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Tasting the Future of Starbucks Coffee From a New Machine
http://www.nytimes.com/ 2008/ 03/ 26/ dining/ 26starbucks.html
As part of an effort to concentrate on making better coffee, Starbucks has bought a company that makes $11,000 machines that brew one cup at a time.
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The Boobs are Back
http://www.stlbites.com/2008/04/09/the-boobs-are-back/They shut stores down to discuss quality and renew “focus on espresso standards.” They bought the Clover prompting coffeegeeks to shudder and Stumptown to pull them from their stores. And starting yesterday the original topless logo has returned to signal Starbucks commitment to quality along with their new Pike Place Roast which Howard Schultz says “is truly one of the best coffees we have offered our customers in our 37-year history and it will reinvent brewed coffee.” They have also migrated to “30-minute hold times for brewed coffee” and with a renewed focus on quality say that The Pike Place blend is both “Fresh” and “Hand-Scooped.” With all the bags on display in the shop I went to having roasted dates of 3/24 though, it was already two weeks old the minute it arrived. So take note when you go to buy that next bag of coffee that while local roasters like Goshen, Kaldi’s and Northwest may not have topless logos, they do have fresh roasted coffee that was hand-scooped all along. Do you think they’ll have to change all those green signs to brown now? Post from: stlbites.com The Boobs are Back Tags: Goshen Coffee, Kaldi's Coffee, Northwest Coffee, Starbucks
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Starbucks estrena máquina de café
http://curiosidadesgastronomicas.com/?p=637Así es, leyendo el New York Times, los de Starbucks, con tal de atraer más gente a sus establecimientos en los Estados Unidos, han decidido hacer una inversión considerable para ofrecer café de una máquina llamada “Clover coffee brewer”. De hecho compró la compañía que fabrica dichas máquinas, la “Coffee Equipment Company of Seattle”… interesante porque Starbucks también es originaria de Seattle… Esta máquina, sólo produce 1 café a la vez, pero al parecer lo hace más eficientemente que las máquinas de expresso que manejan, y claro con mayor calidad. Cada una de estas máquinas cuesta 11 mil dólares… y de hecho muchas cafeterías que no son de cadena las utilizan para resaltar entre las que sí lo son… y se están quejando de que Starbucks les está jugando chueco… y con razón! Por lo pronto sólo en 3 Starbucks de Boston y 3 en Seattle tienen esta máquina… todavía no se sabe si se mandarán a cada una de las 16 mil sucursales que tienen alrededor del planeta. Si quieren leer más al respecto, entren a esta página, pero aclaro que está en inglés y se requiere suscripción al NYT (que es gratuita).
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3 Starbucks testing the Clover
http://www.myballard.com/2008/04/01/3-starbucks-testing-the-...That was fast. The ink is barely dry on Starbuck’s agreement to acquire Ballard’s Coffee Equipment Co., and now three $11,000 Clover machines are in testing in Seattle Starbucks stores (locations not revealed). Meanwhile, Portland-based Stumptown Coffee has decided to drop the Clover in protest. You have to wonder how Starbucks’ plans to distribute the Clover far and wide impact the “little guys” who shelled out the investment for the Clover, including Ballard’s brand new Aster Coffee Lounge, which has/had the only Clover in the neighborhood. (By the way, Aster is holding a grand opening this Friday from 6-9 p.m.) Meanwhile, Starbucks is getting lots of praise for its acquisition of the Coffee Equipment Company: this Business Week story is called, “Starbucks on the Comeback Trail with Clover.”
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Will a Ballard company save Starbucks?
http://blogs.king5.com/citizenrain/2008/03/will_a_ballard_co...Earlier this month, Starbucks acquired the Coffee Equipment Company in Ballard, the inventor of the "Clover" single-cup coffee maker. Now the Clover is in six Starbucks cafes (three in Seattle and three in Boston), and the early press is glowing. "It brews one of the tastiest cups of coffee this side of the moon," writes Business Week in an article with the title, "Starbucks on the comeback trail with Clover." The NY Times tried it, too, calling the Clover a hit but scolding Starbucks for using over-roasted beans.
