coffees through it as per Clovers baseline specs and they all tasted like shit. I'm thinkin' "why the fuck did we buy this thing?" Months and months down the line I'm glad we did. It took a great deal of time and effort to dial in each of the coffees we wanted to brew on this thing; dosage, temp, stir technique, when to add the coffee, dwell time, cleaning, yadda yadda. Then of course, things change as coffee changes. But when this thing is dialed and the operator is dialed the results are pretty boss. I'm no fan of Clovernet...this IS automation, and of course even the same coffees from different roasters will require a different setting and technique.
ReplyDeleteWhat am I saying? I guess that Clover when used as an automated machine will produce automated type results. When used as a hands-on machine it can produce amazing results and is much more labor intensive than something like a french press (faster yes, labor intensive, no). Not for the lazy or faint at heart to use. Especially in a busy cafe. I mean...you could easily do pour over drip that tastes like garbage with very little labor involved: put some coffee in a meilta filter, plop some water on top and walk away.
You get what you give...doing any single cup brew well takes a great deal of effort. Is it the Clovers fault if brew times are way shorter than other by the cup methods? Does it make it a cop out? I dont think so.
It's just a freaking machine people. That's all. A machine. Unplug it, it's nothing. Let's keep it in perspective. They were coffee brewing devices before, and there will be others after. It ain't a new wheel, just a shinier wheel. One with the little spinny thing in the middle. Like all the kids are rolling on these days.
ReplyDeleteI meant, "There were." Not "They were." And the guys at the company did sell out. Call it what you want. They used you (independents) to build the value of the company, and then excluded you from the future benefits. Period. Call a spade a spade.
ReplyDeleteI know that this topic is getting old, but a thought just occured to me. To quickly and economically get the Clover into it's stores I would not be suprised to see them move production to China. And the moment it gets there, the next day there will be a knock off. Anyone want a Clover knock off for $200?
ReplyDeleteI love this article.
ReplyDeleteugg store
ugg boots store
Replica watches
discount ugg boots
UGG Classic
nike outlet