Starbucks Poised to Launch ‘Soluble’ Coffee
Via Brand Called ‘Breakthrough’ Unlike Instants of Old
“The instant product has been many years in the making and is designed to mimic the taste of store-bought Starbucks — the point the company is expected to make in its marketing for the brand.”
Can someone find out what they do and use it to make the coffee taste good?
A Note on Black Cat
I’ve been too hard on this coffee. I’ve stated a couple times that I don’t like it, but the more I drink it, the more I realize that I just don’t like the way it’s being pulled. At first I thought that I did not like the Ipanema (Brazil) that comprises 80 percent of the blend, but when the doses are lighter and the temps cooler, it’s deliciously fruity and winy. Basically, I’m looking forward to some Marty Sweeney shots of Black Cat.
What is also interesting is Intelligentsia’s practice of letting the barista determine the shot parameters. Not only do they vary dose, but part of the dialing-in process is temperature adjustment. I’ve never seen that actively done at any other shop. Props to them for this, but it does result in widely varying espressi. I confess to having a preference for who pulls my shots. This is counter to everything I’ve been told is an objective at coffee shops (consistency is key, according to most), but the hard reality is that many shops struggle to reach an acceptable level of quality with their espresso. If I had to choose between having a barista determine how my espresso is going to taste, and the barista trying just to meet a minimum standard, I’ll take the former.
Ode to Bar G
I used to work on that Linea.
I still have reservations about the time I spent at Bar Giuliani in Champaign, and how fruitful my labor was there. However, as I was riding the 5 E Green bus to campus I realized that I no longer had a warm place to duck into in the middle of campustown. And when I took the first sip of my macchiato at Paradiso I started pining for the ability to pull shots of Redline for myself. The quality has gotten better at Paradiso, but I’ve had better Black Cat.
So I’m in Champaign-Urbana for the day
And I just walked past Cafe Kopi. There’s a sign in the window stating that there will be no Wi-Fi access on the weekends, a la Ritual.
What My Taste Buds are Currently Perceiving
Drip-dripping its way through my Chemex currently is Intelligentsia’s Finca Santuario El Mirador micro-lot. I tend not to like Colombian coffees, and even Metropolis’ awesome San Rafael earlier this year was something I could appreciate but not truly enjoy. This one is different. It’s simple, mild, sweet, and very refined. The thing that I can only describe as “Colombia taste” is not present in this coffee. What is there is something very close to brown sugar, and it’s extremely pleasing. It’s not very complex, but it’s still impressive.
The State of Coffee Journalism
Sig.ra Santopietro at T Magazine likes her cappuccini legit.
But why is this article so short?
The Future?
This is a story about Intelligentsia’s new Venice location.
It sounds like the best possible concept store, and I applaud Doug Zell’s imagination and bravery. I think it will work, and I think it will draw attention to the coffee and the craft. Good on them.
It’s even being described as a “game-changer”. I think that might be overstating it, and I have two objections to descriptions like this. The first is that most coffee shops still do business mostly with people in the immediate surroundings. It’s the nature of the product. Unless enough buzz is generated and it becomes an attraction, most of the customers will be locals. The other objection is that it’s still a concept store, and I have doubts about how well the space will accommodate people who want to hang out (I still think table service is the best solution to this). I could very easily be wrong about the latter, since I haven’t seen photos.
In any case, I am eager to see the new shop and the reactions to it.
The Enemy of Good Enough
After a morning of getting little sleep, I found myself near a Brown Line stop. My good friend Marty, an Intelligentsia employee, had called me the day before raving about the new layout at the Broadway store. Since the city was deserted and no one was awake, I decided that I could check out the new shop and fix my sleepiness with a 15 minute L ride.
The photo above sums it up best – a shot of Black Cat in a custom printed ceramic cup, on a bar, with a spoon, accompanied by a real glass of sparkling water. I don’t even like the current iteration of Black Cat, but I was immensely pleased by this. I have never experienced such blatant attention to detail in a coffee shop, the only thing coming close being the complementary cookie that comes with espresso at The Coffee Studio. What’s so important about this is that it overtly says, “We care. This is good coffee.” I’ve had stellar coffee out of paper cups before. Earlier this year, my hands wrapped themselves around a french pressed cup of Carmen Estate at Metropolis that garnered an audible “Oh my God” from a friend who tried it. But somehow, this was more satisfying. Presentation like this is perhaps the best answer to the declaration, “It’s just coffee.”
Because it’s not Just Coffee. Nothing is Just Coffee. Starbucks is obviously not Just Coffee. Nor is my dad’s morning stop at Dunkin Donuts Just Coffee. Even the cheapest diner coffee, or the Folgers/Maxwell House/etc. that many people drink every day is not Just Coffee. It’s a routine, a customer service experience, a drug, a part of culture. Even the uttering of “It’s just coffee” belies the fact that it’s not Just Coffee; it’s a complaint about noncompliance with a societal norm. “It’s just coffee” is the American equivalent of Italians extolling the virtues of their coffee culture. Accusations of snobbery are made much more difficult by presentation like this. It’s easy for someone to look at two paper cups, one with good coffee and one with bad coffee, and say they should be the same. Taste is important, but it’s subjective – no one ever knows exactly what someone else is tasting. Show someone that photo and the suggestion that this is a higher quality coffee is easier to accept.
Then there are these. It took a while for me to be convinced that Clovers could make outstanding coffee once my initial excitement wore off. The trainers at the Chicago Intelli stores have done a stellar job determining specs for their coffees, and now I’m sold. The recent cups I’ve had off of these machines have been very good, and easily surpass what comes out of a FETCO or similar brewer.
Then there is the layout itself. The old counter design basically minimized human contact. Now there are up to three baristi behind the bar, spread out, facing the customers. It’s much easier to have a conversation. Not only does this give a better opportunity to talk about coffee, but it’s easier to give good customer service in general.
The whole thing isn’t perfect, but it shows what is possible once someone challenges the common idea of what a coffee shop should be. It’s not difficult, either; the remodel happened overnight.
“It’s a young profession”
That was the advice given to me by a barista of some renown and great skill, and of course it was followed by the words, “You have to be patient.” She also mentioned that one of the trainers for her company just turned 30.
There’s good and bad in this. The bad is that I’m not good at being patient when it comes to coffee. It is currently possible to brew a stellar cup of coffee, to order, in a retail environment. Not many are doing so, and this is where my impatience flares up. I see too many talented, creative baristi who are being utilized only on the line, and given no other responsibilities. Coffee quality and barista wages will remain at their current levels it this continues. These baristi need to be trained for management and have their business acumen developed so they can reside in positions where they can make a difference. Even better, they need to be paid more and then given the tools to start their own shops. This, obviously, is not something that a company would ever want to do, unless there was some sort of wholesale agreement, but it would be perfect for an organization like the BGA. Especially since the BGA does…what does the BGA do again? I never even got my welcome packet.
I confess to not ever attending a BGA training session, but if they are anything like the barista jams that I’ve been to, I don’t think it’s the way to spread quality. Even if some knowledge and skill is imparted unto the attendees, if they do not work in an environment that uses that knowledge and skill, then there is no long-term benefit. The owners and managers are the ones who need training, and the best entities to do that are the roasters. More companies need to follow Stumptown’s example and demand that their wholesale customers meet a certain standard.
On the bright side, it’s a good thing that a leading specialty coffee company entrusts their training to a 30-year-old with lots of coffee experience, and not some 23-year-old punk. But there needs to be a place were all those talented punks can go to earn a living and develop, otherwise this business won’t have the human capital to flourish.