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Riding Coffee’s New Wave
http://4loveofood.wordpress.com/2008/03/29/riding-coffees-ne...According to a March 26th article in the New York Times, Starbucks has recently bought the Coffee Equipment Company of Seattle, the producer of the Clover coffee brewer, in “an effort to concentrate on making better coffee.” This innovative machine –– with controls to customize temperature, water amount, and brewing time to each particular bean and cup –– has been a favorite of the independent café scene. But all of that may soon be changing. Stumptown Coffee, of Portland, Oregon is now boycotting the machine as an active protest against Starbucks’ dominant industrial presence in the coffee world. This protest is part of a larger theme in independent coffee shops throughout the country: the Third Wave movement. Third Wave is defined by the other two “waves” that come before it. The first wave of coffee is primarily about consumption. This is the early morning coffee drinker who needs a fast caffeine fix. The second wave describes consumers who also have a demand for quick coffee, but are interested in taste as well as caffeine. These are the people who buy specialty coffees from Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks (orange mocha frappuccino, anyone?). The Third Wave is all about quality, a devotion to coffee production from the growing of the bean, to the pulling of a perfect espresso shot or the brewing of a perfect cup. Third Wave producers often roast a single bean allowing for purity in flavor that is nuanced without the addition of sweet syrups or extra beans to create bolder flavors. Another major aspect of the Third Wave is social. It encompasses ideals of fair trade and sustainable farming practices. The menu at Ninth Street Espresso — a Third Wave coffee purveyor in alphabet city — is as un-muddled as the shot they pull. You can order only traditional drinks like an espresso with a ring of natural crema, an americano, a macchiato, a cappuccino, a latte, a mocha, or a cup of fresh house brewed coffee. Although they do serve decaffeinated espresso, it’s always frowned upon — decaffeination is another process that taints the subtle flavors of the pure beans. Like all Third Wave producers Ninth Street Espresso strives for excellence. Fresh beans are ground and fresh milk steamed for each individual cup. The baristas take time making each drink carefully, a quiet protest again to the increasingly fast paced society that doesn’t have time to enjoy their coffee in a “for here” ceramic cup. My suggestion: sit down and enjoy a sip of the Third Wave third wave – you wont think twice about a caramel macchiato again.
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Tasting the Future of Starbucks Coffee From a New Machine
http://danmarkham.net/link/link.286/Tasting the Future of Starbucks Coffee From a New Machine Starbucks, feeling the pressure, tries to buy credibility. In other news, Portland indie coffee house acts like a small, indignant child (@The New York Times).
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Cloverbucks
http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/cloverbuck...Cloverbucks By Peter Meehan Tags: Coffee Mike Campbell uses a Clover machine to make coffee at a Starbucks in Seattle. (Photo: Stuart Isett for The New York Times) Ever since Starbucks announced last week that it had bought Coffee Equipment Company, which makes the Clover – a new fangled machine that brews one cup of drip coffee at a time - the online coffee forums and blogs have been afire with chatter about the sale and its implications for those in the coffee world who don’t wear green aprons. Some are grumbling about how C.E.C. “sold out” – which they did, literally – but others are cheering on a small business that’s making what everyone assumes to be a killing on the sale. Others are grumbling that Starbucks figured out the most ingenious way to buy the language of the third wave, of quality coffee. In an email exchange, Mark Prince, who runs coffeegeek.com, explained his interpretation of the move this way: Starbucks bought Coffee Equipment “to basically take complete ownership of the words ‘fresh brewed’ and ‘fresh coffee’ away from their chief rivals — Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds. When McD’s declares they serve fresh coffee, Starbucks can show a picture of a grimy old, coffee-crusted airpot and say ‘You call this fresh?’ ”
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Just as I thought…
http://sadamson.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/just-as-i-thought/Just last week, Starbucks bought the Clover coffee company. It’s a pretty huge deal in the coffee industry. Ever since it happened we’ve been talking about with everybody that comes into Transcend. It’s crazy. Nobody really knows exactly what’s going to happen with it all right now. But here are some thoughts from the New York Times. And here are some from the man, Poul, at Transcend. You can have the best of best, and not be the best. I can have the most beautiful 6.8kg bike, but that doesn’t mean I’ll beat the likes of Cancellara… So Starbucks can have the greatest coffee maker ever and still not have the best coffee! I was also discussing this week whether any Starbucks staff know of their new recent acquisition. I wonder if I went back into Westgate, if they would know of this event… Half of the staff don’t even like coffee… Whatever you do, smile and enjoy coffee! Insuadibilis
